Legend’s impact felt on, off field
Dolphins great raised funds and awareness after son’s paralysis
Nick Buoniconti, a hall of fame football star who anchored the Miami Dolphins’ dominant defence on their undefeated 1972 team and later raised half a billion dollars for research to cure paralysis while becoming one of the most distinguished and accomplished alumni in franchise history, died on Tuesday night after a bout with pneumonia.
Buoniconti, who was 78, had been in declining health, physically and mentally, in recent years and blamed his diminishment on the impact of a football career that spanned 14 seasons. “He’s a guy who was more than just a football player, was larger than life to a lot of us,” said Nat Moore, the Dolphins’ director of alumni relations and former teammate who once hired Buoniconti as his agent. “We’re going to miss him. He was a guy that thought outside the box and made things happen ... a guy who lived a full life.”
ABoston University physician who examined Buoniconti in 2017 said “the way Nick appeared, his history and MRI, everything was consistent with CTE,” though the brain disease cannot be definitively diagnosed until after death.
“He struggled the last couple of years,” Moore said. “Thank God he’s in a better place now.”
Buoniconti was one of the most productive middle linebackers in history, earning induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001after seven seasons with the Boston Patriots of the American Football League and then seven with the Dolphins, a career that included two Super Bowl victories. But he left an even greater legacy off the field as the cofounder (with Dr. Barth Green) of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, an organization that has raised hundreds of millions for dollars. Buoniconti devoted much of his time to that cause after his son Marc was paralyzed by a collision in a 1985 college football game.
Nick Buoniconti was born Dec. 15, 1940, in Springfield, Mass., grew up in an Italian neighbourhood where his parents owned a bakery, starred on the high school football team and went on to become Notre Dame’s only All American football player in 1961.
Some scouts considered the five-foot-11 Buoniconti to be too small to be a professional player, but after being selected by the Boston Patriots with the 102nd overall pick, 13th round, of the 1962 AFL draft, Buoniconti immediately made an impact, earning the team’s rookie of the year award. He intercepted 24 passes and made five appearances in the AFL All-Star Game during his seven seasons and earned a spot on the AFL’s all-time team. While he wasn’t excelling on the field, Buoniconti was studying at night to earn a law degree, which proved fruitful after his playing career ended. During his seven seasons with the Dolphins, Buoniconti made two Pro Bowl appearances, set a franchise record for tackles in a season (161 in 1973) and was a lynchpin on a team that made three consecutive Super Bowl appearances.