Buck Buchanan Junious " Buck " Buchanan ( September 10 , 1940 – July 16 , 1992 ) was an American collegiate and professional Football defensive tackle . He played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League ( AFL ) and in the National Football League ( NFL ) . High school years . Buchanan attended A . H . Parker High School in Birmingham , Alabama , and was a standout in football and basketball . College years . Buchanan attended Grambling State University and was a letterman in football and an NAIA All - America selection . He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996 . He is one of four players , Willie Brown , Willie Davis , and Charlie Joiner coached by Eddie Robinson enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame . Professional career . On Dec 1961 , for the 1962 NFL Draft , Mr . Buck Buchanan was selected 238th overall in the 17th Round by the World Champion Green Bay Packers ! The Green Bay Packers had left Defensive End Willie Davis , who went to school at Grambling . In 1963 , the 6 ' 7 " 287 pound Buchanan was the first player selected overall in the AFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs . Eddie Robinson , his coach at Grambling State , where he had been an NAIA All - American in 1962 , called him " the finest lineman I have seen . " Buchanan was the first black number one draft choice in Professional Football . He came from a small historically black university . In fact , the New York Giants had drafted Buchanan in the nineteenth round of the 1963 NFL Draft , the 265th player chosen overall . Others who had watched Buchanan in action were equally enthusiastic . Buchanan had the physical size plus the athletic instincts to be exceptionally successful at his job of foiling opposing offenses . He was particularly effective at intimidating the passer and in one season alone ( 1967 ) he batted down 16 passes at or behind the line of scrimmage . He was clocked at 4 . 9 in the 40 - yard dash and 10 . 2 in the 100 - yard dash at Grambling State and with that speed he could range from sideline to sideline to make tackles . In spite of the weekly pounding he took on the line of scrimmage , Buchanan was extremely durable . He played in 182 career games that included a string of 166 straight . After dabbling briefly at defensive end as a rookie , Buchanan settled down to his permanent job as the Chiefs ' defensive right tackle . He was named to his first AFL All - Star Game after his second season and played in six AFL All - Star games and two AFC - NFC Pro Bowl s . He teamed with Curley Culp , Aaron Brown and Jerry Mays to establish a dominant front four for the Chiefs , culminating in their victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV , when they allowed Viking runners only 67 yards rushing in 19 carries and 172 net passing yards , Buchanan in particular dominating the opposing center , Mick Tingelhoff , a 5 - time AP first - team All - Pro selection up to that 1969 season , as handily as the left guard , Jim Vellone . He was selected to the second team of the AFL All - Time Team , and was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990 . Two years after he was inducted to the Pro Hall of Fame , he died from lung cancer at the age of 51 . In 1999 , he was ranked number 67 on " The Sporting News " ' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players , right behind his former Chiefs teammate Bobby Bell at number 66 . The Chiefs also retired his uniform number 86 . Buchanan once appeared on ABC ' s " The American Sportsman " hosted by Grits Gresham of Natchitoches , Louisiana . The program featured Gresham taking celebrities on big - game hunting trips , fishing tournaments , or shooting contests in exotic places around the world . After his football career Buck started the construction company All Pro Construction , Inc . in Olathe , KS . They specialized in interior renovations and miscellaneous bridge work . Buchanan ' s widow , Georgia continued to run the company after his passing until 2006 when she sold . Death . He was diagnosed with lung cancer a week before his Hall of Fame induction and died in his Kansas City home on July 16 , 1992 at the age of 51 .