Buck Shaw

Buck Shaw
Shaw in 1948
Biographical details
Born(1899-03-28)March 28, 1899
Mitchellville, Iowa, U.S.
DiedMarch 19, 1977(1977-03-19) (aged 77)
Menlo Park, California, U.S.
Playing career
1918Creighton
1919–1921Notre Dame
Position(s)Tackle, placekicker
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1924NC State
1925–1928Nevada
1929–1935Santa Clara (line)
1936–1942Santa Clara
1945California
1946–1954San Francisco 49ers
1956–1957Air Force
1958–1960Philadelphia Eagles
Head coaching record
Overall72–49–12 (college)
91–55–5 (AAFC/NFL)
Bowls2–0
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]

  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.