John Butler (1946 – April 11, 2003) was a

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

and the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

.John Butler (1946-2003)
/ref> A native of Chicago, Butler spent four years in the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

and saw active duty in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietna ...

. After his discharge, he enrolled at San Bernardino Junior College, then went to the University of Illinois, where he played one season on the offensive line before a knee injury cut short his playing career. Butler's first NFL job was as a scout for the Chargers in 1985. He joined the Bills in 1987 as the personnel director, then became the team's general manager in 1993. He was in Buffalo's front office for all of its record four straight trips to the NFL championship game from 1991 to 1994. The Bills lost all of those Super Bowls. During his tenure there, the Bills went to the playoffs 10 times and had a record of 140–83. As Buffalo's personnel director, he was known for finding big talent at small colleges, such as wide receiver

Don Beebe Donald Lee Beebe (born December 18, 1964) is an American football former wide receiver and coach who is the head football coach at Aurora University. He previously played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily with t ...

of Chadron State and defensive end Phil Hansen of North Dakota. He drafted

Marcellus Wiley Marcellus Vernon Wiley Sr. (born November 30, 1974) is an American sportscaster and former American football defensive end who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Co ...

out of Columbia, then signed him as a free agent after he had taken over the Chargers in January 2001. Butler built the foundation for San Diego's offense by drafting running back

LaDainian Tomlinson LaDainian Tarshane Tomlinson (born June 23, 1979) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. After a successful college career with the TCU Horned Frogs, the San Diego Chargers s ...

and quarterback

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees is the NFL leader in ...

. San Diego went 5–11 and 8–8 in Butler's two seasons, improving from 1–15 the year before Butler's arrival. Butler died of lymphoma on April 11, 2003. He was 56.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, John 1946 births 2003 deaths American football offensive linemen Illinois Fighting Illini football players Buffalo Bills executives San Diego Chargers executives National Football League general managers United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War United States Marines People from Chicago Deaths from lymphoma Deaths from cancer in California San Bernardino Valley College alumni

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