Chargers’ team photographer Charles Aqua Viva snapped this shot during the November 11, 1962 game against the Buffalo Bills at Balboa Stadium:
Looks like dozens of Bills fans, some holding a “Buffalo Bills Boosters Club” sign. They are celebrating – not surprising, since Buffalo won the game, 40-20. But did these fans really make the trip from Buffalo? Yes indeed, as several newspaper clips confirm. The first reference is brief mention in the Buffalo Courier Express, on September 17, 1962:
$245 equates to about $2500 in today’s dollars. That sounds about right; these days, the flights would be cheaper and the game tickets more expensive.
The trip also came to the notice of the San Diego Evening Tribune (October 20, 1962):
The day after the game, the Buffalo News had this small note, which pegs the attendance at 68:
Even in the early days of the AFL, it looks like the Bills had a hard-core group of fans eager to travel to see their team.