Steve Van Buren

Our journey continues to talk about some of the most interesting people from the football past. This edition we cover the career of a champion and record setting running back Steve Van Buren.

A story from a pretty neat book titled Tales From the Philadelphia Eagles Sideline ; A collection of the Greatest Eagles Stories Ever Told by author Gordon Forbes. This book is exactly as its cover title suggests, tells Philadelphia pro football tales about the players and game situations throughout history. An article in this book inspired me to recant the tale of a legendary Eagles player.

Steve Van Buren was one of the hardest-hitting men in all of football in the mid to late 1940s. Steve was born in La Ceiba, Honduras to a father that was American and a Latino mother. His parents tragically both died when he was about ten years old and then the orphan was sent to live with relatives near New Orleans.
It was when he was Stateside that he became familiar and intrigued with the game of football. As a tenth grader, he tried out for the local Warren Easton High School gridiron team but did not make the cut. Disappointed and struggling in his studies, that same year he dropped out of school to pursue work at a local foundry of iron. After a couple of years of doing that he wisely returned to his studies and played football in his senior season as a two-way end. That one season made all the difference as Van Buren soon found himself attending LSU to play football on a scholarship for the sport.
He was used mainly as a blocking back for the Tigers in his first few seasons. It was during his senior year at the college that his coach Bernie Moore moved him to the feature tailback slot because many of the backs had enlisted to fight in World War II. Van Buren himself could not join the service because of an eye defect and thus was exempt from duty.
Coach Moore would later recall how fans in Baton Rouge gave him the business for not running this Van Buren kid earlier than his final collegiate season. The player was a great rusher even though he had been an outstanding blocker as well.

Becoming a Pro

The Philadelphia Eagles drafted Steve with the fifth overall selection of the 1944 NFL Draft while he was still a student at LSU. In 1945, Van Buren reward the Eagles for their choice by leading the NFL in rushing yards for the first time, and also led the league in scoring, yards from scrimmage, and kickoff return yards. He also set a franchise record at the time with 15 rushing touchdowns scored on the season which stood the test of time until 2011. He also broke Don Hutson's total TD record set just a few years earlier when Van Buren reached paydirt a total of 18 times in 1945.

The 1947 season saw another outstanding performance by the young running back. He started a 3-year run where he again led all NFL rushers in yardage and set a new League record when he registered 1007 yards on the ground for the 1947 season eclipsing the previous record of 1004 set by Beattie Feathers of the Chicago Bears way back in 1934. Philadelphia made it to the NFL title game but lost it to the Chicago Cardinals and their “Million Dollar Backfield.”

The next year the Eagles made it all the way to the NFL Championship game. As Van Buren again led all NFL rushers in multiple categories. At the 1948 NFL Championship Game was played in a blizzard at Philadelphia's Shibe Park. Steve Van Buren ended up being the star of the game but he 
 almost missed playing in the game at all. Thinking the game would not be played in the blizzard, he remained home until Eagles coach Greasy Neale telephoned him looking for his star running back and told him the game was still on. He had to catch three trolleys and walk six blocks in order to make the game on time. Van Buren later exclaimed, "I looked out my bedroom window that morning, saw the snow, and went back to bed. I was sure the game would be postponed.
Philly was lucky that he did make it as he posted the game's only score on a fourth-quarter rushing touchdown from five yards out. The 7–0 win gave the Eagles their first league title as Van Buren finished the day with 98 yards rushing on 26 carries.

In 1949 the Eagles repeated with yet another trip to the Championship game. This time they traveled to LA to play the Rams on a very muddy field. Van Buren failed to score in the game but he accounted for 196 yards of offense on the sloppy track, setting a record as the Eagles blanked LA 14-0.
As the new decade of the 1950s rolled in Van Buren suffered from a rash of multiple injuries that slowed his production considerably and eventually forced him to retire in 1951. Van Buren soon joined the coaching ranks in some minor league pro circuits.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame honored him with enshrinement in 1965.

The banner photo is of Jim Thorpe with the New York Giants of the National League of Baseball, at the Polo Grounds ready to bat in 1913. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons and taken by the Bain News Service.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: On This Day Sports, the Sports Reference's family of website databases & Stathead.com