Before the season concluded, he scored 10 touchdowns equaling the Big Ten Conference record established by the immortal Red Grange in 1924.

These unusual early successes brought the freshman running back national attention.

"Not since the days when Red Grange was ripping up the sod...for Bob Zuppke and the Illini has there been so much pigskin excitement on the University of Illinois Campus."

Sportscaster Bill Stern called him "The fastest thing in cleats and the runner of the year."

Coast service teams, one writer claimed, "unquestionably played the toughest football extant during the war.

An opponent stated that he had "never seen his equal" and Aldo Forte remarked: "I've seen the greatest in pro football.

Sports columnist Slip Madigan also considered Young superior to Blanchard and Davis.

Rumors circulated that once Young fulfilled his service obligation he would be drafted by the NFL or lured to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to play for the Bruins.

Not only did the war promote the ideals of democracy and fair play, it also gave blacks a chance to showcase their talents on college, semi-professional and service teams.

In football, three of the most talented minority athletes during the war years were Bill Willis, Marion Motley and Young.

Buddy was one of the first black men to play pro football; he played on teams where he was typically one of two or three black players, and undoubtedly he had his rough spots, but his warm, bubbling personality carried him through, and made him immensely popular.

[2] In 1950, Young, along with many of the other Yankee players, joined the New York Yanks of the National Football League when the AAFC folded.

Young was a threat at several positions: five times in his professional career, he eclipsed 1,000 all purpose yards, and in 1954, he was selected to the NFL Pro Bowl team.