The Simone Awards

Junious "Buck" Buchanan (1940-1992)
Buck Buchanan was the first player taken in the 1963 American Football League Draft. Selected by the Kansas City Chiefs, Buck quickly proved the rave notices that preceded him were not unfounded. Eddie Robinson, his coach at Grambling, where he had been an NAIA All-America in 1962, called him "the finest lineman I have seen."

Others who had watched Buchanan in action were equally enthusiastic. Born September 10, 1940, in Gainesville, Alabama, Buchanan had the physical size – 6-7 and 270 pounds – plus the athletic instincts to be exceptionally successful at his job of foiling opposition offenses. He was particularly effective at
intimidating the passer and, in one season alone in 1967, he batted down 16 opposition passes at or behind the line of scrimmage. He was clocked at 4.9 in the 40 and 10.2 in the 100 at Grambling and, with that speed; he could range from sideline to sideline to make tackles.

In spite of the weekly pounding he took on the scrimmage line, 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 in 1964. It was the first of an eight-season period during which he played in either the AFL All-Star game or the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl. He was a virtually unanimous All-AFL choice from 1966 through 1969 and then won All-AFC honors in 1970 and 1971.

He was a defensive leader for the Chiefs in their losing effort in Super Bowl I and then was outstanding in Kansas City's 23-7 upset of Minnesota in Super Bowl IV that saw the Buchanan-led defense completely stifle the vaunted Vikings attack.

Junious "Buck" Buchanan Memorial Award
The Junious "Buck" Buchanan Award was established in 1992 and is presented annually to the most outstanding lineman/linebacker in the big class category. The Kansas City metropolitan area big class consists of Missouri Classes 5-6 and Kansas Classes 5A-6A.

From 1992-99, the award was given to one Missouri and one Kansas player. The award has been given to only the most outstanding player since 2000.

Year	Player	Team
2007	Bear Hollins	Park Hill
2006	Tony Taylor	Blue Springs South
2005	Jeff Julian	Blue Springs South
2004	Allan Smith	Rockhurst
2003	Todd Haselhorst	Olathe East
2002	Bruce Ringwood	Blue Springs
2001	Kevin Kane	Rockhurst
2000	Earl Jack	Blue Springs
1999	Dale Long Micah Minshall	Oak Park (MO) Olathe North (KS)
1998	Justin Browser Karl Zubeck	Lee's Summit North (MO) Shawnee Mission East (KS)
1997	John Garrison Rashid Hannibal	Blue Springs (MO) Olathe North (KS)
1996	Mike Hayes Jef Debiak	Oak Park (MO) Olathe North (KS)
1995	Dan Adams Lee Myers	Rockhurst (MO) Lawrence (KS)
1994	Richard Plattner Nate Williams	Blue Springs South (MO) Lawrence (KS)
1993	Jeremy Martin James Myers	Liberty (MO) Lawrence (KS)
1992	Rob Seeley Bill Freund	Oak Park (MO) Shawnee Mission North (KS)

Bear Hollins (left) receives the 2007 Buchanan Award from Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen