Doug Buffone
Encyclopedia
Douglas John Buffone is a former American football
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...

 linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 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...

. Buffone, the son of a coal miner (whose parents were Italian immigrants from the southern province of Cosenza, regione di Calabria), attended high school at Shannock Valley High School in Rural Valley, Pennsylvania
Rural Valley, Pennsylvania
Rural Valley is a borough in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 922 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Rural Valley is located at ....

.

College career

Buffone played linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 and center
Center (American football)
Center is a position in American football and Canadian football . The center is the innermost lineman of the offensive line on a football team's offense...

 from 1962 to 1965 at the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...

. Buffone is one of only four players to lead UofL in 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....

 for three consecutive seasons. The others are Mark Sander, Tom Jackson
Tom Jackson (American football)
Thomas Louie "Tom" Jackson, also referred to as "TJ" or "Tommy", is an NFL analyst for ESPN and a former Pro Bowl linebacker for the Denver Broncos.-College:...

 ('70-72) and Tyrus McCloud
Tyrus McCloud
Tyrus McCloud was an American football linebacker at Louisville. He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals and two seasons in the NFL for the Baltimore Ravens....

 ('94-96). He remains the Cardinals' No. 3 all-time tackler with 479, just nine stops behind the program's all-time leader Mark Sander ('87-90). Veteran head coach
Head coach
A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches...

 Frank Camp
Frank Camp
Edward Franklin Camp, Jr. was the head football coach at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, from 1946 to 1968. He is credited as the man who brought back Louisville football following a three-year absence caused by World War II, and has the most wins of any head...

, who tutored NFL greats like Johnny Unitas
Johnny Unitas
John Constantine Unitas , known as Johnny Unitas or "Johnny U", and nicknamed "The Golden Arm", was a professional American football player in the 1950s through the 1970s, spending the majority of his career with the Baltimore Colts. He was a record-setting quarterback, and the National Football...

, Lenny Lyles
Lenny Lyles
Lenny Lyles, was a professional American Football defensive back who played twelve seasons in the National Football League. He started in Super Bowl III for the Baltimore Colts.-External Links:*...

, Ernie Green and Ken Kortas
Ken Kortas
Kenneth Conrad Kortas is a former professional American football defensive tackle in the National Football League. He played six seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Chicago Bears....

, said Buffone was "the most complete ball player I've ever coached."

NFL career

Following his collegiate career
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...

, Buffone was selected by the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in the fourth round of the 1966 NFL Draft
1966 NFL Draft
The 1966 National Football League Draft was held on November 27, 1965. It was the last draft in which the NFL and the AFL drafted their players separate of one another. As a result, many players selected by teams from both leagues would choose to play for the more established NFL, or in a rarer...

 and the eighth round of the American Football League Draft
American Football League Draft
The American Football League stocked its teams in two ways:# Signing free agents ....

 by the San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

. Buffone went on to play 15 seasons at linebacker for the Bears, retiring in 1980 as the all-time leader in games played for the legendary organization.

In his professional career, Buffone gathered more than 1,200 tackles, going over the 100-tackle mark in seven seasons. He also had the honor of serving as defensive captain for eight seasons, beginning in 1972. Buffone retired with 24 career interceptions to lead all Bear linebackers. The first two career pickoffs of his storied career came off future Hall of Famers Bart Starr
Bart Starr
Bryan Bartlett "Bart" Starr is a former professional American football player and coach. Wearing #15, he was the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971 and head coach from 1975 to 1983, compiling a record of 52–76–3 ....

 and Johnny Unitas. His retirement from football also signaled the end of an era for the Bears as he was the last active Bear to have played for George Halas
George Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...

.

Post football career

Buffone and his family currently reside in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, where he remains heavily involved in Chicago sports and broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

. Doug was one of the founders of the Arena Football League, starting the Chicago Bruisers
Chicago Bruisers
The Chicago Bruisers were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the four-team "demonstration season" of 1987. They played their home games in the former Rosemont Horizon, now the Allstate Arena, home of the Chicago Rush.-History:...

 franchise, which played in the ArenaBowl II
ArenaBowl II
Arena Bowl '88 was the Arena Football League's second-ever championship game. The game featured the #2 Detroit Drive against the #1 Chicago Bruisers .-Game summary:...

, and was involved in the United States Football League
United States Football League
The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...

 with the Chicago Blitz
Chicago Blitz
The Chicago Blitz were a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League in the mid 1980s. They played at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois.- Team history :...

. He provided broadcast color commentary for the first NFL game (featuring the Bears and the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

) in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Doug currently co-hosts "Chicago NFL Live" on "The Score" WSCR
WSCR
WSCR is a sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago. It is known as "The Score," and has been on...

 670 AM, as well as Bears postgame with Ed O'Bradovich
Ed O'Bradovich
Edward O'Bradovich is a former American football defensive end in the NFL. Drafted by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round of the 1962 NFL Draft, he spent his entire ten-year career with the Bears...

, and recently completed 14 seasons of The Doug Buffone Show on Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...

 Chicago. Other shows Buffone was involved in producing included The Neal Anderson
Neal Anderson
Charles Neal Anderson is a former American college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League for eight seasons in the 1980s and 1990s...

 Show
for WBBM-AM
WBBM (AM)
WBBM is an all-news CBS radio station in Chicago, Illinois broadcasting on the AM dial at 780 kHz. It is owned by CBS along with WBBM-TV....

, and The Mike Ditka
Mike Ditka
Michael Keller Ditka, Jr. is a former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for three years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach, and a head...

 Show
for WSCR-AM. On "The Score", Buffone also co-hosted shows with Mike North
Mike North
Mike North is an American radio sports personality working for Clear Channel Communications as a weekend host on their Fox Sports Radio subsidiary. He was the co-host of the Monsters in the Morning with Dan Jiggetts on Comcast SportsNet Chicago in 2009 and was a sports talk radio show host at WSCR...

 (The Wise Guys) and Norm Van Lier
Norm Van Lier
Norman Allen Van Lier III was an NBA basketball player and television broadcaster who spent the majority of his career with the Chicago Bulls.-Biography:...

 (The Bear and The Bull) as well as other hosts.

In May 2009, Buffone and his long-time Bears post-game partner Ed O'Bradovich left WSCR-AM and joined Chicago Sports Webio. However, in June 2009, the founder of Chicago Sports Webio was charged with operating a Ponzi scheme
Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation...

, and the site was shut down. Buffone and O'Bradovich re-signed with the Score in late August 2009.

Doug is an entrepreneur, and part owner of several Chicago area businesses, including "Gibson's Steak House", one of the most popular nightspots in Chicago's Rush Street
Rush Street (Chicago)
Rush Street is predominantly a northbound one-way street in the Near North Side community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States...

 area, and Digital One, a video production and streaming video company in the Chicago suburbs. Doug's company Digital One is the creator of ClickStreamTV, an online video platform product that was designed for small to medium sized businesses.
Also, Doug now has a blog on his website where he posts his opinions on sports. http://www.buffone.com/blog/?cat=1

Buffone began broadcasting Chicago Rush
Chicago Rush
The Chicago Rush is an arena football team based in Rosemont, Illinois. It is a member of the Central Division of the National Conference of the Arena Football League. The team was founded in 2001 and is co-owned by Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame player and coach.The Rush have qualified for the...

 Arena Football League
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League is the highest level of professional indoor American football in the United States. It is currently the second longest running professional football league in the United States, after the National Football League. It was founded in 1987 by Jim Foster...

 games for Comcast SportsNet and WGN in 2010.

Records and accomplishments

  • Played 186 games as a Bear, the third most among Bears.
  • Had a career-high 158 tackles in 1972
  • Had 11 solo tackles vs. New Orleans (10/6/74)
  • Holds the Bears record for most career interceptions at linebacker (24)
  • Holds the Bears record for most sacks in a season (18 in 1968)
  • Was voted into the Louisville Hall of Fame with Johnny Unitas in 1979

  • It's in the genes: Doug was not the only Buffone to excel at the game of football, as his first cousin-once removed, Tim Buffone (also a Shannock Valley H.S. alumnus), was a 1998-2001 standout all-star at the NCAA Division II perennial powerhouse Indiana University of Pennsylvania
    Indiana University of Pennsylvania
    Indiana University of Pennsylvania is a public university in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, USA. The university is northeast of Pittsburgh. It is the largest university in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and is the commonwealth's fifth largest university...

    http://www.iup.edu/varsitysports/football/. To that end, he was awarded the Dan Thompson Memorial Award (Most Inspirational Player) http://www.iup.edu/varsitysports/sports/fb/previous/awards.shtm a record three times. After college, Tim also went on to play for 3 seasons with the Ohio Valley Greyhounds
    Ohio Valley Greyhounds
    The Ohio Valley Greyhounds were a professional indoor football team. They began play in 1999 as the Steel Valley Smash, a charter member of the IFL. After the league folded, they moved to the NIFL, became a charter member, and renamed themselves as the Ohio Valley Greyhounds...

     NIFL where he was voted to the Atlantic Eastern Division all-star (first team defense squad) as well.
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