Howard Pierce "Cub" Buck (August 7, 1892 – June 14, 1966) was an

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 wi ...

player and college coach. He played as a tackle at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, captaining the team and earning consensus All-American honors in 1915. Buck then played professionally for 10 seasons in the

National Football League 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 majo ...

(NFL) with the

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Lea ...

(1916–1920) and

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

(1921–1925). Buck served as the head football coach at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowlin ...

from 1917 to 1919, at

Lawrence College Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducation ...

in 1923, and as the first head coach at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

from 1926 to 1928. He was inducted into the Wisconsin State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1956, the

Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

in 1977, and the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department Hall of Fame in 1991.

Early life and college playing career

Buck was born on August 7, 1892, in

Eau Claire, Wisconsin Eau Claire (; ) (French for "clear water") is a city mostly located in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat, and with a small portion in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. It had a population of 69,421 in 2020, making it the stat ...

. He attended high school there and was named to Wisconsin's all-state prep team as a

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

. Playing for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

from 1913 to 1915, he never missed a game and earned three All-Western Conference honors.

Coaching and professional playing career

After graduating, Buck served as an assistant football coach at Wisconsin in 1916. That year he also starting playing professional football for the

. Buck played under an assumed name, Moriarity, because his parents didn't want him playing professionally, especially on Sundays. Buck coached at Wisconsin during the week and for games on Saturdays, then travelled to the site of the Bulldogs game on Sunday. In 1917, Buck was hired as the head football coach and

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at age 25. Coaching through

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and the

1918 influenza pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

, in three years his teams were 10–7. He continued to play with

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

and the Bulldogs through 1920, the first year of the American Professional Football Association. Thorpe called Buck the greatest lineman he had played with or against. Buck added an extra game in 1920 by playing in the Green Bay Packers' last game of their season. In 1921, the Packers joined the fledgling professional league that would become the

(NFL).

Curly Lambeau Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau (April 9, 1898 – June 1, 1965) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). Lambeau, along with his friend and fellow Green Bay, Wisconsin native George Whitney Cal ...

made Buck the first Packer with a guaranteed salary by paying him $75 per game. That year was the first Green Bay–

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

game and it featured the first cheap shot of the storied rivalry. John "Tarzan" Taylor slugged Buck and broke his nose. Buck played for the Packers through the 1925 season. Besides playing both sides of the line, Buck was the punter and placekicker. From 1922 to 1925, Buck made 24 of 35 extra points and 10 of 28 field goals for a total of 54 points. He led the Packers in scoring in 1923 and threw a touchdown pass in 1924. While playing for the Packers, Buck coached for the

Lawrence Vikings Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducat ...

, mainly as an assistant, but he was the head coach for the 1923 season. He was also the executive director of the Boy Scouts in Appleton. In 1926, Buck became the first head coach of the

Miami Hurricanes football The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in college football. The Hurricanes compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Coastal Division of the Atlant ...

program. Before the team could play its first game, a hurricane destroyed the under-construction stadium and postponed the start of the season. The

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football) Association football (more commonly known as football) was first codified in 1863 in England, although games that involved the kicking of a ball were evident considerably e ...

was a freshman squad; they went 8–0, including two defeats of the

University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the firs ...

, one in Miami and one in Havana. During the first two varsity seasons, the Hurricanes were 3–6–1 in

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith becomes the first Director-General. * January 7 ...

and 4–4–1 in

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

Later life and death

Buck left football coaching in 1929, but he often went to three football games each weekend during the season. He moved to

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 census. Located on t ...

and opened a car dealership. He died in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and ...

in 1966.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buck, Howard 1892 births 1966 deaths American football tackles Canton Bulldogs players Carleton Knights athletic directors Green Bay Packers players Lawrence Vikings football coaches Miami Hurricanes football coaches Wisconsin Badgers football coaches Wisconsin Badgers football players All-American college football players Carleton Knights football coaches Sportspeople from Eau Claire, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin