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Cookie Gilchrist
Date of birth	May 25, 1935
Place of birth	Brackenridge, Pennsylvania
Position(s)	Fullback
College	None
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	CFL All-Star 5 times AFL All-Star 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
Awards	1962 AP, UPI AFL MVP
Honors	All-Time All-AFL Fullback
Records	Most rushing touchdowns, season, 13 (1962)
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1955 1956 1957 1958 1959-1961 1962-1964 1965, 1967 1966	ORFU Sarnia Imperials ORFU Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders CFL Toronto Argonauts AFL Buffalo Bills AFL Denver Broncos AFL Miami Dolphins

Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist (born May 25, 1935 in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania) was an American football player in the American Football League.

A star player in high school, he signed a pro football contract with the Cleveland Browns just after graduation but left training camp at Hiram College, in Hiram, Ohio and went to Canada to play where he was team MVP for the Sarnia Imperials and the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen of the Ontario Rugby Football Union. He joined the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, helping lead them to a 1957 Grey Cup victory. He played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, rushing for over 1,300 yards, and played 3 years for the Toronto Argonauts, where he was runner up for the 1960 CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award. Gilchrist played fullback, linebacker and placekicker, and gained over 4,800 yards rushing in the Canadian Football League.

Gilchrist then joined the roster of the Buffalo Bills of the fledgling American Football League. While with Buffalo, Gilchrist played fullback and kicked, though he insisted he could have played both ways. He was the first 1000-yard American Football League rusher, with 1,096 in a 14-game schedule in 1962. That year he set the all-time AFL record for touchdowns with 13, and earned AFL MVP honors. Gilchrist rushed for a professional football record 243 yards and five touchdowns in a single game against the New York Jets in 1963. Though he was only with the Bills for three years (1962-1964), he remains the team's fifth leading rusher all-time, and led the league in scoring in each of his three years as a Bill. Gilchrist ran for 122 yards in the Bills' 1964 American Football League championship defeat of the San Diego Chargers, 20-7. His 4.5 yd/rush average is second as a Bill only to O.J. Simpson.

In an early civil rights victory for black athletes, Gilchrist led a successful boycott of New Orleans as the site of the 1965 American Football League All-Star game. He is the only athlete to turn down being enshrined into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum, because of what he described as racism and exploitation by management. Gilchrist frequently was at odds with team management, the American ones working for Canadian teams, he told a reporter from the London Free Press, saying that most of the problems he encountered were a result of his standing up for principles at a time when black athletes were expected to remain silent.

Gilchrist also played for the Denver Broncos in 1965 and 1967, and the Miami Dolphins in 1966.

Cookie Gilchrist was selected as the fullback of the All-Time All-American Football League Team.

In an article in the Buffalo News on March 18, 2007, Gilchrist, now 71, announced that he has been treated for throat cancer. He currently lives in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania.

• First American Football League player to gain over 1,000 yards in a season (14 games, 1,096 yards in 1962)
• Previously held the professional football record for most yards rushing in a game, 243 yards vs. the New York Jets, 1963.

• Other American Football League players

• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.

Preceded by George Blanda

American Football League MVP 1962 with Len Dawson

Succeeded by Lance Alworth, Clem Daniels, & Tobin Rote

American Football League | All-Time Team
Joe Namath | Clem Daniels | Paul Lowe | Lance Alworth | Cookie Gilchrist* | Don Maynard | Fred Arbanas | Jim Otto | Ed Budde | Billy Shaw | Ron Mix | Jim Tyrer | George Blanda | Nick Buoniconti | Bobby Bell | George Webster | Johnny Robinson | George Saimes | Willie Brown | Dave Grayson | Houston Antwine | Tom Sestak | Jerry Mays | Gerry Philbin | Jerrel Wilson |

Preceded by Billy Cannon

American Football League Rushing Leader 1962 (14 games) 1,096 yds, 5.1 yds/att

Succeeded by Clem Daniels