Long-time Bills fan feeling emotional about final home game at Highmark

Geno Allport’s family have been season ticket holders since 1974, a year after stadium opened

Photos courtesy of Allport family: Geno Allport holds daughter Hensley at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.

ALBION – It’s not just a football stadium to Geno Allport. The Buffalo Bills are in his family’s DNA, he proudly says, and today’s final regular season home game at Highmark Stadium will be an emotional farewell.

Geno’s family have been season ticket holders since 1974, a year after the opening of what was Rich Stadium. The home of the Buffalo Bills has been called Ralph Wilson Stadium “The Ralph”, New Era Field and Highmark.

The Bills will move to a new $2.1 billion stadium next season. The current facility will be demolished.

Geno, 51, said going to the games has been a strong bonding experience for him with his father and grandfather, and also his son and other family and friends.

“I was born and raised there,” he said on Saturday before today’s finale. “I have all the memories with my mom, dad and grampa there. Hopefully I can create new memories with my kids in the new stadium.”

The Allports will continue to be season ticket holders at the new stadium, but Allport said people who have been in the seats close to them will have spots elsewhere in the stadium. Other long-time fans close to them opted against buying season tickets at the new stadium.

Geno was hoping the current stadium would stay. It has been significantly upgraded over the years. It is the fifth oldest stadium in the NFL.

Geno has been to every home game since 1981, including in Covid when fans weren’t allowed. Allport was able to get a job in security to be at the games in 2020.

When Geno was a kid, the family parked near the players’ lot. Geno would get their autographs and his mother would get photos of him with the Bills players. Now, they aren’t nearly as accessible.

The only game he missed was in October 2006. A freak snowstorm on Oct. 12-13, moved back the playoff game for Albion’s youth football team coached by Allport. He coached that championship game for the Albion team on a Sunday. (He tried to push the game back but the league set it for the same time as the Bills game.)

Tre Allport, 31, has been a regular with his father at the Bills games. In bottom right photo he is shown with retired quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a Buffalo Bills legend.

Allport said the Bills have provided many incredible victories over the wins. He counts the 51-3 win over the Raiders on Jan. 20, 1991. That demolition of the Raider sent the Bills to their first Super Bowl. The Bills used their no-huddle offense led by Jim Kelly to torch the Raiders that day, running up 41 points by halftime.

“They could do no wrong,” Allport said. “Everything went right.”

He remembers another game from a dark time in the Bills era. They were 0-11 when the mighty Dallas Cowboys came to town on Nov. 18, 1984. The Bills beat them 14-3 with running back Greg Bell gaining 206 yards, including an 85-yard touchdown on the first play. The Bills finished 2-14 that season, and also in 1985.

The team became a powerhouse in the late 1980s and first half of the 1990s with Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed among the star players. They remain the only team to ever make it to four straight super bowls.

The fans would endure a 17-year playoff drought from 2000 until the 2017 season. Led by Josh Allen, the team has now made the playoffs seven straight years.

Allport loves the team, but he loves the people next to him in the stands even more.

The past 25 years, the Allports have had six seats at section 135, row 12, seats 1 through 6.

Before his family heads to today’s game, Allport will go to the Bates Road Cemetery in Medina to stop by gravesites for his parents, Gene “Lou” Allport and Pam Allport.

Geno considered ending his season tickets after this season. But his daughter Hensley, age 7, loves the team, too.

“We will keep going next year,” he said. “I don’t want my youngest one to miss out.”

He is grateful for the many friendships he’s made in the stands. They have watched his son, Tre, grow from a boy to a man. Tre is 31 and endured the 17-year drought before experiencing a team that has made the playoffs eight of the past nine years.

“I wish it wasn’t happening,” Allport said about the finale at the stadium. “I was born and raised there. It will be a sad day. I’ve been dreading it since they announced it.”

Allport said the new stadium won’t be the same mainly because many of the long-time fans who are his friends won’t be right next to him.

“You get used to the people around you,” he said. “We are all yelling to support the team. Next year we’ll be making new friends.”

File photo by Tom Rivers: Geno Allport proudly displays his love for the Buffalo Bills at his Albion home. He was the Buffalo Bills Fan of the Year in 2021. The Allports have been season ticket holders since 1974, and Geno was also recognized for his leadership with Albion youth football.