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Elbert Dubenion

Elbert Dubenion (February 16, 1933 – December 26, 2019)^[1] was an American football flanker who spent his entire nine-season professional career with the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (AFL). He played college football for the Bluffton Beavers.

Dubenion, the longest-tenured member of the team's inaugural roster despite being 27 years old at the start of his professional career, is considered one of the best players in the team's history and was an archetype of the AFL's emphasis on speed and the long bomb, both of which were two of Dubenion's greatest strengths and earned him the nickname "Golden Wheels".

Dubenion was drafted in the fourteenth round of the 1959 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. His relatively old age (26 at the time) and hailing from a smaller college meant that he was never considered a serious prospect, and the Browns released him prior to the start of the season.

Dubenion was among many AFL players from smaller and less renowned colleges that the league was signing in search of talent that the NFL had overlooked, and the Buffalo Bills signed him as a free agent. During his rookie season, one of his quarterbacks, Johnny Green, gave Dubenion a backhanded compliment regarding his speed and alleged inability to catch a football, noting that he had "golden wheels." The nickname Golden Wheels stuck for the remainder of his career.^[2]

In his rookie season, Dubenion had seven touchdowns and 752 receiving yards on 42 receptions, averaging 17.9 yards per reception. He rushed 16 times for 94 yards and a touchdown, averaging 5.9 yards per rush.^[3]In1961, facing tighter and deeper coverages, he upped his production as a runner, rushing for 173 yards and a touchdown on just 17 carries, averaging 10.2 yards per rush. He had 461 receiving yards and six touchdowns on 31 receptions, averaging 14.9 yards per reception.^[4]

In1964, Dubenion had one of the most sensational seasons of any receiver in pro football history, scoring 10 touchdowns among his 42 receptions for 1,139 yards, while collecting 27.1 yards per reception; he also saw a steep drop in his use in the rushing game, carrying the ball only once for 20 yards.^[5] In nine seasons, he totalled 294 receptions for 5,294 yards and 35 TDs for a career average of 18.0 yards per reception, and rushed for 326 yards and three touchdowns on 46 carries, a career average of 7.1 yards per rush.^[6][7] When Wray Carlton was released by the Bills on September 2, 1968, it made Dubenion the last player from the Bills' original rosterin1960 to still be with the club.^[8]

Dubenion ranks seventh all-time in the AFL in receptions and reception yardage.^[9][10] He holds the record for the longest reception in AFL playoff history, a 93-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Daryle Lamonica against the Boston Patriots in the 1963 Eastern Division playoff.^[11]

According to Sports Reference, a player must have at least 8 career playoff receptions to qualify for the all-time NFL leaderboard for career yards per reception in the playoffs.^[12] Dubenion has exactly 8 receptions for 250 yards in the playoffs for an average of 31.3 yards per reception, more than any other player in the history of the NFL; the closest player to him is Jim Doran, who averaged 27.4 yards per reception, 3.9 fewer than Dubenion.^[13][14][15]

Dubenion was a 1993 inductee of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, and his number 44 is officially in "reduced circulation" on the Bills, meaning although it is not officially retired, current players cannot wear the number out of deference to Dubenion.^[16]

Dubenion died December 26, 2019, from complications related to Parkinson's disease.^[17]

• List of American Football League players

• Career statistics and player information from Pro Football Reference