PLAYERS FROM ALABAMA IN THE SUPER BOWL | SUPER BOWL PERFORMANCES | TRACKING TICKET PRICES | SUPER BOWL CHAMPS FROM ALABAMA | ALABAMA’S EARLY SUPER BOWL MVPSAs the football world turns its eyes toward the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 8, echoes of the game’s earliest days still resonate in the halls of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.Decades before the pyrotechnics and halftime spectacles of the modern era, there was Junious “Buck” Buchanan, a 6-foot-7 giant from Gainesville, Alabama, who helped define the American Football League and the Super Bowl itself.In a rediscovered moment from the WVTM 13 archives, captured before his induction into the state Hall of Fame in 1987, the former Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle returned to his home state not with fanfare, but with a simple cardboard box. Inside were artifacts that told the story of a Parker High School graduate who rose to become one of the most dominant linemen in football history.”I’m very excited about this, and I just hope I brought enough stuff,” Buchanan said at the time, unpacking 20 years of gridiron history. “I didn’t have a Hickok Belt. I didn’t have a Heisman Trophy or anything like that. But I did bring some of my favorite items that I had at home, and I hope the people enjoy seeing them.”Buchanan, who died in 1992, was a pioneer of the game. He was the first African American player selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the then-AFL draft, taken by the Chiefs in 1963. His visit to the Hall of Fame served as a reminder of his role in the sport’s merger era.Among the items he pulled from the box was a photograph of him sacking Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr in Super Bowl I.”This is one of the better moments we had in the Super Bowl I,” Buchanan said, holding up the photo. “We played Green Bay. And this is my picture of the sack on Bart Starr. I had two sacks in that particular game.”While the Chiefs fell to the Packers in that inaugural championship, Buchanan’s collection also included a memento from redemption: his jersey from Super Bowl IV, when Kansas City defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in January 1970.”I don’t keep many, many jerseys and things like that, but this is our Super Bowl jersey,” Buchanan said, pointing out the unique insignia on the red uniform.”We had a 10-year patch and they had a 50-year patch, and we beat them. It only took them six years,” Buchanan said. The jersey featured the AFL’s 10-year anniversary patch, a symbol of the league that challenged the NFL’s dominance before the two merged.Buchanan also donated a Sporting News Award and plaques commemorating his appearances in the AFL All-Star Game and the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.”It wasn’t my first one, but it was one of about six or seven that I received in the course of my playing professional football,” he said.For Buchanan, who starred at Grambling State under legendary coach Eddie Robinson after leaving Birmingham, the donation was more than a transaction; it was a homecoming.”I’m just excited that you people here in Alabama, in the state, and then being from the state, I think really makes me proud that they would think enough of me to be a part of something like this,” he said.Today, those items — the jersey, the awards, and the photo of the sack on Starr — remain permanent fixtures at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, standing as silent witnesses to a legacy that began in Gainesville and reached the pinnacle of professional football.As a new generation of players prepares to take the field on Sunday, Feb. 8, for Super Bowl LX, Buchanan’s “cardboard box” of memories serves as a bridge to the titans who paved the way.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —
PLAYERS FROM ALABAMA IN THE SUPER BOWL | SUPER BOWL PERFORMANCES | TRACKING TICKET PRICES | SUPER BOWL CHAMPS FROM ALABAMA | ALABAMA’S EARLY SUPER BOWL MVPS
As the football world turns its eyes toward the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 8, echoes of the game’s earliest days still resonate in the halls of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Decades before the pyrotechnics and halftime spectacles of the modern era, there was Junious “Buck” Buchanan, a 6-foot-7 giant from Gainesville, Alabama, who helped define the American Football League and the Super Bowl itself.
In a rediscovered moment from the WVTM 13 archives, captured before his induction into the state Hall of Fame in 1987, the former Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle returned to his home state not with fanfare, but with a simple cardboard box. Inside were artifacts that told the story of a Parker High School graduate who rose to become one of the most dominant linemen in football history.
Getty Images
Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Buck Buchanan
“I’m very excited about this, and I just hope I brought enough stuff,” Buchanan said at the time, unpacking 20 years of gridiron history. “I didn’t have a Hickok Belt. I didn’t have a Heisman Trophy or anything like that. But I did bring some of my favorite items that I had at home, and I hope the people enjoy seeing them.”
Buchanan, who died in 1992, was a pioneer of the game. He was the first African American player selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the then-AFL draft, taken by the Chiefs in 1963. His visit to the Hall of Fame served as a reminder of his role in the sport’s merger era.
Among the items he pulled from the box was a photograph of him sacking Green Bay Packers quarterback Bart Starr in Super Bowl I.
“This is one of the better moments we had in the Super Bowl I,” Buchanan said, holding up the photo. “We played Green Bay. And this is my picture of the sack on Bart Starr. I had two sacks in that particular game.”
Getty Images
Buck Buchanan tackles Bart Starr
While the Chiefs fell to the Packers in that inaugural championship, Buchanan’s collection also included a memento from redemption: his jersey from Super Bowl IV, when Kansas City defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in January 1970.
“I don’t keep many, many jerseys and things like that, but this is our Super Bowl jersey,” Buchanan said, pointing out the unique insignia on the red uniform.
“We had a 10-year patch and they had a 50-year patch, and we beat them. It only took them six years,” Buchanan said.
The jersey featured the AFL’s 10-year anniversary patch, a symbol of the league that challenged the NFL’s dominance before the two merged.
Buchanan also donated a Sporting News Award and plaques commemorating his appearances in the AFL All-Star Game and the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.
“It wasn’t my first one, but it was one of about six or seven that I received in the course of my playing professional football,” he said.
Getty Images
Buck Buchanan
For Buchanan, who starred at Grambling State under legendary coach Eddie Robinson after leaving Birmingham, the donation was more than a transaction; it was a homecoming.
“I’m just excited that you people here in Alabama, in the state, and then being from the state, I think really makes me proud that they would think enough of me to be a part of something like this,” he said.
Today, those items — the jersey, the awards, and the photo of the sack on Starr — remain permanent fixtures at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, standing as silent witnesses to a legacy that began in Gainesville and reached the pinnacle of professional football.
As a new generation of players prepares to take the field on Sunday, Feb. 8, for Super Bowl LX, Buchanan’s “cardboard box” of memories serves as a bridge to the titans who paved the way.