Buck Buchanan
Encyclopedia
Junious "Buck" Buchanan (September 10, 1940 – July 16, 1992) was an American collegiate and professional Football
defensive tackle. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs
in the American Football League
(AFL) and in the National Football League
(NFL).
in Birmingham, Alabama
, and was a standout in football
and basketball
.
and was a letterman in football
and an NAIA
All-America
selection. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
in 1996. He is one of four players coached by Eddie Robinson enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
.
by the Kansas City Chiefs. Eddie Robinson, his coach at Grambling State, where he had been an NAIA All-American in 1962, called him "the finest lineman I have seen." Buchanan was the first black number one draft choice in Professional Football. He came from a small historically black university, a source that the NFL ignored and the AFL cultivated. In fact, the New York Giants had drafted Buchanan in the nineteenth round of the 1963 NFL Draft, the 265th player chosen overall.
Others who had watched Buchanan in action were equally enthusiastic. Buchanan had the physical size plus the athletic instincts to be exceptionally successful at his job of foiling opposing offenses. He was particularly effective at intimidating the passer and in one season alone (1967 AFL season|1967) he batted down 16 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage
. He was clocked at 4.9 in the 40-yard dash and 10.2 in the 100-yard dash
at Grambling State and with that speed he could range from sideline to sideline to make tackles
.
In spite of the weekly pounding he took on the line of scrimmage, Buchanan was extremely durable. He played in 182 career games that included a string of 166 straight. After dabbling briefly at defensive end
as a rookie, Buchanan
settled down to his permanent job as the Chiefs' defensive right tackle. He was named to his first AFL All-Star Game after his second season and played in six AFL All-Star games and two AFC
-NFC
Pro Bowl
s.
He teamed with Curley Culp
, Aaron Brown and Jerry Mays to establish a dominant front four for the Chiefs, culminating in their victory over the Minnesota Vikings
in Super Bowl IV
, when they allowed Viking runners only 67 yards rushing in 19 carries and 172 net passing yards, Buchanan in particular dominating the opposing center, Mick Tingelhoff
, a 5-time AP
first-team All-Pro
selection up to that 1969 season, as handily as the left guard, Jim Vellone
.
He was selected to the second team of the AFL All-Time Team
, and was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
in 1987 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 1990. Two years after he was inducted to the Pro Hall of Fame, he died from lung cancer
at the age of 51.
In 1999, he was ranked number 67 on The Sporting News
list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, right behind his former Chiefs teammate Bobby Bell
at number 66. The Chiefs also retired his uniform number 86.
Buchanan once appeared on ABC
's The American Sportsman
hosted by Grits Gresham
of Natchitoches, Louisiana
. The program featured Gresham taking celebrities on big-game hunting
trips, fishing
tournaments, or shooting contests in exotic places around the world.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
defensive tackle. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
in the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
(AFL) and in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL).
High school years
Buchanan attended A. H. Parker High SchoolA. H. Parker High School
A.H. Parker High School is a public high school located in Birmingham, Alabama. The school educates over 1,000 students in grades 9 to 12 in the Birmingham City Schools district.As of 2010 the principal is Cedric Tatum.- History :A.H...
in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, and was a standout in football
High school football
High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
and basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
.
College years
Buchanan attended Grambling State UniversityGrambling State University
Grambling State University is a historically black , public, coeducational university, located in Grambling, Louisiana. The university is the home of legendary football coach Eddie Robinson and is on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.-Academics:Grambling State University provides over...
and was a letterman in football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and an NAIA
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics is an athletic association that organizes college and university-level athletic programs. Membership in the NAIA consists of smaller colleges and universities across the United States. The NAIA allows colleges and universities outside the USA...
All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
selection. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
in 1996. He is one of four players coached by Eddie Robinson enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
.
Professional career
In 1963, the 6'7" 287 pound Buchanan was the first player selected overall in the AFL Draft1963 American Football League Draft
-First round:-See also:*List of American Football League players*History of American Football League draft*List of Professional Football Drafts-External links:*...
by the Kansas City Chiefs. Eddie Robinson, his coach at Grambling State, where he had been an NAIA All-American in 1962, called him "the finest lineman I have seen." Buchanan was the first black number one draft choice in Professional Football. He came from a small historically black university, a source that the NFL ignored and the AFL cultivated. In fact, the New York Giants had drafted Buchanan in the nineteenth round of the 1963 NFL Draft, the 265th player chosen overall.
Others who had watched Buchanan in action were equally enthusiastic. Buchanan had the physical size plus the athletic instincts to be exceptionally successful at his job of foiling opposing offenses. He was particularly effective at intimidating the passer and in one season alone (1967 AFL season|1967) he batted down 16 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage
Line of scrimmage
In American and Canadian football a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun...
. He was clocked at 4.9 in the 40-yard dash and 10.2 in the 100-yard dash
100-yard dash
The 100 yard dash is a track and field event of 100 yards or 91.44 metres. It was part of the Commonwealth Games until 1966, and was included in the decathlon of the Olympics, at least in 1904. It is not generally used in international events...
at Grambling State and with that speed he could range from sideline to sideline to make tackles
Tackle (football move)
Most forms of football have a move known as a tackle. The primary purposes of tackling is to disposses an opponent of the ball, to stop the player from gaining ground towards goal or to stop them from carrying out what they intend....
.
In spite of the weekly pounding he took on the line of scrimmage, Buchanan was extremely durable. He played in 182 career games that included a string of 166 straight. After dabbling briefly at defensive end
Defensive end
Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...
as a rookie, Buchanan
Buchanan
- People :* Buchanan * James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States* James M. Buchanan, Nobel Prize-winning American economist.- Places :In Africa:* Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal townIn Canada:* Buchanan, Saskatchewan...
settled down to his permanent job as the Chiefs' defensive right tackle. He was named to his first AFL All-Star Game after his second season and played in six AFL All-Star games and two AFC
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
-NFC
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
Pro Bowl
Pro Bowl
In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
s.
He teamed with Curley Culp
Curley Culp
Curley Culp is a former professional American football player. An offensive and defensive lineman, he played college football at Arizona State University, was the NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion while at ASU, and played professionally in the American Football League for the Kansas City Chiefs...
, Aaron Brown and Jerry Mays to establish a dominant front four for the Chiefs, culminating in their victory over the Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
in Super Bowl IV
Super Bowl IV
Super Bowl IV was the fourth AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, and the second one to officially bear the name "Super Bowl"...
, when they allowed Viking runners only 67 yards rushing in 19 carries and 172 net passing yards, Buchanan in particular dominating the opposing center, Mick Tingelhoff
Mick Tingelhoff
Henry Michael "Mick" Tingelhoff is a former football center who played for the Minnesota Vikings from 1962-1978.-College career:...
, a 5-time AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
first-team All-Pro
All-Pro
All-Pro is a term mostly used in the NFL for the best players of each position during that season. It began as polls of sportswriters in the early 1920s...
selection up to that 1969 season, as handily as the left guard, Jim Vellone
Jim Vellone
James Carl "Jim" Vellone was a guard in the National Football League. Vellone spent his entire five-year career for the Minnesota Vikings, starting in most of his appearances during this span. Vellone helped the Vikings win the 1969 NFL Championship and also started in Super Bowl IV, the first...
.
He was selected to the second team of the AFL All-Time Team
American Football League All-Time Team
The American Football League All- Time Team was selected on January 14, 1970. The first and second teams would be determined by a panel of members of the AFL's Hall of Fame Board of Selectors: Since the First team included two halfbacks, rather than a halfback and a fullback, Cookie Gilchrist, a...
, and was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history...
in 1987 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
in 1990. Two years after he was inducted to the Pro Hall of Fame, he died from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
at the age of 51.
In 1999, he was ranked number 67 on The Sporting News
The Sporting News
Sporting News is an American-based sports magazine. It was established in 1886, and it became the dominant American publication covering baseball — so much so that it acquired the nickname "The Bible of Baseball"...
list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, right behind his former Chiefs teammate Bobby Bell
Bobby Bell
Bobby Lee Bell, Sr is a former professional American football linebacker/defensive end. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and was a member of the Chiefs' team that won Super Bowl IV against the Minnesota Vikings.- High school career :He excelled in...
at number 66. The Chiefs also retired his uniform number 86.
Buchanan once appeared on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's The American Sportsman
The American Sportsman
The American Sportsman was a television series from 1965 to 1986 on ABC which presented filmed highlights of hunting and/or fishing trips involving the program's hosts and celebrities. It was typically presented on Sunday afternoons, frequently following coverage of live sporting events...
hosted by Grits Gresham
Grits Gresham
Claude Hamilton "Grits" Gresham, Jr. was an internationally-known American sportsman, author, photographer and television personality who hosted ABC's The American Sportsman series from 1966-1979...
of Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
. The program featured Gresham taking celebrities on big-game hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
trips, fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
tournaments, or shooting contests in exotic places around the world.
Death
He was diagnosed with lung cancer a week before his Hall of Fame induction and died in his Kansas City home on July 16, 1992 at the age of 51.See also
- Buck Buchanan AwardBuck Buchanan AwardThe Buck Buchanan Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding defensive player in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision of college football, and was first given in 1995 after the Walter Payton Award was designated solely for offensive players.The trophy was named in honor of the...
- Other American Football League players
External links
- Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member biography
- Football cards
- Buchanan's 1965 Topps football card