THE FLATS – Georgia Tech mourns the passing of legendary Tech football player and alumnus Billy Shaw, who died on Friday at his home in Toccoa, Ga. He was 85.
Shaw was a two-way star for Georgia Tech football from 1957-60, playing both offensive and defensive tackle, and earning all-America and Southeastern Conference Most Valuable Lineman honors as a senior in 1960. He was also a two-time all-SEC honoree (first-team as a senior, third-team as a junior), a member of the SEC’s all-freshman team in 1957 and was selected to play in the 1961 Senior Bowl. The Vicksburg, Miss. native was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.
He achieved even greater stardom as a pro football player and became only the second Georgia Tech alum inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999. He remains one of only three Yellow Jackets enshrined in Canton, joined by Joe Guyon (1966) and Calvin Johnson (2021).
Shaw was drafted out of Tech in 1961 by both the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League (second round) and by the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (14th round). He chose to sign with Buffalo and went on to play nine seasons (1961-69) as an offensive guard, helping the Bills to AFL titles in 1964 and 1965. He played in eight AFL All-Star games and was named to the AFL All-Time Team, pro football’s all-decade team of the 1960s and the Bills’ 50th Anniversary Team. Shaw was the first Pro Football Hall of Fame member to play his entire career in the AFL.
In his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech, he said, “I’m going to be prejudiced, (I attended) the greatest university in the United States, Georgia Tech. They taught me values that I didn’t know existed.”
Shaw is also a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996) and the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame (1994).
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Patsy, and their three daughters, Cindy, Cathy and Cheryl.
