Mark Pike, a former NFL player who made a name for himself as a special teams ace for the Buffalo Bills' AFC dynasty of the 1990s, died Wednesday after a battle with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He was 57.
Pike, who spent his entire NFL career with the Bills, had been honored earlier this season as the team's Crucial Catch honoree for their Week 4 game against the Houston Texans. Pike's illness was complicated by a recent COVID infection, which was followed by pneumonia.
A seventh-round pick out of Georgia Tech in the 1986 NFL Draft, Pike -- listed as a defensive lineman -- would become one of the greatest special teams players in the history of the Bills and an integral part of their dominant units of the 1990s. On a special teams unit that starred the legendary Steve Tasker, Pike's speed and ability to run combined with his size as a defensive lineman made him especially effective at running through blocks and making plays as part of Buffalo's coverage units.
Pike would end up playing his entire career in Buffalo, becoming the Bills' all-time leader in special teams tackles with 255, a mark which ranks second in NFL history to only special teams great Larry Izzo. Pike also had 34 tackles in playoff competition, and played on all four Bills teams that won the AFC Championship Game and went to the Super Bowl from 1990 to 1993.
"It had been such a great privilege for me to have been his coach with the Buffalo Bills during the 1990's when Mark had been such an integral part in contributing to the success our teams enjoyed during our four trips to those Super Bowl games and beyond," read a statement by longtime Bills head coach Marv Levy. "Mark was not only an outstanding defensive lineman, linebacker, and special teams standout, but he was the epitome of all that I had ever hoped our players would be like."
Pike is survived by his wife Sharon, two sons Ezekiel and Malachi, and daughter Kramer.
