{"id":13188,"date":"2015-04-21T18:04:30","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T23:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=13188"},"modified":"2015-07-30T15:40:16","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T20:40:16","slug":"buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Sam Fiske<\/p>\n<p>Up until his final days, legendary Bears linebacker Doug Buffone related more to the hard-working people of Chicago than any type of celebrity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had more in common with the fan,\u201c Buffone said of he and his teammates in a phone interview with Medill Reports last Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019d work our asses off, [the fan would] work his ass off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buffone, 70, died Monday\u00a0at home in Chicago. Buffone played all 14 of his NFL seasons with the Bears and is widely considered the team\u2019s best linebacker not in the Hall of Fame. His 186 games played are fifth all-time in franchise history, and his 24 career interceptions are the most by any Bears linebacker.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m just hoping people will remember how good he was,\u201d said Don Pierson, who covered the Bears for the Chicago Tribune for 12 of Buffone\u2019s 14 seasons. \u201cThose were really forgettable years. I remember the coach saying \u2018We\u2019re playing with old Continental players.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Continental Football League, which folded in 1969, was a pro league made up players who couldn\u2019t make it into the NFL.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:406px;\">\n<div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:146.305419% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/78304530?et=t3UrmCoZQkV442uzR3wU4g&#038;sig=fKMIptVYnmJaC4RnPOgtpUVWGS9tJG-3-sJkW7UNQ8w=&#038;caption=true\" width=\"406\" height=\"594\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin:0;\">\n<div style=\"padding:0;margin:0 0 0 10px;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/78304530\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\">View image<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\">gettyimages.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \\><br \/>\n\u201c[Buffone] had to have a sense of humor to be on that many losing teams,\u201d Pierson said of a career that included only three seasons with winning records. \u201cWe would unfairly lean on him to explain what happened [after losses]. One time he said, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I just can\u2019t do it [anymore].\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More than his stat totals, Buffone was celebrated for his toughness, passion and dedication to the Bears. He enjoyed reiterating his decision to join the Bears by telling the San Diego Chargers, who drafted him in the AFL, that, \u201cI can\u2019t play where there are palm trees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While he cracked jokes last week about \u201creal football\u201d being in cold weather cities, he acknowledged the success of the NFL came from the heavy travel and constant promotion by the teams and their owners, such as the original Bears owner George Halas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe seed was planted even before me,\u201d Buffone said during the interview for the upcoming NFL Draft. \u201cGeorge Halas would travel around, scheduling three games a week, he promoted this game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[We would go from] Iowa to Oregon by train trying to get the nation to see what the game is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other than his NFL career, Buffone was well-known for his success in the restaurant\/bar business, which he got into after his second NFL season, and his sports radio work as a commentator and talk show host for WSCR-AM 670 after retiring.<\/p>\n<p>It is easy to forget that Buffone was a multi-talented athlete before joining the Bears as a fourth-round selection in the 1966 NFL Draft. In addition to football, he played basketball and baseball at the University of Louisville.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had my sights to play baseball,\u201d Buffone said. \u201cI wanted to be drafted for the Dodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He even had an eye for basketball, though that was short-lived in his time in college. \u201cI played against guys that were 6-7, 6-8 and long arms,\u201d said Buffone, who was 6-3. \u201cI had no chance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His feelings, however, were not hurt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI realized I had the stuff to play football, so I went ahead and did that,\u201d Buffone said. \u201cI think I made the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His decision made him an icon in the city. He may not have been of the same caliber as Hall of Famer Dick Butkus, but he was of the tougher-than-nails-caliber that characterized the Bears defense, and had a warm, camaraderie-building persona that served him well on the field, in business and in radio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFootball, there was nothing like it,\u201d Buffone said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:491px;\">\n<div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:120.977597% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/51700771?et=TQt_uWKEQ_dTJPiKcv655A&#038;sig=PHw021v-sKsu6L-UWG745mye-XYIu-fIaHv40OK-rxg=&#038;caption=true\" width=\"491\" height=\"594\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin:0;\">\n<div style=\"padding:0;margin:0 0 0 10px;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/51700771\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\">View image<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\">gettyimages.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \\><\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Doug Buffone&#8217;s obituary was in the Chicago Tribune&#8217;s Tuesday Edition. (Christopher Walljasper\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sam Fiske Up until his final days, legendary Bears linebacker Doug Buffone related more to the hard-working people of Chicago than any type of celebrity. \u201cWe had more in common with the fan,\u201c Buffone said of he and his teammates in a phone interview with Medill Reports last Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019d work our asses off, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":13194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,31,436],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-13188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-sports","category-spring-2015","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sam Fiske Up until his final days, legendary Bears linebacker Doug Buffone related more to the hard-working people of Chicago than any type of celebrity. \u201cWe had more in common with the fan,\u201c Buffone said of he and his teammates in a phone interview with Medill Reports last Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019d work our asses off, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-21T23:04:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-30T20:40:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"635\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"samuelfiske\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"samuelfiske\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/\",\"name\":\"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-21T23:04:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-30T20:40:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/bd6c45bcaf98d95fc6fb59fce3d66e3a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":635,\"caption\":\"Doug Buffone 1944-2015\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/bd6c45bcaf98d95fc6fb59fce3d66e3a\",\"name\":\"samuelfiske\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aecb061939fab56fb96833bdd72fc77f914ff156481a0c63260891a0eab8d2d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aecb061939fab56fb96833bdd72fc77f914ff156481a0c63260891a0eab8d2d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"samuelfiske\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/samuelfiske\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Sam Fiske Up until his final days, legendary Bears linebacker Doug Buffone related more to the hard-working people of Chicago than any type of celebrity. \u201cWe had more in common with the fan,\u201c Buffone said of he and his teammates in a phone interview with Medill Reports last Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019d work our asses off, [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-04-21T23:04:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-30T20:40:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":635,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"samuelfiske","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"samuelfiske","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/","name":"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg","datePublished":"2015-04-21T23:04:30+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-30T20:40:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/bd6c45bcaf98d95fc6fb59fce3d66e3a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/04\/buffone1.jpg","width":1100,"height":635,"caption":"Doug Buffone 1944-2015"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/buffone-interview-displays-toughness-and-winning-personality\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Buffone interview displays toughness and winning personality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/bd6c45bcaf98d95fc6fb59fce3d66e3a","name":"samuelfiske","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aecb061939fab56fb96833bdd72fc77f914ff156481a0c63260891a0eab8d2d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/aecb061939fab56fb96833bdd72fc77f914ff156481a0c63260891a0eab8d2d0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"samuelfiske"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/samuelfiske\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}