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| Buck Buchanan | |
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Position: Tackle |
| Member Biography | |
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Junious (Buck) Buchanan was a giant who was fast and agile.
He stood 6-7 in height, weighed 270 pounds, and had
all-around athletic ability. At Parker High School in
Birmingham, Alabama, Buchanan captained the basketball and
football teams. He was timed at 10.2 seconds in the 100-yard
dash. He played one year of basketball at Grambling. He was on
the football team four years, playing tackle on both offense
and defense, and was named NAIA All-America in 1962.
He began the 1963 season with the College All-Stars,
who beat the Green Bay Packers 20-17 in the annual Chicago
game. This was the last time the college stars beat the
pro team in the annual game which was discontinued after the
1976 season. Buchanan was drafted by two pro teams, the
Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League and the
New York Giants of the National Football League. He chose
the Chiefs, because "they picked me in the first round, and
this was the first time a player from a black college had
been named in the first round of a pro draft." Hank Stram,
the Chiefs coach, said, "We picked Buck because of his size,
speed, and a great, great attitude." Buchanan played 13
years for the Chiefs, 1963-75, was all-pro six times and was
his team's co-captain. He served as assistant coach with the
New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns 1976-78, then
started a construction company called All-Pro. He founded
the Black Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City and served as
its president 1986-89. Buchanan was born Sept. 10, 1940, in
Gainesville, Alabama. He died July 16, 1992, after suffering
from lung cancer. | |