Nick Buoniconti

• Born: December 15, 1940
• Birthplace: Springfield, Massachusetts
• Died: July 30, 2019
• Place of death: Bridgehampton, New York

Sport: Football

Early Life

Nicholas Anthony Buoniconti Jr. was born December 15, 1940, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Brought up in a Catholic family, he was taught to live by the rules of his parents and his church. Though possessing a fiery disposition, young Buoniconti learned to control his emotions and was looked upon as a respectful boy. As one of the smallest boys in his neighborhood, however, he had to learn how to stand his ground. His intensity proved beneficial when he was playing sports with the neighborhood boys, and soon he earned the respect of the tallest and strongest among them. As a boy, he learned a life of balance. To his elders, he showed respect and admiration. From his peers, he earned respect by his dogged determination on the playing field.

The Road to Excellence

Buoniconti’s first real test in organized sports came when he enrolled in Cathedral High School in Springfield. During his first game on the varsity football squad, opposing players had a hard time not laughing when they saw his diminutive figure trot out into the defensive backfield. Those snickers soon turned to groans, however, when he leveled ball carriers with ferocious tackles. By his senior season, he had evolved into a genuine college prospect.

At the University of Notre Dame, Buoniconti brought a fearsome intensity and quickness to the offensive line, where he played as guard, and to the defensive backfield, where he was a middle linebacker. In 1961, his senior season, he was named an all-American, and in the spring of 1962, he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Notre Dame. Although he was a fine college football player, he was not recommended by his coach, Joe Kuharich, to the Nationnal Football League (NFL) scouts who were visiting the Notre Dame campus. Kuharich told them that Buoniconti was too small to play professional football. To Buoniconti, this sounded all too familiar. Once again, he was not getting enough respect because of his size. Undaunted by his coach’s assessment, he decided to try out with the Boston Patriots of the American Football League (AFL). His fiery determination paid off. He was accepted by the team and soon signed a contract to play at the middle-linebacker position.

The Emerging Champion

As a middle linebacker for the Patriots, Buoniconti was an imposing force; he stopped ball carriers cold in their tracks and leaped high in the air to snatch passes away from would-be receivers. He played seven seasons for the Patriots, from 1962 to 1968. During that time, he earned a law degree from Suffolk University and was named to the AFL’s all-star team six times. He became Boston’s leading pass interceptor—he grabbed 24 of them—and helped lead the Patriots to the AFL championship game in 1963.

When Buoniconti was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 1969, he provided the experience and leadership the young team needed. In 1970, the Dolphins marched to the first of five consecutive playoff berths, appearing in the Super Bowl in 1971, 1972, and 1973. His statistics as a Dolphin are impressive: He played in eighty-one games, made 475 solo tackles, and assisted in 318 tackles, for a total of 793. He also recovered three fumbles, sacked the quarterback five times, and grabbed 8 interceptions for a total of 89 yards. After losing to the Dolphins in the 1971 American Football Conference (AFC) championship game, Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas said of Buoniconti, “If you want to run on the Miami Dolphins, you have to be able to block Buoniconti. Today we couldn’t block him.”

Buoniconti’s winning intensity and quickness rarely failed him as a professional linebacker, in spite of his small size. “When (Dick) Butkus hits you,” he said, “you fall the way he wants. When I hit you, you fall the way you want. But there’s no difference. You still fall.” He was voted most valuable player by his Dolphin teammates after the 1973 season, and he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl following the 1972 and 1973 seasons. He retired as a player in 1976.

Continuing the Story

Because he practiced law in the off-season while with the Dolphins, Buoniconti already had a career in progress when his playing days came to an end. He continued to practice law in Miami to support his wife, Terri, and the couple’s three children, Gina, Nick III, and Marc.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Marc played as a linebacker for the Citadel, a college in South Carolina. Tragically, however, Marc’s career as a football player was cut short in 1985, when he tackled East Tennessee State running back Herman Jacobs. Marc’s spinal cord was damaged on the play, leaving him a quadriplegic. From that day on, not only was Marc’s life changed, but Buoniconti’s life also was transformed.

Inspired by the efforts of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami to help Marc and other paralyzed patients, Buoniconti established the Marc Buoniconti Fund. Raising millions of dollars as the fund’s director, he began to see results. Under the care of specialists, Marc’s condition improved, and he was released from the hospital. Although his son was confined to a wheelchair, Buoniconti remained optimistic and determined.

In 1979, Buoniconti had begun working as a sports commentator on HBO Sports’ Inside the NFL, along with such football notables as Len Dawson and Dan Marino. After joining the US Tobacco Company full time in 1983 and serving as a senior vice president, he was promoted to president and chief operating officer in 1985. He remained involved with the Marc Buoniconti Fund and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which he helped to create and which is located at the University of Miami School of Medicine, as well as in research in the area of spinal cord injuries. Later, he devoted the majority of his time to these projects. In 2001, the same year in which he ended his tenure with Inside the NFL, Buoniconti was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In early 2019, HBO released the documentary The Many Lives of Nick Buoniconti.

Having struggled with dementia for several years, which he attributed to his years of playing contact football, Buoniconti died at his home in Bridgehampton, New York, on July 30, 2019, at the age of seventy-eight.

Summary

Once thought too small to play football, Nick Buoniconti became an all-American for the University of Notre Dame and an all-pro in the NFL. A fiery leader and an inspirational force, he became a successful attorney, a well-known sports television personality, and the director of the Marc Buoniconti Fund, a project to assist paralyzed hospital patients.

Bibliography

Altobelli, Lisa, Mark Bechtel, and Stephen Cannella. “The Beat.” Sports Illustrated 101, no. 14 (October 11, 2004): 24.

Carroll, Bob. Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. New York: HarperCollins, 1999.

Daniels, Kevin, and Rob Doster. Game Day: Notre Dame Football—The Greatest Games, Players, Coaches, and Teams in the Glorious Tradition of Fighting Irish Football. Chicago, Ill.: Triumph Books, 2006.

Mallozzi, Vincent M. “Relentless Pursuit: Buoniconti Keeps Promise, Gives Hope.” The New York Times, June 19, 2005, pp. 11-12.

Mallozzi, Vincent M. “Veteran of 1972 Dolphins Is a Chargers Fan for a Day.” The New York Times, December 19, 2005, p. D5.

Sandomir, Richard. "Nick Buoniconti, 78, Dies; All-Pro Linebacker Championed Medical Research." The New York Times, 31 July 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/sports/nick-buoniconti-dead.html. Accessed 29 July 2020.