Edward John Anthony Rutkowski (born March 21, 1941) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and politician. He played for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL), earning

AFL All-Star The American Football League All-Star game was the annual game which featured each year's best performers in the American Football League (AFL). The game was first played in 1961 and the final AFL All-Star game occurred in 1969, prior to the lea ...

honors. Rutkowski played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

. He was an AFL All-Star in 1965, playing for Buffalo as a

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

, punt and kickoff return man and backup

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

from 1963 to 1968. In a famous Topps football card mix-up, Rutkowski was shown on two Buffalo Bills' football cards, his own, and mistakenly on the card for

Ray Abruzzese Raymond Lewis Abruzzese Jr. (Pronounced: "AH-broot-sez") (October 27, 1937 – August 22, 2011) was an American college and professional football player. Abruzzese was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He played football during his high schoo ...

. Rutkowski finished his playing career with seven games as a backup quarterback with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

in 1969. From 1972-78 and again in 1990, Rutkowski served as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

on the Bills' radio broadcasts. In 1979, he became the County Executive of

Erie County, New York Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York (state), New York State. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the population was 954,236. However, in the 2023 census, the Erie County population was 946,147 ...

, succeeding

Edward Regan Edward Van Buren Regan (May 14, 1930 – October 18, 2014) (nicknamed Ned) was an American politician and public figure from New York State. He was a member of the Republican Party. Regan's political career began on the Buffalo Common Counci ...

, who stepped down to become New York State Comptroller. Rutkowski was elected to full terms in 1979 and 1983, following his one-year unexpired term, for a total of nine years in office. In 1987, Rutkowski was defeated for reelection by Assemblyman Dennis Gorski. In 1995, Rutkowski was appointed by Governor

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984 ...

as deputy commissioner of the

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) is a state agency within the New York State Executive Department Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law § 3.03. "The office of parks, recreation and h ...

. In this post, he was charge of all state parks and recreations operations in Western New York, including

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

. He held the post for 12 years, until Pataki left office. He was the fourth quarterback from a Buffalo professional football team to enter politics, following his teammate

Jack Kemp Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician, professional Gridiron football, football player, and U.S. Army veteran. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party from New York, he served a ...

George Ratterman George William Ratterman (November 12, 1926 – November 3, 2007) was an American professional football quarterback who played in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and the National Football League (NFL). Early life He was born in Cinc ...

and

Tommy Hughitt Tommy Hughitt (born Ernest Fredrick Hughitt; December 27, 1892 – December 27, 1961) was a Canadian-American professional football player, coach, referee, and politician. He played college football as a quarterback for the Michigan Wolveri ...

. Incidentally, both Kemp and Rutkowski were

Republicans Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. He is of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

origin.Polish Americans / Helena Znaniecka Lopata, Mary Patrice Erdmans, p 140.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutkowski, Ed 1941 births Living people American athlete-politicians American Football League All-Star players American football wide receivers Buffalo Bills announcers Buffalo Bills players Erie County executives New York (state) Republicans NFL announcers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players American politicians of Polish descent Players of American football from Buffalo, New York People from Kingston, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania American Football League players

See also

References