Cookie Gilchrist

Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist (May 25, 1935 – January 10, 2011) was an American football fullback who played in the American Football League and the Canadian Football League. A star at Har-Brack High School in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, he led the team to a 1953 W.P.I.A.L. co-championship with Donora. As a junior, he was talked into signing a professional contract with the NFL's Cleveland Browns by Paul Brown. The signing was against NFL rules and likely illegal, and when Brown reneged on his promise that Gilchrist would make the team, Gilchrist left training camp at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, and went to Canada to play. In the Ontario Rugby Football Union, he received the Jim Shanks Trophy as team MVP for the Sarnia Imperials in 1954. He went on to win a Grey Cup with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before moving to the AFL, where he won a championship with the Buffalo Bills. In 1962 he was named the AFL Most Valuable Player with Buffalo and became the first 1,000-yard rusher in AFL history. Across his professional career he ran for over 9,000 yards and was a combined ten-time All-Star, with six Canadian and four American selections. He was later named to the AFL All-Time Second-team.