Walt Patulski

Patulski was selected by the Buffalo Bills with the first overall pick of the 1972 NFL draft. He was the last Notre Dame player to be drafted #1 overall. His size and speed were among the reasons he was highly touted: At 6'6" and 250 pounds, he could run the 40 in 4.9 seconds.

As a rookie, Patulski led the Bills (coached by Lou Saban) with five sacks. In 1973, the Bills improved to a 9–5 record after going 4–9–1 in his rookie season of 1972, he recorded seven sacks, which was second on the team and was voted AP NFL Defensive Player of the Week (November 28, 1973), after Week 11.^[8] In 1974, the Bills recorded another 9–5 record and made the playoffs for the first time in eight years as he recorded 5.5 sacks. The Bills were 8-6 during his third season, but did not advance to the AFC playoffs. He recorded four sacks, a career low, however, two came in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals offensive line, who gave up only eight sacks in 1975. He lined up against St. Louis all-pro and Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive tackle Dan Dierdorf.^[9] Patulski played four years (1972–1975) with the Bills, and then he was traded to the Cardinals for a second-round draft pick (which they would use to draft Joe Devlin), and played one year with the St. Louis Cardinals (1977). He then suffered career-ending back surgery due to an injury he suffered while with the Chicago Bears.

The Bills considered Patulski expendable when they acquired Sherman White from the Cincinnati Bengals, who was selected second overall in the 1972 draft out of California.

Patulski's career was considered unsuccessful. Saban, grousing at his perceived lack of meanness (as per the perception of what was thought of for a defensive end) was quoted in later years as saying that "In tough situations, he would take the easy way out. To be aggressive, it just wasn't him."^[10] In fact, ESPN ranked him as the 27th biggest draft bust of all-time on April 18, 2008.^[11]

Patulski is a recipient of the Key to Syracuse (New York) for his distinguished community service. He also served as a sales manager of one of Syracuse's banks. He served for six years as Commissioner of the Syracuse Board of Education, and has also been a board member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He has also recently been guest speaker at the National Football Foundation.

He was appointed and later elected as Commissioner of Education for the Syracuse School District in 1980. Of Polish descent,^[12] he was honored on June 19, 2014, with an induction into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in Troy, Michigan.

Patulski has two daughters, Wallis and Emily. Wallis is a graduate of George Washington University. Emily graduated from Boston University where she majored in psychology.^[13][14]

In September 2016, Bills coach Rex Ryan used Patulski's name as an alias when he posed as a reporter for The Buffalo News at a press conference for New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. The practical joke led the News to commission a guest column from the real Patulski following the Bills' win over the Patriots on October 2.^[15] The News then profiled Patulski a month later, in which his relatively disappointing career was largely blamed on two factors: he was in an unusually weak draft class, and his quiet personality clashed with the style of Bills coach Lou Saban. Patulski never spoke to Saban again after his football career ended, despite the opportunities to do so.^[16]