Buzz Nutter

{{Infobox NFL biography

| image = Nutter-Buzz-1959.jpg

| number = 50, 51

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|2|16|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Summersville, West Virginia, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|4|12|1931|2|16|mf=yes}}

| death_place = La Plata, Maryland, U.S.

| high_school = Vinson High School{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/schools/high_schools.cgi?id=93bf1b5e|publisher=Pro Football Reference|title=Buzz Nutter - Pro Football Reference|access-date=November 15, 2024}}

| college = Virginia Tech

| draftyear = 1953

| draftround = 12

| draftpick = 136
(By the Washington Redskins)

| teams =

Baltimore Colts ({{NFL Year|1954}}–{{NFL Year|1960}})
Pittsburgh Steelers ({{NFL Year|1961}}–{{NFL Year|1964}})
Baltimore Colts ({{NFL Year|1965}})

| highlights =

2× NFL champion (1958, 1959)
Pro Bowl (1962)
Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame (1985)

| statlabel1 = Games played

| statvalue1 = 153

| statlabel2 = Fumble recoveries

| statvalue2 = 7

| pfr = NuttBu00

}}

Madison Monroe "Buzz" Nutter (February 16, 1931 – April 12, 2008) was an American professional football center in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football at Virginia Tech.

Early life

Nutter was born in Summersville, West Virginia, and grew up in Huntington, West Virginia, where he acquired the nickname "Buzz" as a young man.{{cite news | newspaper=The Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041704037.html | title=Buzz Nutter; Colts Center Was in 'Greatest Game Ever' | access-date=2009-10-13 | first=Matt | last=Schudel | date=2008-04-18}} He attended and played high school football at Vinson High School.{{cite web |work=Sunday Gazette |url=http://sundaygazettemail.com/Sports/FrankGiardina/200804260290 |title=Spring attendance, Bowers and Nutter |access-date=2009-10-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430223703/http://sundaygazettemail.com/Sports/FrankGiardina/200804260290 |archive-date=2008-04-30 }}

College career

Nutter attended and played college football at Virginia Tech. After his senior season, he became the first player from Virginia Tech drafted into the NFL,{{cite book | work=Chris Colston | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D52yAS39NsQC&pg=PA9 | title=Tales from the Virginia Tech Sidelines |isbn = 9781582617282| access-date=2009-10-13|last1 = Colston|first1 = Chris|date = January 2003| publisher=Sports Pub. }} despite the team going 0-10, 2-8 and 5-6 the final three seasons of his career.{{cite web | work=The Roanoke Times | url=http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/158490 | title=Preas' teammate at Tech, Colts dies | access-date=2009-10-18 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201105138/http://www.roanoke.com/sports/college/wb/158490 | archive-date=2013-02-01 }} Nutter was inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.{{cite web | work=HokieSports.com | url=http://www.hokiesports.com/halloffame/ | title=Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame | access-date=2009-10-13 | archive-date=2018-07-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710071319/http://www2.hokiesports.com/halloffame/ | url-status=dead }}

Professional career

Nutter was selected in the 12th round of the 1953 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins. He failed to make the team in the offseason and moved back to West Virginia to work in a steel mill.{{cite news | work=USA Today | url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2008-04-14-nutter-obit_N.htm | title=Former Colts center Nutter dies | access-date=2009-10-18 | date=2008-04-14}} He returned to the NFL in 1954 with the Baltimore Colts, where he played for seven seasons and won consecutive NFL Championship titles (1958–1959). Nutter was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, along with Eugene Lipscomb, in 1961 for wide receiver Jimmy Orr.{{cite web | work=The Baltimore Sun | url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/services/newspaper/printedition/bal-sp.nutter14apr14,0,2264317.story | title=Colts' unsung center Nutter dies at 77 | access-date=2009-10-18}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} Nutter played in Pittsburgh for four seasons and was selected for the Pro Bowl in 1962.

In 1965, he returned to the Colts for his final professional season.

Personal life

After retiring from football, Nutter moved to La Plata, Maryland, and started a beverage distribution company in Waldorf, Maryland, that he ran for more than 40 years. The company was named Center Distributors after his football position.

Nutter's wife of 44 years, Carole, a devout Catholic, died in 1997. Two days before her death, in a service that took place in his wife's hospital room, Nutter converted to Catholicism after being a lifelong Methodist. They had four children and ten grandchildren.

Nutter died on April 12, 2008, of heart failure{{cite web | work=CBS Sports | url=http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/10779364 | title=Buzz Nutter, former Unitas era Colts center, dies at 77 | access-date=2009-10-18 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011051440/http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/10779364 | archive-date=2012-10-11 }} at Civista Medical Center in La Plata.