Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? because it costs money, but not ev- erything is successful. We have a lot of failures, too." Buoniconti was the only All-Amer- ican on Notre Dame's 1961 team, but his size made professional scouts wary of his ability to play after col- lege. The NFL passed completely, and Buoniconti sat for 13 rounds of the AFL Draft before being picked up by the Boston Patriots. He said Ku- harich, a former professional coach, steered teams away from him. The coach told scouts that Buoniconti "will run through a brick wall for you, but the hole he leaves will be a small hole." The Patriots took a chance that paid off in a big way. He made the All-Rookie team in his first season and then went to the all-star game five times before he was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 1969. Buoni- conti was the leader of the famous "No Name Defense" in Miami and was named the team's most valuable player three times during one of the most successful runs in NFL history. He played in the Pro Bowl during the Dolphins' perfect 1972 season and set a team record with 162 tackles the following year en route to another Super Bowl win. Playing on those teams under head coach Don Shula, Buoniconti learned how to keep an even keel during highly emotional situations and approach life with a business- like manner. Those that know the former linebacker well say he has been a "no-nonsense guy" since his time with the Dolphins. The business approach became a way of life when he retired from foot- ball in 1976. Buoniconti had earned a law degree during the offseason while playing for the Patriots and started representing players as soon as his days on the field were done. Within three years he had switched gears to host "Inside the NFL," which he did for 23 years. At the same time he was working Buoniconti (left, with his son Marc) has helped raise more than $350 million over the last quarter century for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. PHOTO COURTESY THE MIAMI PROJECT ready been searching for an answer to spinal cord injuries for more than 20 years. When Buoniconti learned Green had recently started a group to raise money to cure paralysis he threw every resource he could into the effort. "We were kind of trying to figure his way up the corporate ladder at U.S. Tobacco and took over as the company's president six months be- fore Marc's football injury. Buoni- conti has also served on at least a half dozen boards of directors and is currently a trustee at the University of Miami. "They say life is a marathon not a www.BLUEANDGOLD.com out how to do it, and then Nick came and he was like a tornado," Green said. "My head was spinning." Less than a month later, Green and Buoniconti were standing at the 50- yard line of Dolphin Stadium col- lecting a six-digit donation for the Miami Project. Green said Buoniconti called on the Notre Dame family of- ten to pull the fundraising through slow periods and that the research wouldn't be where it is today with- out the Irish connection. When Buoniconti wasn't out rais- sprint," he said. "Unfortunately, for me, it seems like it's been a sprint because I've enjoyed so many aspects of my life." The race took a hairpin turn when Buoniconti received that phone call from Tennessee on a fall day in 1985, but he certainly did not slow down. He tracked down the best pos- sible care for his son in a few days, which happened to be in the fam- ily's backyard in Miami. The family flew Marc back to Florida where he went under the watch of Dr. Barth Green, a neurosurgeon who had al- ing money and awareness he was at his son's bedside with the same intensity. He barked orders at doctors when needed and pushed Marc like an old football coach as the 19-year- old tried to learn to breathe on his own again. He would spend hours telling his son to work hard and be tough, and then leave the room with tears in his eyes. They formed an even tighter bond than football could provide, and when Marc was strong enough to leave the hospital a year after the injury he joined the cause. "It gave me a real mission in life," he said. "I could wake up every morning and it gave me a real moti- vation to get out of bed." Marc, now in his mid-40s, is the project's president. He brings the same tenacity to finding a cure as his father. The cause has grown to include hundreds of researchers and a $25 million annual budget. They've made strides in the past two decades to help provide a better life for spinal cord injury victims, but their new- est research will be a major leap if it works. The procedure harvests regenera- tive cells called Schwann cells from a patient's peripheral nervous system and injects them into the damaged part of the central nervous system. The theory is that the Schwann cells can rebuild connections where the spinal cord was severed and recon- nect lines of communication between the brain and the rest of the body. This type of solution could eventu- ally lead to cures for many kinds of central nervous system disorders like stroke, brain injury or Parkinson's disease. The younger Buoniconti said he's more optimistic about his chances of walking now than he has been at any point since the injury, and he has his father to thank for that. "If it wasn't for my father and his promise to me there really would be no hope for a cure," he said. "It was his commitment that is going to get paralyzed people to walk. He's ac- complished a lot in his life, football and the corporate world. "His work with the Miami Project has to be up there with some of the best accomplishments anyone has ever made in their lives. He really deserves to be called a hero. For me, he's my hero." ✦ APRIL 2012 61