Buck Buchanan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buck Buchanan
Date of birth	September 10, 1940
Place of birth	Gainesville, Alabama
Date of death	July 16, 1992
Position(s)	Defensive Tackle
College	Grambling
NFL Draft	1963 / Round 19/ Pick 265
AFL Draft	1963 / Round 1/ Pick 1
Pro Bowls	AFL All-Star 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, NFL Pro Bowl 1970, 1971
Honors	All-Time All-AFL Second Team
Retired #s	Kansas City Chiefs #86
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1963-1969 1970-1975	AFL Kansas City Chiefs NFL Kansas City Chiefs
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1990

Junious "Buck" Buchanan (September 10, 1940 - July 16, 1992) was a former American Football defensive tackle who played for the Kansas City Chiefs.

1 High School Years
2 College Years
3 Professional career
4 See also
5 External link

[edit] High School Years

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

[edit] College Years

Buchanan attended Grambling State University and was a letterman in football. In football, he was a NAIA All-America selection.

[edit] Professional career

In 1963, the 6'7" 287 pound Buchanan was the first round draft choice of the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. Eddie Robinson, his coach at Grambling, where he had been an NAIA All-America in 1962, called him "the finest linemen I have seen."

Others who had watched Buchanan in action were equally enthusiastic. Buchanan had the physical size - 6-7 and 270 pounds- plus the athletic instincts to be exceptionally successful at his job of foiling opposition offenses. he was particularly effective at intimidating the passer and, in one season alone in 1967, he batted down 16 opposition passes at or behind the line of scrimmage. He was clocked at 4.9 in the 40 and 10.2 in the 100 at Grambling and, with that speed; he could range from sideline to sideline to make tackles.

In spite of the weekly pounding he took on the scrimmage line, 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.

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 Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990. Two years after he was inducted to the 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.