Steve Van Buren

Steve Van Buren

Van Buren c. 1948
No. 15
Position:	Halfback
Personal information
Date of birth:	(1920-12-28)December 28, 1920
Place of birth:	La Ceiba, Honduras
Date of death:	August 23, 2012(2012-08-23) (aged 91)
Place of death:	Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Height:	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school:	New Orleans (LA) Warren Easton
College:	LSU
NFL Draft:	1944 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5
Career history
Philadelphia Eagles (1944–1951)
Career highlights and awards
2× NFL champion (1948, 1949) 6× First-team All-Pro (1944–1949) Second-team All-Pro (1950) NFL Player of the Year (1949) 4× NFL rushing yards leader (1945, 1947–1949) 4× NFL rushing touchdowns leader (1945, 1947–1949) NFL 1940s All-Decade Team NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team Philadelphia Eagles No. 15 retired First-team All-SEC (1943)
Career NFL statistics
Rushing yards: 5,860 Rushing average: 4.4 Rushing touchdowns: 69 Return yards: 2,503 Return touchdowns: 5 Interceptions: 9 Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Stephen Wood Van Buren (December 28, 1920 − August 23, 2012) was a professional American football halfback who played for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL) from 1944 to 1951. Regarded as a powerful and punishing runner with excellent speed, through eight NFL seasons he won four league rushing titles, including three straight from 1947 to 1949. At a time when teams played twelve games a year, he was the first NFL player to rush for over ten touchdowns in a season—a feat he accomplished three times—and the first to have multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons. When he retired, he held the NFL career records for rushing attempts, yards, and touchdowns. As of 2016, he remains the Eagles franchise leader in career rushing touchdowns.

Van Buren played college football for Louisiana State University, where he led the NCAA in scoring in his senior season for the LSU Tigers. After leading LSU to victory in the Orange Bowl, he was drafted by the Eagles with the fifth overall pick in the 1944 NFL Draft. Van Buren acquired many nicknames over his career in reference to his running style, including "Wham Bam", "Moving Van", and "Supersonic Steve". He was the driving force for the Eagles in the team's back-to-back NFL championships in 1948 and 1949; he scored the only touchdown of the 1948 NFL Championship Game against the Chicago Cardinals, and in the next year's championship game against the Los Angeles Rams he set postseason records with 31 carries for 196 yards.