Cookie Gilchrist

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Cookie Gilchrist
Date of birth	May 25, 1935 (1935-05-25) (age 73)
Place of birth	Brackenridge, PA
Position(s)	Fullback
College	None
Career highlights
CFL All-Star	1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961
AFL All-Star	1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
Awards	1962 AP, UPI AFL MVP
Honors	American Football League Champion, 1964 All-Time All-AFL Fullback
Records	Most rushing touchdowns, season, 13 (1962)
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Teams
1955 1956 1957 1958 1959-1961 1962-1964 1965, 1967 1966	ORFU Sarnia Imperials ORFU Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders CFL Toronto Argonauts AFL Buffalo Bills AFL Denver Broncos AFL Miami Dolphins

Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist (born May 25, 1935 in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania) was an American football player in the American Football League.

A star player in high school, just after graduation he was talked into signing a pro football contract with the Cleveland Browns by Paul Brown. The signing was against NFL rules and likely illegal, and when Brown reneged on his promise that Gilchrist would make the team, Cookie left training camp at Hiram College, in Hiram, Ohio and went to Canada to play. There, in the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU), he received the Jim Shanks (Team MVP) Trophy for the Sarnia Imperials in 1954, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmens' Team MVP Award in 1955. In 1956, he joined the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, helping lead them to a 1957 Grey Cup victory. He also played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, rushing for over 1,300 yards, and played 3 years for the Toronto Argonauts, where he was runner up for the 1960 CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award. Gilchrist played fullback, linebacker and placekicker, and gained over 4,800 yards rushing in the Canadian Football League, where he was a CFL All-League player each of his six years in the league.

Gilchrist then joined the roster of the Buffalo Bills of the fledgling American Football League. While with Buffalo, Gilchrist played fullback and kicked, though he insisted he could have played both ways. He was the first 1000-yard American Football League rusher, with 1,096 in a 14-game schedule in 1962. That year he set the all-time AFL record for touchdowns with 13, and earned AFL MVP honors. Gilchrist rushed for a professional football record 243 yards and five touchdowns in a single game against the New York Jets in 1963. Though he was only with the Bills for three years (1962-1964), he remains the team's fifth leading rusher all-time, and led the league in scoring in each of his three years as a Bill. Gilchrist was legendary as a pass defense blocker. Cookies' teamwork and willingness to "step up" and block for quarterbacks was a key part of his Bills contributions, and made the Bills offense of the era a unique challenge to defend. Gilchrist ran for 122 yards in the Bills' 1964 American Football League championship defeat of the San Diego Chargers, 20-7. His 4.5 yd/rush average is second as a Bill only to O.J. Simpson.

In an early civil rights victory for black athletes, Gilchrist led a successful boycott of New Orleans as the site of the 1965 American Football League All-Star game. He is the only athlete to turn down being enshrined into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum, because of what he described as racism and exploitation by management. Gilchrist frequently was at odds with team management, the American ones working for Canadian teams, he told a reporter from the London Free Press, saying that most of the problems he encountered were a result of his standing up for principles at a time when black athletes were expected to remain silent.

Gilchrist also played for the Denver Broncos in 1965 and 1967, and the Miami Dolphins in 1966. He was an American Football League All-Star in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1965, making him one of a very few pro football players who made their league's All-Star team for ten consecutive years (six in the CFL, and four in the AFL).

Cookie Gilchrist was selected as the fullback of the All-Time All-American Football League Team.

In an article in the Buffalo News on March 18, 2007, Gilchrist, now 71, announced that he has been treated for throat cancer. He currently lives in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania.

[edit] Honors

• First American Football League player to gain over 1,000 yards in a season (14 games, 1,096 yards in 1962)
• Previously held the professional football record for most yards rushing in a game, 243 yards vs. the New York Jets, 1963.

[edit] See also

• Other American Football League players

[edit] External links

• Gilchrist's 1964 Topps football card