Billy Shaw, Hall of Fame guard and Bills legend, dead at 85

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Pro Football Hall of Fame guard and Buffalo Bills legend Billy Shaw, who helped lead his team to back-to-back championships in the AFL, died on Friday. He was 85. 

Shaw, a legend at Georgia Tech, passed away surrounded by family at his home in Toccoa, Ga., the Hall of Fame confirmed in a statement. According to the family, hyponatremia was cited as his cause of death. 

(L-R) #12 Daryle Lamonica, #30 Wray Carlton, #66 Billy Shaw, #78 Jim Harris, #77 Stew Barber, #86 Verlon Biggs during the New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, on December 19, 1965. (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

"Billy Shaw holds the distinction of being the only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to play his entire career in the American Football League, but while that fact is worthy of noting and nice to recite, it comes nowhere near providing the reason he was elected as a member of the Class of 1999," Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said.

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"Billy’s all-around athleticism brought a new dimension to the guard position and made the 1960s Buffalo Bills a formidable opponent capable of bruising opponents with a punishing rushing attack," Porter continued. "And while Billy could be unforgiving to anyone in his way on the football field, he was the classic example of the ‘Southern gentlemen’ off the field to everyone he encountered."

Shaw was born in Natchez, Miss., where he began his football career at Carr Central High School. He would go on to play at Georgia Tech, where he was an All-American, two-way player. 

Billy Shaw is introduced