Legendary Buffalo Bills head coach turns 101 and Joe Brady has a birthday wish

It was raining at Buffalo Bills training camp Monday morning. The pads were starting to come out.

Marv Levy would approve.

The Hall of Fame coach turned 101 years old Monday, and current Bills head coach Joe Brady opened his news conference before practice at St. John Fisher University with a birthday message for one of his predecessors, and a nod to a mentality that still resonates with the Bills decades later.

"When it's too hard for them, it's just right for us," Brady said, referencing one of Levy's famous sayings. "The mindset, the mentality, how the Buffalo Bills as an organization and the ship that he led, nothing's going to change."

The timing was fitting.

The Bills practiced in shoulder pads Monday and will put on full pads for the first time Tuesday. Brady has promised a tough training camp since the Bills arrived at St. John Fisher, including embracing the rain during the first practice last week.

Levy built some of the greatest teams in Bills history around a similar embrace of adversity.

But Brady's connection to Levy goes beyond sharing the same job in Buffalo.

Levy was the head coach at William & Mary from 1964 to 1968. Brady played at William & Mary in 2013 and 2014 before beginning his coaching career there as a linebackers coach for two seasons.

Brady said a photo of Levy was among those he saw every day when walking into the William & Mary football building.

Decades apart, they followed a path that eventually led both to Buffalo.

Brady said he spoke to Levy after becoming Bills head coach.

"He's given me wisdom, which is unbelievable," Brady said. "And 101. I'm just hoping to get to 37."

Levy coached the Bills from 1986 to 1997, leading Buffalo to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances, six AFC East titles and 123 victories, including the postseason. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

Levy celebrated his 100th birthday last year in Canton, Ohio, where he was recognized during the Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony and celebrated with several players from Buffalo's Super Bowl teams, including Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed and James Lofton.

A year later, Levy's influence still isn't difficult to find around the Bills.

Especially on a rainy training camp morning with the pads coming out.

"Happy birthday to Marv Levy," Brady said. "101, I can't fathom that."

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Legendary Buffalo Bills head coach turns 101 and Joe Brady has a birthday wish

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