In search of Cookie Gilchrist
No resident of Buffalo in the '50s and '60s had to be told why Tim Russert named his only son Luke. Anyone who cared about sports in this town at all back then loved Luke Easter, the great Buffalo Bison who, at the tail end of his baseball career, actually parked the ball over the center field scoreboard at Offermann Stadium (it's said that the only other player to accomplish that was Babe Ruth in an exhibition game).
Naming a son "Luke" makes a lot more sense than naming one "Cookie" or "Carlton." But if it didn't, there might be a whole lot of Buffalo sports fans from back then who'd name a son after Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist, the powerful fullback who, in a very short time as a Buffalo Bill, became the team's biggest star until O.J. Simpson came to town.
Gilchrist, above, was as well-known for his unusual personality as his playing. His consciousness of race and exploitation in sports put him way ahead of his time. (The Olympics of 1968 made an international issue out of the kind of things Cookie Gilchrist complained bitterly of in the early '60s.) He had the temperament of a sensitive and difficult artist in a profession devoted to running over large behemoth men at top speed.
He proved, in later years, to be as elusive on the field as he was in life. The last piece written about him for this newspaper was retired Sports Editor Larry Felser's report, a year ago, of his battles with throat cancer in Pennsylvania.
It turns out that Buffalonians haven't been the only ones to remember Cookie Gilchrist. When avant-garde Manhattan jazz bassist and composer William Parker -- an ex-football player and lifelong football fan, shown at left -- did a 2006 residency at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, he composed one piece for local jazz ensemble and dancers called "Looking for Cookie Gilchrist."
As part of the upcoming Infringement Festival, Parker will come back to Hallwalls with dancer Patricia Nicholson to perform in duo and, after intermission, with Buffalo musicians. Steve Baczkowski, music curator of Hallwalls, will take part in the program at 8 p.m. July 25th in the ALT Theater, 225 Great Arrow (at Elmwood Ave).
Baczkowski promises that Parker's whole Buffalo residency in 2006 -- including the complete "Looking for Cookie Gilchrist" -- will be available soon as a DVD. In the meantime, an avant-garde jazz bassist with some uncommon understandings of Buffalo life and fandom, will return to perform here July 25.
--Jeff Simon
