Charley Leo, Patriots and Bills Guard
October 19th, 2010 | Published in Player Deaths | 2 Comments
Charley Leo, who played guard for the AFL’s Boston Patriots and Buffalo Bills from 1960 to 1963, passed away on October 7. Leo made the 2nd Team All-AFL in 1960 and 1st Team All-AFL in 1961. I found a photo of the 1961 team on the Patriots web site; Leo is number 63, on the left end of the middle row.
Leo appeared on two cards: a 1961 Fleer card, pictured here, and a 1961 Topps. 1961 was the only year that two card companies printed cards of AFL players, and Leo appeared in both the Fleer and Topps sets. He also appeared on a 1961 Fleer Wallet Picture, a black-and-white version of the 1961 Fleer card, cut from a magazine. (See my previous blog article on the 1961 Fleer Wallet Pictures.)
October 19th, 2010 at 8:41 AM (#)
I’m sorry to hear this. We are losing our old AFL’ers at a fast pace. A lot of them have passed away this year.
I tried tracking Charley Leo down to sign his 1961 Topps card (I already have a signed 1961 Fleer). I must have sent that card to six different addresses, but it came back “Return To Sender” each time.
Rest well, Charley, and thank you for your contributions to the old AFL!
January 12th, 2011 at 8:58 PM (#)
I wish I would have known you wanted that card signed. He was my uncle. The stories he told of the experience of playing in the start up AFL were great. His brother Jim Leo played for the NY Giants.