Bills’ Sean McDermott tells story of first time meeting Marv Levy

They had a race:

Happy Birthday, Marv Levy!

The former head coach of the Buffalo Bills and Hall of Famer is celebrating his 98th birthday on Thursday, Aug. 3.

That same morning, current Bills head coach Sean McDermott spoke with the media via video conference. He started the presser by sending birthday wishes to Levy but he also shared the story of how they met.

According to McDermott, the two saw each other somewhere during the time Levy was Buffalo’s general manager between 2006-2007 at the NFL combine. McDermott was working out on a treadmill and Levy walked up next to him and started to use the elliptical.

“For any coach, let alone a young coach and with (Levy) having a shared experience being at William & Mary years before I was there and just to meet him, his persona precedes him. I had never met him in person. I’m jogging on the treadmill and here’s the legend right beside me,” McDermott said.

McDermott was asked who won the “race” on the machines next to each other as well.

“He was on the elliptical and I was on the treadmill so maybe it wasn’t a fair race,” McDermott said.

“When I got off, I shook his hand and said, I’m Sean McDermott and we have something in common, I was at William & Mary and he was very gracious, very cordial as you would expect,” McDermott added.

Levy still sits atop the leaderboard of head coaching wins for the Bills with 182. McDermott is third with 97. Lou Saban has 113.

For more from McDermott on Levy, see the attached Batavia Daily News video below:

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