Van Buren played college football for the LSU Tigers, where he led the NCAA in scoring in his senior season.

Born in La Ceiba, Honduras, to an American father and a mother of Spanish heritage,[1] Stephen Wood Van Buren was orphaned at age ten and was sent to live with relatives in New Orleans, Louisiana.

[3] Playing for the LSU Tigers football team, Van Buren was used primarily for blocking until his senior season, when head coach Bernie Moore moved him to tailback because of a lack of players due to World War II conscription.

[5] Van Buren received a class IV-F exemption due to an eye defect, so he was able to avoid conscription.

[14] But Van Buren, modest to a fault, took three weeks to sign the contract because he did not feel he was good enough to play professionally.

He spent the first seven of them under head coach Earle "Greasy" Neale, who dubbed Van Buren "the best halfback in modern times.

[26][27] Before the season, he signed a three-year contract to remain with the Eagles, dispelling rumors that he planned to join the rival All-America Football Conference.

[22] He returned just five punts in the 1946 season, but ran one of them back 50 yards for a touchdown against the Boston Yanks in the final game of the year.

He finished the season with 529 rushing yards, third-most behind leader Bill Dudley of the Pittsburgh Steelers and rookie Pat Harder of the Chicago Cardinals.

In return he wanted Van Buren, but according to Les Biederman of The Pittsburgh Press, "before [Sutherland] finished the second syllable of that name, Neale had fled the table.

[33] During the week before the game, the Steelers ran workouts concentrating on a means of stopping Van Buren's running.

[35] Against the Cardinals' "Million Dollar Backfield", Van Buren was held in check, as the Eagles were defeated 28–21 in a back-and-forth contest.

This wouldn't be repeated until Super Bowl LIX over 77 years later, when fellow Eagle Cooper DeJean intercepted Patrick Mahomes, and returned it for a 38-yard touchdown.

In Week 3, in the first quarter against the New York Giants Van Buren scored his 39th career rushing touchdown, surpassing Ernie Nevers as the all-time leader.

[39] The team finished the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Division and were to meet the Chicago Cardinals again for the league championship.

[40] Having posted similar offensive statistics in the regular season, the Eagles and Cardinals were expected to play a tight game.

[41] Played in a blizzard at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, the game's only score was a fourth quarter rushing touchdown by Van Buren from five yards out.

[46][47] Van Buren passed Hinkle's mark against the Detroit Lions in the second game of the season,[48] and by the end of the year had broken his own single-season record as he rushed for 1,146 yards.

[1][2] Following the game, Rams coach Clark Shaughnessy called Van Buren one of the greatest ball carriers he had seen in forty years of football.

[54] Back, leg, and neck injuries began to take a toll on Van Buren in 1950, and his production dropped.

[55] He broke his toe in the 1950 off-season and suffered from bone spurs, which caused him to miss the team's four preseason exhibition games and regular season opener.

[60] In 1951, Van Buren played alongside his brother, halfback and linebacker Ebert, whom the Eagles selected in that year's draft out of LSU.

During training camp prior to the 1952 season, Van Buren tore a knee ligament and required surgery.

[4] He missed the entire season and retired as a player in September 1953, but remained on the Eagles payroll in a public relations capacity.

[63] Van Buren's profile at the Pro Football Hall of Fame states he "lined up as a halfback but played more like a fullback.

[2][4] While not as elusive or nimble as other backs, he preferred to run through tacklers instead of avoid them, and never ran out of bounds if he felt he could pick up extra yards.

[72] He led the newly formed Hudson Valley Vikings of the North Atlantic Football League as head coach in 1967.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the class of 1965, which also included Guy Chamberlain, Paddy Driscoll, Dan Fortmann, Otto Graham, Sid Luckman, and Bob Waterfield.

Van Buren's acceptance speech consisted of four sentences:Thank you Clarke Hinkle, I'm certainly glad to have broken your record.

[88] Van Buren lived quietly in Lancaster, Pennsylvania after his football career, where he ran an antique shop with his son-in-law.