[8][9] He attended A. H. Parker High School in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was the captain and a standout player both in football and basketball.

[1][15] Eddie Robinson, his coach at Grambling State, where he had been an NAIA All-American in 1962, called him "the finest lineman I have seen.

[3][16] He teamed with future hall of famer Curley Culp, Aaron Brown and Jerry Mays to establish a dominant front four for the Chiefs,[17] culminating in their victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.

[18][19][20] Buchanan and Culp in particular dominated the opposing center, Mick Tingelhoff, a 5-time AP first-team All-Pro selection up to that 1969 season,[18] as handily as the left guard, Jim Vellone.

[citation needed] A total of six Chiefs on the team’s defense were eventually selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Buchanan, Culp, Willie Lanier, Bobby Bell, Emmitt Thomas and Johnny Robinson).

[4][3] He was selected to the NFL 100th Anniversary All Time Team, along with defense teammates Bell and Lanier, and kicker Jan Stenerud.

Among other things, he ran a construction and advertising business, became president of the Black Chamber of Commerce (1986-1989), and was appointed to the Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners in 1989.

[6][11] The Buck Buchanan Award is presented annually as part of the Thomas A. Simone Annual Memorial Football Awards to a high school player in the greater Kansas City, Missouri area as the outstanding big class defensive lineman/linebacker.

[27] Buchanan was diagnosed with lung cancer a week before his Hall of Fame induction and died two years later at age 51 in his Kansas City home on July 16, 1992.

[28] Buchanan never mentioned his cancer diagnosis during this hall of fame induction because he did not want to spoil the day for the other inductees.