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File:StrattonTacklesLincoln.jpg
Stratton tackles Keith Lincoln
in 1964 AFL Championship game.
SPORT Magazine
Born (1941-04-10) April 10, 1941 (age 83)
Vonore, Tennessee
Position(s)Linebacker
CollegeTennessee
AFL Draft1962 / Round 13
Jersey #(s)58
Career highlights
AFL All-Star1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968
AwardsBuffalo Bills WOF
HonorsAmerican Football League Champion, 1964 and 1965
AFL All-Time 2nd Team
RecordsMost games played with same LB partners, 62
(Harry Jacobs and John Tracey)
Statistics
* Pro Football Reference
Teams
1962-1969
1970-1972
1973
AFL Buffalo Bills
NFL Buffalo Bills
NFL San Diego Chargers

David Michael Stratton (born April 10, 1941 in Vonore, Tennessee) was an American football linebacker in the AFL and NFL for the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers.[1]

Drafted out of the University of Tennessee in the 13th round of the 1962 AFL Draft, Stratton was selected as an AFL All-Star six straight seasons from 1963 through 1968. Lou Saban used him at linebacker, where with Harry Jacobs and John Tracey he filled out the AFL's best linebacking crew, playing together for 62 consecutive games from 1963 through 1967, a pro football record. They helped the formidable front four hold opposing teams without a 100-yard rusher for seventeen consecutive games in 1964 and 1965, and achieved American Football League championships in both those years.

In the 1964 AFL championship game against the San Diego Chargers, he made the memorable "hit heard 'round the world". The Chargers led 7-0 and were marching toward another score when Stratton tackled the Chargers' Hall of Famer Keith Lincoln, putting him out of the game. The Bills shut out San Diego for the rest of the game, and won, 20-7. Stratton was selected to the All-Time All-AFL second team.[1]

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