Nick Buoniconti Pro Football Hall of Fame

Lore & Background

Buoniconti was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and raised Roman Catholic. He played football for Cathedral High School. He graduated from Notre Dame and was drafted by the AFL's Patriots in the 13th round of the 1962 AFL draft. His son Marc suffered a spinal cord injury in 1985, leading Nick to become the public face of the group that founded the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Buoniconti was married twice and had three children by his first marriage.

Reader's Guide

Buoniconti played for the Boston Patriots from 1962 to 1968 and for the Miami Dolphins from 1969 to 1974 and 1976. He made five AFL All-Star Games with the Patriots and the AFL All-Star team in 1969 and the NFL Pro Bowl in 1972 and 1973 with the Dolphins. He died of pneumonia on July 30, 2019, in Bridgehampton, New York, at age 78.

Did You Know?

• Buoniconti earned 32 career interceptions, ranking him third all-time among NFL linebackers.
• He recorded an unofficial 24 sacks, 18 with the Patriots and six with the Dolphins.
• Buoniconti was a co-host of HBO's Inside the NFL from 1978 until 2001.
• He announced in 2017 that he would posthumously donate his brain to aid CTE research.