April 29, 2013 - 7:34 PM
By Tim Graham
Some St. Francis High love is going down in San Diego.
Chargers General Manager Tom Telesco has signed fellow Frannies grad Luke Tasker to a free-agent rookie contract.
Tasker is the son of Buffalo Bills special-teams trailblazer Steve Tasker.
Luke Tasker had 75 catches for 1,207 yards and eight touchdowns last season at Cornell. He ranked fifth nationally in Division I-AA with an average of 120.7 receiving yards a game and ninth with 7.5 catches a game.
February 23, 2013 - 1:33 PM
By Tim Graham
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tom Telesco's impressive rise in football operations came full circle this week at the NFL scouting combine in Lucas Oil Stadium.
Telesco, a St. Francis High alum, spent the past 15 years in the Indianapolis Colts' front office. He won a Super Bowl ring. He saw this new stadium get built.
But he stepped to the lectern Thursday with a San Diego Chargers logo on his shirt. The Chargers last month made Telesco their youngest general manager in club history.
Telesco learned at the knee of former Buffalo Bills GM Bill Polian, the Colts' former president. With the Chargers, Telesco replaced one of Polian's top Bills aides, A.J. Smith.
Continue reading "St. Francis grad Tom Telesco overseeing San Diego overhaul" »
February 22, 2013 - 5:09 PM
By Tim Graham
INDIANAPOLIS -- David Caldwell grew up a Buffalo Bills fan, and it stung.
"I still remember where I was when the kick went wide right," the new Jacksonville Jaguars general manager said today at the NFL scouting combine. "I was at a party, and we just went outside and sat in the snow to numb the pain."
Caldwell, from West Seneca, is part of an amazing sports story sparked by the Bills' Super Bowl years. Those teams fueled a football passion that has driven some local kids to prominent positions.
Continue reading "Wide Right left new Jaguars GM David Caldwell out in the cold" »
Tim Graham returned to The Buffalo News in 2011 after covering the NFL for three years at ESPN and for one year at the Palm Beach Post. Before that, the Cleveland native spent seven seasons on the Buffalo Sabres beat for The News and was president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
@ByTimGraham | tgraham@buffnews.com
Buffalo native Mark Gaughan started working at The News in 1980 and has been covering the Bills exclusively since 1992. He is president of the Pro Football Writers of America, and he is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee.
@gggaughan | mgaughan@buffnews.com
Jay Skurski joined The News in January 2009. The Lewiston native attended St. Francis High School before graduating from the University of South Florida. He writes a weekly Fantasy column in addition to his beat writing duties.
