James "Bubby" Robert Braxton (May 23, 1949 – July 28, 1986) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

fullback in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

and

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

Collegiate career

Jim Braxton started playing

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

in 1967 and was the team's second leading rusher (272 yards) in his sophomore season in 1968. In his junior season, he rushed for a team best 843 yards and helped the team become

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially re ...

champions. He also was talented as a kicker. As a senior, he converted to tight end, catching 27 passes for 565 yards and eight touchdowns and that was good enough for first-team

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honors.

Professional career

Drafted in the third round by the

in the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

, he was needed not as the leading rusher, but the blocking weapon for star

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 ...

O. J. Simpson. As Simpson remarks, most of his 11,236 career rushing yards were due to Braxton. Braxton's career took off in 1972, his sophomore season in the league, when he rushed for 453 yards on 116 attempts with 5 touchdowns and caught 24 receptions for 232 yards and a score. In 1973 Braxton rushed for 494 yards on 108 attempts with 4 touchdowns despite only playing in 6 games (starting 4) due to being deactivated for the first 8 games with a back injury. In 1974, Braxton became a premiere runner alongside Simpson, rushing for 543 yards on 146 carries with 4 touchdowns. In his 1975 season he rushed for 823 yards and nine touchdowns, which he considered his best season. He also caught 26 passes for 282 yards and 4 touchdowns. His nine rushing touchdowns was 8th in the league, and his 13 all-purpose scores was 5th. In the 1976 season he ended it with a knee injury and rushed for 372 yards and a touchdown during the 1977 season. He played half of the 1978 season with the Bills, rushing for 73 yards, and then finished out his

career in the second half of the 1978 season with the

, rushing for 48 yards and two touchdowns. For his career, Braxton rushed for 2,890 yards on 741 attempts with 25 touchdowns. His receiving totals were 1,473 yards on 144 receptions with 6 touchdowns, for 31 career all-purpose touchdowns. Upon Braxton's death, Ed Abramoski, Buffalo's lead athletic trainer during the entirety of Braxton's tenure, said "Jimmy Braxton was one of the smartest players I've ever seen. He really knew how the game worked."

Personal

While Braxton and his eventual wife, Pam, were dating in college, she became pregnant, and the couple decided it was best they gave their child up for

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

. In 1997, Pam met their biological daughter, who was then a professor at

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of Tr ...

. Jim Braxton died on July 28, 1986 due to

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

, at the age of 37. He died at

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a cancer research and treatment center located in Buffalo, New York. Founded by surgeon Roswell Park in 1898, the center was the first in the United States to specifically focus on cancer research. The ...

in Buffalo,

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where he was undergoing treatment. He is survived by his wife, Pam, and two sons. His nephew,

Landon Turner Landon Turner (born May 15, 1993) is an American football Guard (gridiron football), guard who is currently a free agent. He played college football at North Carolina Tar Heels football, North Carolina. His uncle Jim Braxton played professional ...

, played offensive lineman for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

. O.J. Simpson offered these goodbye words to Braxton: "I've lost a teammate; I've lost a dear friend. Bubby was my protector on the field, my companion off it. What he meant to my career is impossible to calculate, but I know many of the things I achieved wouldn't have been possible without him."

References

External links

Jim Braxton
at ''Pro-Football-Reference.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Braxton, Jim 1949 births 1986 deaths American football running backs Players of American football from Pennsylvania People from Fayette County, Pennsylvania West Virginia Mountaineers football players Buffalo Bills players Miami Dolphins players Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)