Batavia, N.Y. (WBEN) - Over the course of the 2025 football season, WBEN will reflect on the legacy and lore of Highmark Stadium in its final season, with a number of current and former players, as well as fans and others with deep connections and memories of the building that has played home of the Buffalo Bills since the 1973 season.
It was during the 1986 NFL season when wide receiver and special teams ace Steve Tasker ended up on waivers after a stint with the Houston Oilers that lasted about a year-and-a-half. He didn't have to wait long to find his next home, though, as new head coach Marv Levy ended up claiming the 5-foot-9, wiry wideout.
From there, the rest is history in Buffalo: Parts of 12 seasons, 160 games played, 760 yards receiving on 49 receptions, nine touchdowns, and seven Pro Bowl appearances for his play on special teams.
"I'm still cashing the lottery ticket I got from getting picked up off waivers as some guy," said Tasker during an interview with WBEN at the Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Classic last month. "I was the first new player they signed when Marv got the job, and to this day, I'm cashing that lottery ticket. What can you say about something like that?"
For nearly 39 years, Tasker has called Western New York his home, and has spent plenty of time at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park as not just as a player, but also a broadcaster, team alum, and a fan. He knows how special of a place that stadium is not just for himself, but several others in the community.
"On the first preseason broadcast this year, I pointed out a couple places where I remember where Don Beebe had his leg broke, and I think Jerry Butler broke his leg here. And then somebody scored a touchdown there, and I remember a sack here. Every spot on that field has something that happened over it. Those are the kind of things you remember," Tasker recalled. "It'll be sad when it goes away, but I know too I'm at that point in my life where I know change is not necessarily something to be afraid of."
Even to this day, what always grabs Tasker with Highmark Stadium is how big it is, even when it's empty.
"Having the gift of coming down the tunnel when it's full and having people cheering for you, it's pretty cool. There's nothing like it. It was a special place," Tasker said. "You knew just about everybody you have been acquainted with in the city, they're there somewhere. Everybody in the region follows this team, and they've got some skin in the game, or they feel like they do. So it is a pretty special place, and I don't think there's anything like walking down that tunnel, like so many guys have done over the years, and not being moved by it."
Tasker says there are a couple of games that stick out to him from his time at Highmark Stadium over the years. The first came during the 1992 AFC Wild Card Round game in the infamous "Comeback" game against his former team.
"I remember when Andre [Reed] caught that fourth touchdown to take the lead in 'The Comeback' game, and I turned around and looked at the stadium... you couldn't even discern human beings. It was just a mass of humanity, because nobody was looking at the field. Bills fans were hugging each other. They were turning up, facing the other way, high-fiving. It was just one of those moments where they knew it was historic, and they were there," Tasker recalled. "That game became mythic instantaneously, and it remains so to this day. But I'll never forget turning around and I couldn't even pick out human beings in the crowd. It was like a group hug, they all melded into one thing. It was quite a moment."
Looking back on "The Comeback" today, Tasker often jokes about the fact he's interacted with a large number of Western New Yorkers who remember being at the game, even though the stadium only sat a little more than 80,000 at the time.
"The game didn't sell out in time to lift the blackout. So if you were going to be there, you had to be there. You had to buy a ticket, you had to actually be there. We laugh, because I've met, like, a million people who say they were there, and they were the person who didn't want to leave. Everybody jumps on that bandwagon, but it is true," Tasker said with a smile. "It was one of the times when that building seemed to be filled with supernatural stuff. Something unbelievable happened, and it would happened right in front of us."
The other game in that stadium that resonates with Tasker only came just a few years back when the Bills started their current run of success.
"During COVID, when only 6,500 people were in the building, we were playing Baltimore [Ravens], and Taron Johnson picked it off on the goal line and took it the distance. 'Murph' [John Murphy] was on the call, and it took every ounce of energy and discipline in my body not to jump up and down screaming like the fans were doing. I had to be quiet for 'Murph's' call. That was a moment when that team became not just a good team, but a contender," Tasker said.
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Tasker had some great memories playing and admiring a number of his Hall of Fame teammates in Buffalo during his time with the team in the 1990s.
He admits he never truly appreciated just how good Andre Reed was, even after spending years with him in the wide receivers locker room.
"I went to meetings, and I didn't even think about Andre so much because I had lived with Andre in the meeting rooms. We practiced together, went through drills together, our lockers were nearby. I just spent every day in meetings and stuff with Andre and 'Beebs' [Beebe] and all those guys. So we were all like one person. As unbelievable and underrated as Andre is, even in the Hall of Fame, I kind of took Andre for granted. He was a dude," Tasker admitted.
Tasker also appreciated his time spent with players like Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas and Jim Kelly.
"Jim was amazing. I think Jim was amazing because I knew about his personality, and it was his personality that elevated his play. He would have taken a bullet to win a game, and we knew it. So we felt like we should be in the same head space, and we were. We all would have done anything to win a game, because Jim would have done anything to win a game," he said.
While Tasker has been gifted a number of items from the stadium over the years, especially during renovations of the 52-year-old facility, he says there's one particular item(s) that he would like to try and bring home with him once the stadium is decommissioned and prepared for demolition.
"We've had the same Season Tickets for 38 years, same two chairs. That's probably one thing," Tasker noted. "Maybe my two stadium seats that I never actually sat in for any game ever I've had for 38 years. So maybe I could take them to my house and actually sit in them."
As for what's to come with the new Highmark Stadium once it opens next July, Tasker knows the new state-of-the-art facility will be vastly different and vastly better than the current stadium.
"I know the people who put these stadiums together, the companies that do this, because of Terry [Pegula]'s willingness, they've up-charged a lot. There's some stuff in there that weren't in the original drawings. Terry has spared no expense. And whatever this stadium is going to be, it's going to be phenomenal, and you've got to thank Terry for it," Tasker said.
"I'll say this, I don't know what it's going to be. I haven't been in it enough, so I think the thing that I'm going to like the most about it is that when I walk in, I'm going to know that the guys who do this year-after-year, other stadiums around the country, they were really excited about this stadium. The guys who do it every day and who do it in Europe, they do it in Asia, they build stadiums in Africa, South America, they couldn't wait for this place to open because it was really special."
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