NFL Hall of Famer Billy Shaw dead at 85: Buffalo Bills legend passes away from hyponatremia

Buffalo Bills legend Billy Shaw has tragically died at the age of 85, his family announced on Friday.

The Hall of Famer, who spent nearly a decade in the AFL as an offensive guard passed away at his home in Toccoa, Georgia. His wife, Patsy, and their three daughters were at his bedside.

The cause of death was revealed to be hyponatremia, a condition where there is an abnormally low level of sodium in a person's blood. 

'We are saddened to learn about the passing of Bills Wall of Famer Billy Shaw,' Buffalo wrote on X. 'We are thinking of his friends, family, and loved ones during this difficult time.'

Shaw is the only player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame having never played in the National Football League. The AFL and NFL merged in 1970, the year after he retired.

A second-round draft pick out of Georgia Tech, he went on to become an all-time AFL great who powered the Bills' famed rushing attack of the 1960s.

'Billy's all-around athleticism brought a new dimension to the guard position and made the 1960s Buffalo Bills a formidable opponent capable of bruising opponents with a punishing rushing attack,' Hall of Fame president Jim Porter said Friday in a statement.

'And while Billy could be unforgiving to anyone in his way on the football field, he was the classic example of the "Southern gentlemen" off the field to everyone he encountered.'

Shaw made eight AFL All-Star games in his nine seasons. He was an All-AFL selection five times and a two-time AFL champion.

He also was named to the All-Time AFL team and to pro football's All-Decade team of the 1960s.

Shaw was drafted in 1961 by both the Bills and the Dallas Cowboys of the then-rival National Football League. 

Shaw felt his size - he was 6ft 2ins and 258lbs - and speed made him better suited to play left guard than linebacker, so he chose to play in the AFL.

Although the AFL was known as a league where quarterbacks aired it out, that was not the case in upstate New York, where the Bills featured a power running attack and a stout defense.

Former Buffalo offensive line coach Jerry Smith called Shaw 'the driving force of the offensive unit' that led the Bills to back-to-back titles in 1964-65.