 Shaw in 1948 | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 28, 1899 Mitchellville, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | March 19, 1977 (aged 77) Menlo Park, California, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1918 | Creighton |
| 1919–1921 | Notre Dame |
| Position(s) | Tackle, placekicker |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1924 | NC State |
| 1925–1928 | Nevada |
| 1929–1935 | Santa Clara (line) |
| 1936–1942 | Santa Clara |
| 1945 | California |
| 1946–1954 | San Francisco 49ers |
| 1956–1957 | Air Force |
| 1958–1960 | Philadelphia Eagles |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 72–49–12 (college) 91–55–5 (AAFC/NFL) |
| Bowls | 2–0 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| NFL Championship (1960) | |
| Awards | |
| All-American Tackle all-time "Fighting Irish" football team (player) AP & UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1960) Iowa Sports Hall of Fame San Francisco Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame San Jose Sports Hall of Fame Santa Clara University Hall of Fame | |
| College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1972 (profile) | |
Lawrence Timothy "Buck" Shaw (March 28, 1899 – March 19, 1977) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach for Santa Clara University, the University of California, Berkeley, the San Francisco 49ers, the United States Air Force Academy and the Philadelphia Eagles. He attended the University of Notre Dame, where he became a star player on Knute Rockne's first unbeaten team. He started his coaching career with one year as head coach at North Carolina State and four years as a line coach at Nevada in Reno.
At Santa Clara, he compiled an impressive .803 record; his first two teams posted consecutive Sugar Bowl wins over LSU. After war-time service, his only team at California went 4–5–1 in 1945. In 1946, Shaw became the San Francisco 49ers' first head coach in the old All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and continued through 1954; they entered the National Football League (NFL) in from 1950.
After two seasons as the first Air Force Academy varsity head coach (1956–1957), he returned to the NFL in 1958 with Philadelphia. In 1960, he led the team to an NFL Championship victory against Vince Lombardi, who said of Shaw, "That right there is a good man...an honest man." He stepped down after three seasons, following their win in the championship game over Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers; Shaw ended up being the only coach to have beaten Lombardi in a playoff game. Nicknamed "the Silver Fox", Shaw had a winning record in ten of his twelve seasons as a professional football coach while reaching the Championship Game in two different leagues and winning 62% of his games.[1]
- ^ Clark Judge (August 25, 2020). "State Your Case: Why Canton should add Buck Shaw to its list of coaching candidates". si.com. Retrieved April 14, 2023.