Cub Buck
{{Short description|American football player and coach (1892–1966)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Cub Buck
| image = Cub Buck.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1892|8|7}}
| birth_place = Eau Claire, Wisconsin, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1966|6|14|1892|8|7}}
| death_place = Davenport, Iowa, U.S.
| alma_mater =
| player_years1 = 1913–1915
| player_team1 = Wisconsin
| player_years2 = 1916–1920
| player_team2 = Canton Bulldogs
| player_years3 = 1921–1925
| player_team3 = Green Bay Packers
| player_positions = Tackle
| coach_years1 = 1916
| coach_team1 = Wisconsin (assistant)
| coach_years2 = 1917–1919
| coach_team2 = Carleton
| coach_years3 = 1923
| coach_team3 = Lawrence
| coach_years4 = 1927–1928
| coach_team4 = Miami (FL)
| admin_years1 = 1917–1919
| admin_team1 = Carleton
| overall_record = 21–20–3
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships =
| awards =
- Second-team All-Pro (1920)
- Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame (1977)
- Consensus All-American (1915)
- 2× First-team All-Western (1914, 1915)
- Wisconsin State Athletic Hall of Fame (1956)
- University of Wisconsin Athletic Department Hall of Fame (1991)
- University of Wisconsin's All-Time Football Team
| coaching_records =
}}
Howard Pierce "Cub" Buck (August 7, 1892 – June 14, 1966) was an American football player and coach. He played as a tackle at the University of Wisconsin, captaining the team and earning consensus All-American honors in 1915.{{cite web|title=Football Award Winners|publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)|year=2016|access-date=October 21, 2017|page=6|url=http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2016/awards.pdf}} Buck then played professionally for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Canton Bulldogs (1916–1920) and Green Bay Packers (1921–1925). He served as the head football coach at Carleton College from 1917 to 1919, at Lawrence College in 1923, and as the first head coach at the University of Miami from 1926 to 1928. Buck was inducted into the Wisconsin State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1956, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1977, and the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department Hall of Fame in 1991.{{cite web|title=Athletic Department Hall Of Fame |url=http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/2015/8/21/GEN_2014010115.aspx |publisher=University of Wisconsin|access-date=21 December 2017}}
Early life and college playing career
Buck was born on August 7, 1892, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He attended high school there and was named to Wisconsin's all-state prep team as a center. Playing for the Wisconsin Badgers 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.{{cite news|title=Cub Buck Named to Hall of Fame|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IjUaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tg8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6930%2C2812199|work=Milwaukee Sentinel|date=December 15, 1956|page=2C}} That year he also starting playing professional football for the Canton Bulldogs. Buck played under an assumed name, Moriarity, because his parents didn't want him playing professionally, especially on Sundays.{{cite news |title=Cub Buck Calls Thorpe 'Greatest' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15942314/cub_buck_calls_thorpe_greatest/ |work=Wausau Daily Herald |date=November 15, 1957 |page=16 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} Buck coached at Wisconsin during the week and for games on Saturdays, then travelled to the site of the Bulldogs game on Sunday.{{cite book |last1=Maxymuk |first1=John |title=Packers by the Numbers: Jersey Numbers and the Players who Wore Them |date=2003 |publisher=Big Earth Publishing |isbn=9781879483903 |pages=46–47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m9o2_k8zu4QC}}
In 1917, Buck was hired as the head football coach and athletic director at Carleton College at age 25.{{cite web |url= http://www.packers.com/history/hall-of-famers/buck-howard-cub.html |title= Howard "Cub" Buck |publisher= Green Bay Packers |access-date= November 4, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171107014410/http://www.packers.com/history/hall-of-famers/buck-howard-cub.html |archive-date= 2017-11-07 |url-status= dead }} Coaching through World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic, in three years his teams were 10–7. He continued to play with Jim Thorpe 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 National Football League (NFL). Curly Lambeau made Buck the first Packer with a guaranteed salary by paying him $75 per game. That year was the first Green Bay–Chicago 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.{{cite web|title=Cub Buck Stats|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/B/BuckCu20.htm|website=Pro-Football-Reference.com|access-date=23 December 2017|language=en}} 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, 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 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 was a freshman squad; they went 8–0, including two defeats of the University of Havana, one in Miami and one in Havana.{{cite web |title=This is Miami Football - History |url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mifl/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/fb-09-mg-pdf-7.pdf |publisher=University of Miami |page=134 |access-date=2017-12-23 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110651/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/mifl/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/fb-09-mg-pdf-7.pdf |url-status=dead }} During the first two varsity seasons, the Hurricanes were 3–6–1 in 1927 and 4–4–1 in 1928.
Later life and death
Buck left football coaching in 1929, but he often went to three football games each weekend during the season.{{cite news|last1=O'Donnell|first1=John|title=Sport Chats|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15942429/sport_chats/|access-date=23 December 2017|work=Quad-City Times|date=June 14, 1966|pages=13}} He moved to Rock Island, Illinois and opened a car dealership. He died in Davenport, Iowa in 1966.{{cite news|title=Ex-Packer Buck, 79, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5173213/cub_buck_18921966/|newspaper=The Pantagraph |date=June 15, 1966|page=31|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = May 6, 2016}} {{Open access}}{{cite news|title=Grid Great Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5173261/cub_buck_18921966/|newspaper=Janesville Daily Gazette |date=June 15, 1966|page=21|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = May 6, 2016}} {{Open access}}
Head coaching record
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = no | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Carleton
| conf = no
| startyear = 1917
| endyear = 1919
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1917
| name = Carleton
| overall = 4–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname = no
| bowloutcome = no
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1918
| name = Carleton
| overall = 2–2
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname = no
| bowloutcome = no
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1919
| name = Carleton
| overall = 4–4
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname = no
| bowloutcome = no
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Carleton
| overall = 10–7
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Lawrence Vikings
| conf = Midwest Conference
| startyear = 1923
| endyear = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1923
| name = Lawrence
| overall = 4–3–1
| conference = 2–1–1
| confstanding = 3rd
| bowlname = no
| bowloutcome = no
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Lawrence
| overall = 4–3–1
| confrecord = 2–1–1
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name = Miami Hurricanes
| conf = Independent
| startyear = 1927
| endyear = 1928
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1927
| name = Miami
| overall = 3–6–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname = no
| bowloutcome = no
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year = 1928
| name = Miami
| overall = 4–4–1
| conference =
| confstanding =
| bowlname = no
| bowloutcome = no
| bcsbowl =
| ranking = no
| ranking2 = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name = Miami
| overall = 7–10–2
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
| overall = 21–20–3
| bowls = no
| poll = no
| polltype = no
| legend = no
}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Footballstats |nfl=cub-buck |espn= |cbs= |yahoo= |si= |pfr=B/BuckCu20 |rotoworld= }}
{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Carleton Knights football coach navbox}}
{{Lawrence Vikings football coach navbox}}
{{Miami Hurricanes football coach navbox}}
{{1915 College Football Consensus All-Americans}}
{{Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buck, Howard}}
Category:American football tackles
Category:Canton Bulldogs players
Category:Carleton Knights athletic directors
Category:Green Bay Packers players
Category:Lawrence Vikings football coaches
Category:Miami Hurricanes football coaches
Category:Wisconsin Badgers football coaches
Category:Wisconsin Badgers football players
Category:All-American college football players
Category:Carleton Knights football coaches
Category:Sportspeople from Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Category:Coaches of American football from Wisconsin