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Saturday, August 4, 2001
Buoniconti finally getting ultimate recognition
Associated Press
MIAMI -- About a decade ago, Nick Buoniconti stopped reading
the newspapers and watching television when the Pro Football Hall
of Fame selections were announced.
Buoniconti had given up hope of making the Hall of Fame, and he
didn't want to know the annual results. He couldn't handle seeing
or hearing his name passed over anymore.
It was one of the rare times when his instincts were wrong.
Buoniconti will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next Saturday
as the old-timers candidate, a category reserved for players who
completed at least 70 percent of their careers by 1976.
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Nick Buoniconti is the greatest overachiever I ever played
with. If you measure his physical tools, his size and the body -- and not the
size of the brain, the heart and the soul -- it probably was a
stretch for Nick to be in the league. ” |
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— Bob Kuechenberg, former Dolphins guard |
A quick and clever middle linebacker who was undersized and
often overlooked, Buoniconti finally is getting football's ultimate
recognition.
"This is the top of the mountain for guys who have played the
game," said Buoniconti, who retired in 1976. "This is the final
chapter in my football life.
"It's a wonderful way to close the book. It's just a phenomenal
way. ... After the induction, the Buoniconti chapter and book will
be closed. And I think I will have accomplished an awful lot."
Buoniconti was the leader of Miami's "No-Name" defense that
helped the Dolphins finish 17-0 in 1972 -- the NFL's only undefeated
season -- and post consecutive Super Bowl victories in 1973-74.
He is the first of the "No-Name" defense to be elected to the
Hall of Fame, but the seventh member of that Miami team to be
honored.
"It's something I've been waiting for -- somebody to be
recognized from those great defensive football teams, and Nick is
the logical one," former Dolphins coach Don Shula said. "He was
the captain of our defense, had great instinct, never made mental
errors and was one of the great competitors I've ever been around
on the football field.
"If a teammate made a mistake, he was on the teammate before
the coach. He wanted to be perfect. He wouldn't tolerate anybody
not being totally prepared the way he was totally prepared. That's
the kind of guy you want leading your defense."
Buoniconti was better prepared than his opponents. It was one of
his best assets.
"I wasn't a great player, I just had great fundamentals," he
said.
The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Buoniconti received a football
scholarship to Notre Dame. An Italian kid from the south side of
Springfield, Mass., who spent weekends working in his father's
bakery, Buoniconti felt out of place everywhere in South Bend
except the football field. He earned a starting spot as a freshman
when one of his teammates got injured.
That one chance was all he needed.
He dominated at the collegiate level, then did the same with the
AFL's Boston Patriots beginning in 1962. In seven AFL seasons,
Buoniconti made six All-Star games.
Because Buoniconti had displayed strong leadership and
play-making abilities, the Dolphins traded for him in 1969.
Buoniconti had learned to read the offensive line's movements at
the snap of the ball and could determine exactly where the hole was
going to develop.
Using his speed to get there, Buoniconti often would be waiting
for the ball carrier.
He averaged 132 tackles during his first six years in Miami and
made the Pro Bowl twice. He also finished his career with 32
interceptions -- as many as any other linebacker in the Hall of
Fame.
Most impressively, Buoniconti had a knack for making big plays
in big games.
He intercepted a pass from Terry Bradshaw with about two minutes
to play in the 1972 AFC championship game to preserve a 21-17
victory. Two weeks later in the Super Bowl, he picked off a pass
and returned it 32 yards to set up Miami's second, and decisive,
touchdown in a 14-7 win over the Washington Redskins.
"Nick Buoniconti is the greatest overachiever I ever played
with," former Dolphins guard Bob Kuechenberg said. "If you
measure his physical tools, his size and the body -- and not the
size of the brain, the heart and the soul -- it probably was a
stretch for Nick to be in the league.
"Because of his temperament, his intelligence, his preparation
and most importantly his emotional abilities, Nick was the heart
and soul of that underrated defense."
Nonetheless, it took Buoniconti 25 years to make it into the
Hall of Fame. Playing almost half his career in the AFL probably
caused his late selection. Buoniconti thinks he might have been
slow to get in because he played with in the "golden era of middle
linebackers."
Buoniconti's son, Marc, will be his presenter at Saturday's
induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio. It almost certainly will be an
emotional speech.
Marc has been paralyzed from the neck down since a football
accident in 1985. The Buonicontis immediately realized the need for
more spinal cord injury research and stepped to the forefront to
help find a cure, creating the Buoniconti Fund and the Miami
Project to Cure Paralysis.
Buoniconti, who earned his law degree while playing football and
probably would be practicing if not for the Miami Project, spends
much of his time raising money for the center. He also is beginning
his 23rd year as co-host of HBO's "Inside The NFL."
The Miami Project has raised about $10 million each year over
the past 15 years for spinal cord injury research, he said. This
year, the Buonicontis are expecting to raise more than $13 million.
"There's no excuse now to not finding a cure," Marc said.
"It's just like in football with players and coaches. We have the
best facility, the best funding in the world and the
top-of-the-line researchers.
"It's just a matter of time."
Much like getting to Canton was for his father.
"That's a special club, that Hall of Fame club, and he
certainly belongs," Shula said.
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