Buck Buchanan

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Junious "Buck" Buchanan (September 10, 1940 – July 16, 1992) was an American who played collegiate and Professional Football as a defensive tackle. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League (AFL) and in the National Football League (NFL).

High school years

Buchanan attended A. H. Parker High School in Birmingham, Alabama, and was a standout in football and basketball.

College years

Buchanan attended Grambling State University 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.

Professional career

In 1963, the 6'7" 287 pound Buchanan was the first player selected overall in the AFL Draft 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 Bowls.

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.

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.

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 Award
• Other American Football League players

External links

• Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member biography
• Football cards
• Buchanan's 1965 Topps football card