Steve Van Buren ... http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...758296-ed99-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html Little known facts, Steve was the first LSU player to go in the First round of the Pro Draft. Steve was born in Honduras. He and his brother Ebert are the only brothers to play football at LSU having both been drafted to the Pros in the first round. Lots of trivia with Steve, he still has a few unbroken records with an NFL team. http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.aspx?player_id=222 http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/n...n-Passes/a22b590c-6d8e-4df0-a98c-ccd836dff12a
A true Tiger great. When I got The Fighting Tigers by Peter Finney in 1968, when it was published, Steve Van Buren became real to me. He was probably more famous as a pro player than as a college player. 92 years old, a great run by a great runner. Rest in peace Mr. Van Buren.
Utila is one of three Hondouran Islands in the Caribbean. They speak English there with a Jamaican style accent. They have English last names because they're descended from English pirates. It was a pirate base back in the sailing ship days. I have a friend from there and I have been there a lot. The other islands are Roatan and Guanaja. They're very close to British Hondouras (Belize) Steve Van Buren was not really Spanish.
“I’ve seen them all — Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski,” Greasy Neale, Van Buren’s coach with the Eagles, said in 1957, “but he’s the greatest.” When he got to Baton Rouge, he alternated between end and blocking back until his senior season, when LSU coach Bernie Moore switched Van Buren to tailback because of a personnel shortage created by World War II. “He probably was the greatest running back in Southeastern Conference history,” Moore once said, “and I used him as a blocking back until his last year. The folks in Baton Rouge never let me forget that.” his senior year, he led LSU to the Orange Bowl, where LSU defeated Texas A&M 19-14 in the NFL, he was an All-Pro RB for seven years straight from 1944 to 1950 (1st Team All-Pro: '44, '45, '47, '48, '49...2nd Team All-Pro: '46, '50) he led the NFL in both rushing yards and rushing TDs four times ('45, '47, '48, '49)... Barry Sanders also led the NFL in rushing four times, while Walter Payton only did it once pic of Van Buren at LSU (back when LSU wore the old gold helmets) LSU's Van Buren carrying the ball in the 1944 Orange Bowl
"Van Buren finished his career in 1951 as the NFL’s all-time rushing leader" that is a distinction Van Buren held for 9 or 10 years (he became the #1 all-time rusher in 1949), until he was surpassed by HOFer Joe "the Jet" Perry in 1958 (Perry played in the same backfield as HOF QB Y.A. Tittle of LSU) Perry was surpassed in 1963 by Jim Brown, who was in turn surpassed in 1984 by Walter Payton, who was in turn surpassed in 2002 by the current all-time rushing leader, Emmitt Smith. as for LSU's other NFL HOF RB, Jim Taylor, he finished his career in 1967 as #3 on the NFL all-time leading rusher list, behind only Joe Perry and Jim Brown. Other than Jim Brown and Joe Perry, the first person to surpass Jim Taylor's career rushing total was O.J. Simpson in the late 70's, and then several RBs in the 80's, including Walter Payton, Tony Dorsett, and Earl Campbell
