Dean Marlowe wasn’t born in Buffalo, but he’s made it his home ever since joining Bills.
The James Madison graduate and his wife even live there in the offseason.
“Everyone said, ‘Buffalo sucks. The city, the weather,’” Marlowe said with a chuckle, “and I’ll call a spade a spade. The weather isn’t good here. But the city is blue-collar and it’s great people, great food and the summers are nice. Me and my wife have a lot of appreciation for the city.”
It’s one of the reasons why Marlowe, a safety who has climbed from the Bills’ practice squad to a mainstay on the club’s 53-man roster, said he wanted to do what he could this week to help downtown Buffalo.
Western New York’s largest city, like in most metropolitan areas of America, has experienced both peaceful protests and destructive riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Marlowe said he and his wife walked the streets the morning after a riot.
“There were people still cleaning up and there was nothing left for us to do,” Marlowe said. “We walked probably a mile or mile and a half to try to find something to clean up, and we ran into a guy who said they’d been out there since 4 a.m. I said, ‘We’re late.’ So it’s been rough, but it’ll pass, and if we all handle it with love everything will be great.”
The country’s current events strike a particular cord with Marlowe, who has an outlook most Americans would benefit from hearing.
No political agenda — only levelheadedness, compassion and a deep understanding of why multiple viewpoints are so valuable.
“Both of my parents are retired NYPD officers, so I can relate on both ends,” said Marlowe, who participated in #BlackoutTuesday on his social media platforms. “I’m for people to fight for their human rights and it’s a right. You’re allowed to do it and you can protest. You can sit there and say, ‘There are people being treated unequally.’
“But I don’t think you should handle it with violence. I’m wishing all these cops, and there are a lot of great cops that do really great things — and their families are nervous for them to go out at this time — to be safe.
“So I can see both sides. I don’t want to play both sides because I’m not that kind of guy, but proximity breeds empathy and if you’re close with one another you can see each other’s perspectives.”
When I called Marlowe earlier this week, there was no grand intent to get into a heavy conversation about societal issues. I’m not qualified for that, nor is it my job. My job is to write about the Dukes, and provide the latest news and most interesting stories about the players and coaches associated with the program. The original plan was only to discuss his NFL career and how he’s managed to turn an undrafted free agent opportunity into a six-year stay — not without hurdles — in the league.
I even apologized to him because our discussion had gone outside of football, and that’s when Marlowe stopped me.
“It’s no problem,” he said. “I’m openly willing to talk about it because it’s the world we live in and we all need to talk about it. I think it’s great for us to be transparent.”
Marlowe was right.
And if everyone could listen to each other and realize it’s OK to have different views and opinions on prickly subjects, just like the former four-time All-Colonial Athletic Association team choice can, maybe we’d all — regardless of race, political affiliation, upbringing and culture — benefit from it.
