BUFFALO, N.Y. (March 29, 2001) Dr. James Ailinger, the National Football League's oldest former player, has died. He was 99.

Ailinger died Tuesday in Highland Hospital in Rochester after a brief illness.

The former Buffalo dentist's NFL career began and ended in 1924, when he played one season as center and nose guard for the Buffalo Bisons, formerly called the Buffalo All-Americans.

He was past president of the University at Buffalo Dental Alumni Association and served for several years as an assistant football and basketball coach at the school.

He married Helen McMullen in 1927. She died in 1989.