Bill Cahill, a former Buffalo Bills return specialist who provided one of the brighter special-teams moments of the 1973 season, has died after an extended illness. He was 75.
Sonny Sixkiller, the former University of Washington quarterback who played alongside Cahill in college, confirmed the death Thursday to SI.com.
Cahill spent two seasons with the Bills in 1973 and 1974. He appeared in 19 games, almost entirely on special teams, and handled both punts and kickoffs. He finished his NFL career with 14 punt returns for 135 yards and one touchdown, plus three kickoff returns for 68 yards.
That lone professional score came on Dec. 16, 1973, at Shea Stadium. Cahill fielded a punt and went 51 yards for a touchdown in a 34-14 Buffalo win over the New York Jets. The play came in the same game in which O.J. Simpson rushed for 200 yards.
Simpson closed that season with 2,003 rushing yards, becoming the first player in NFL history to top 2,000 in a single year. The Bills finished 9-5.
Cahill played five games as a rookie and 14 the following season, starting once. He wore No. 22 and was listed at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds. His role was limited on defense, but he gave Buffalo a reliable option on returns during a season when the offense revolved around Simpson.
The New Orleans Saints drafted Cahill in the seventh round of the 1973 NFL Draft, 158th overall. He signed with the Bills instead and spent his entire professional career in Buffalo.
Cahill was born May 5, 1951, in Bellevue, Washington. He graduated from Bellevue High School in 1969 and arrived at the University of Washington that fall. The Huskies had gone 1-9 the year before. Under coach Jim Owens, and with Cahill at free safety and Sixkiller at quarterback, Washington improved to 6-4 in 1970 and then 8-3 in both 1971 and 1972.
Cahill started for three seasons. He intercepted nine passes, including one he returned 15 yards for a touchdown against Washington State. He also developed into one of the conference’s better punt returners.
In 1971 he led the Pac-8 with 421 yards on 26 returns. That total included 100-yard performances against TCU and Illinois. He ended his college career with 668 punt-return yards on 49 attempts, a Washington record 13.6-yard average.
As a senior in 1972 he served as co-captain with Sixkiller and earned honorable-mention All-American recognition. He had already been named Academic All-Pac-8 in 1970 after posting a 3.18 grade-point average in psychology.
After football Cahill worked at Boeing in the Seattle area. He later earned an MBA from Seattle University in 1993. By 2008 he was working in production operations on the 787 Dreamliner and mentoring young football players in Bellevue. He subsequently moved into real estate in Seattle.
Cahill also appeared in the Chicago Tribune All-Star Game and was recognized as a National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete.
His two seasons in Buffalo were brief, but they placed him on the field during one of the franchise’s most memorable offensive years and produced a touchdown that still appears in the team’s return-score records.
