Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Sunday is a milestone day for former Buffalo Bills head coach Marv Levy, as the Pro Football Hall-of-Famer will celebrate his 100th birthday.
Levy took over a floundering Bills team in the middle of the 1986 season. He'd turn around the team's fortunes almost immediately, leading the Bills to the AFC Championship Game in the 1988 season, following that up with six division titles and four-straight Super Bowl appearances in the early '90s.
This weekend, however, may mark the most significant milestone of Levy's life and career.
Longtime WGR host Howard Simon started working in the Buffalo media in 1989 during Levy's third full season as the Bills' head coach. He joined WBEN Friday to reflect on Levy's unique personality that made him the perfect leader for the Bills.
"Part of his charm... he knew football, but the guy's a Harvard grad. Marv is an extremely well-educated man," said Simon with WBEN. "He'd talk football with these guys, but he would quote [Winston] Churchill, he would quote famous authors, he would talk about history while weaving that into some kind of motivational piece for a football game.
"He wasn't just an old-school football guy. There was an overall charm to Marv, like he was a guy just beyond a football coach."
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Levy is, perhaps, just as loved for his "Marvisms" as he is for the success he led the Bills to. He coined the phrase "Where else would you rather be than right here, right now?" that's still recited by Bills legends before games today.
"I think that it's absolutely No. 1," Simon said.
A couple more of Simon's favorite "Marvisms":
1.) "When it's too tough for them, it's just right for us."
2.) "The Germans didn't win World War II. Why? Because they couldn't win on the road."
Levy is staying active during his birthday weekend. He'll be in Canton, Ohio this weekend for the Pro Football Hall of Fame before heading back to his native Chicago for a trading card convention.