Buck Buchanan became accustomed to championship play at an early age. As a college All-American player, he was voted MVP at Grambling University in 1960. He then went on to anchor the defensive line of the 1963 Collegiate All-Star team that upset the NFL champion Green Bay Packers in a pre-season exhibition contest. As the Chiefs first selection in the 1963 American Football League draft, he embarked on a 13 year career in professional football, and anchored an AFL championship team in 1966, and a World Champion team in 1969.

Buck was the Chiefs "big man" on defense, standing 6'7" & weighing 287 pounds. He was twice voted by his teammates as the team's MVP and earned six AFL All-Star berths 7 two NFL All-Star nods. He played in 55 consecutive games from 1963 to 1974 and redefined the way defensive linemen played their positions. Because of his size and speed, he was often double and tripled-teamed by an opponent. That would free up his teammates to make sacks and tackles while "Big Buck" manhandled half the offensive line. He batted down 16 passes in 1967, and recorded the first sack in Super Bowl history when he decked Green Bay's Bart Starr.

On August 4, 1990, Buck Buchanan became the fifth Chiefs player to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. With his induction, he also became the first AFL defensive lineman to be immortalized in the hallowed halls of Canton, Ohio's Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame in 1980.

Buck spent an additional three years in the National Football League after his playing days ended, coaching the defensive lines for the new Orleans Saints and the Cleveland Browns. Buck Buchanan lost his fight with cancer and passed away on July 16, 1992.