Ed Buchanan (July 16, 1934 – August 31, 1991) was a

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who played nine seasons in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

for three teams. He was a CFL All-Star in 1964 while setting a record with 2,071 yards from scrimmage. Though injured for most of that year, he was part of the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

1966

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

winning team.

High school and college

Ed Buchanan graduated from Kearny High School in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and attended San Diego Junior College.

CFL

Ed Buchanan began his CFL career with the Calgary Stampeders in 1961. He played sparingly for them in the first year but blossomed in 1962 with 824 yards rushing and a 6.0 rushing average. Nevertheless, he was traded the following year to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In 1964, Buchanan became an elite running back, rushing for 1,390 yards (7.8 yards per carry) and receiving for 681 yards (18.9 yards per catch, astounding for a running back), plus 352 yards in kick returns (27.0 yards per return). He specialized in outside runs, in contrast to his running partner, George Reed, who specialized in inside runs and ran for 1,012 yards, both running backs rushing for over 1,000 yards. However, injuries curtailed Buchanan's 1965 and 1966 seasons to only 4 and 6 games, respectively. He came back strong in 1967 with 695 yards rushing (5.8 yards per carry). He did not play in 1968 and was traded in 1969 to the Hamilton Tiger Cats, where he played for two more years before retiring.

Honors

Buchanan was inducted in the Plaza of Honor in Saskatchewan in 2012.

Death

Buchanan died of

Lou Gehrig's disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

(ALS) causing paralysis in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

on August 31, 1991, at the age of 51.

Video clips

7 min biography as a Plaza of Honor inductee, 20124 min biography as an inductee of the Stephen W Kearny High School Hall of Fame, 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Ed 1934 births 1991 deaths Calgary Stampeders players Canadian football running backs Neurological disease deaths in California Deaths from motor neuron disease Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Players of Canadian football from San Diego Saskatchewan Roughriders players Kearny High School (California) alumni