Teams
- Pittsburgh Steelers (1957)
- Los Angeles / San Diego Chargers (1960-1962)
- Buffalo Bills (1962-1969)
Accolades
- 2x AFL Champion (1965-1966)
- AFL MVP (1965)
- 7x AFL All-Star (1961-1966, 1969)
“Good quarterbacks are always ready.”
-Jack Kemp (source)
Like Len Dawson and George Blanda, Jack Kemp was one of the “rejects”, an NFL castoff who found success in the fledgling American Football League (AFL). To date, he remains the only quarterback to bring Buffalo a championship… and he won two of them. But before he was a starter in the pass-emphasized AFL, Kemp was a 17thround pick out of Occidental College. He would throw just 18 passes for the Pittsburgh Steelers during his lone NFL season in 1957, and he’d spend a year playing for the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL in ’59. With the AFL in need of immediate legitimacy, the hometown boy lined up under Center for the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960, the league’s inaugural season.
Jack Kemp started his career splendidly, throwing six TD passes in his first two games. Going 9-3 in 12 starts, he would help the Bolts capture the AFL West title. Facing George Blanda and the Houston Oilers in the first AFL Championship Game, Kemp would total 190 yards, but throw two INTs in a 24-16 loss. The following year, the Chargers relocated to San Diego but didn’t miss a beat. L.A. native Kemp started all 14 games in a 12-2 season. But in a repeat of the previous season, he would struggle against the Oilers defense in the 1961 AFL Championship. He would be picked off four times. And even though his counterpart, George Blanda was intercepted five times, Houston’s quarterback would complete the game’s lone touchdown in a 10-3 win for the Oilers.
A broken finger in early 1962 would quickly end the Jack Kemp era in southern California. With Chargers head coach Sid Gillman trying to hide him through waivers, Buffalo picked him up for just $100. Kemp had a league-best 5.2% INT rate in ’63, but had to suffer through watching the Chargers, with former NFL star Tobin Rote at quarterback, win the championship. Buffalo went 7-6-1, and made the playoffs. But Kemp again struggled in the postseason with only 133 yards and a pick in a 26-8 loss to Babe Parilli and the Boston Patriots.
Still, the Occidental alum would have the last laugh. In ’64, the Bills dominated with a 12-2 record. Kemp’s 8.5 yards per attempt were the AFL’s best, but even more impressive was an eye-dropping 19.2 yards per completion, more than three yards better than second-place Cotton Davidson. Facing his former team, the San Diego Chargers, Kemp would finally solve the riddle of the postseason. In a 20-7 AFL Championship victory, he would total 204 yards with no turnovers and a rushing touchdown.
The 1965 season would be almost a carbon copy of the previous year for Buffalo. Jack Kemp would win the Associated Press AFL MVP award, going 9-3-1 in 13 starts. His numbers were hardly dazzling, 10 TDs to 18 picks and a 45.8% completion rate. But what mattered most were the numbers at the top of the scoreboard. And in a rematch of the previous season’s title game, the Buffalo Bills again stomped the San Diego Chargers, 23-0. The league MVP threw for 155 yards with a touchdown, and an interception, in the win.
A three-peat looked very possible in ’66 as the Bills went 9-4-1 to win their third straight AFL East crown. Of particular significance in this year’s AFL Championship Game was that it would not be the final game of the season. Rather, the winner earned the right to play the NFL champs in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, retroactively titled “Super Bowl I”. But Jack Kemp would not be the first AFL quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl. While he passed for 253 yards and a TD, he was picked off twice in a 31-7 beatdown by the Kansas City Chiefs. Instead of Kemp, it would be Len Dawson who would go off to do battle with the Green Bay Packers.
via Getty Images)
The loss in the 1966 AFL Championship Game would end the Bills’ era of dominance. In ’67 the Bills would drop to 4-10, while Kemp’s former back-up, Daryle Lamonica, would lead the Oakland Raiders to Super Bowl II. The following year, Kemp would suffer a season-ending knee injury during a preseason scrimmage. Without their leader, the Bills were a pathetic 1-12-1. But Jack Kemp returned for one more go of it in ’69. Although he earned his seventh AFL All-Star nod his Bills went just 4-10, even with star rookie O.J. Simpson in the backfield.
Rather than running back to the football field in 1970 (with a chance to return to the NFL), Jack Kemp ran for Congress… and won! He served his district for 18 years before joining the George H.W. Bush administration as the Secretary of Housing & Urban Development. Perhaps most famously, Kemp was Bob Dole’s running mate during the 1996 U.S. Presidential election. While Dole and Kemp came up short to Clinton and Gore, Kemp lives on forever via the campaign’s still-active official website. Seriously. His son also had a pretty decent NFL career as a quarterback.
I didn’t mention Jack Kemp’s statistics much. That’s because, despite tremendous success in the win column, his numbers aren’t much to brag about. Even with two AFL titles under his arm, there are reasons why he didn’t crack this site’s Top 100. Notably, he never threw more touchdowns than interceptions in a season, and finished his career with 183 interceptions to just 114 touchdown passes. Kemp also never had a season where his passer rating reached 70.0. But to an organization, and to a fan, the most important thing is winning titles. And Jack Kemp did it twice, making Buffalo one of America’s pro football capitols in the mid ’60s.
Chart
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 0.075 | -0.008 | -0.047 | -0.016 | 0.026 | -0.032 | -0.105 | 0.006 |
| Playoffs | -0.093 | -0.072 | -0.253 | -0.012 | 0.013 | -0.031 | -0.274 | -0.041 |
Longevity Bonus = 1.3 Title Bonus = 0.6
Index Score = 1.078 (average QB = 0.0)
Deviation Rank (out of 155)
| Season | W-L% | Tot Y/G | Tot TD/G | Tot TO/G | Y/C/Y/A | Cmp % | TD% | Int% |
| Reg Season | 21st | 77th | 123rd | 128th | 54th | 129th | 152nd | 102nd |
| Playoffs | T-113th | 102nd | 142nd | 100th | 56th | 95th | 143rd | 108th |
Why is he on the Top 100 list?
Jack Kemp knew how to win. He’s 21st all-time in deviation for win percentage, finishing with a terrific 65-37-3 record as a starter between the Chargers and Bills. He was also an above-average downfield thrower, ending up at 54th overall for the regular season, helped by leading the AFL three times in yards per completion. But the biggest thing helping Kemp is those two championships, and a 1.3-point bonus for serving his teams as primary starter for eight seasons.
Why isn’t he higher on the list?
Jack Kemp’s regular season numbers just weren’t that good overall. He’s outside the Top 100 in five categories, and only makes the Top 50 in win-loss percentage. Even with two AFL championships under his belt, he’s only above 95th all time in one postseason category: average of yards/completion + yards/attempt (56th).
The Quarterback Project 