Chargers’ Buczkowski: Is He Still the ‘One’?

To label Bob Buczkowski a washout would be easy. Look at his career:

A first-round draft choice of the Raiders in 1986, he played three games in two seasons before he was cut last year. Picked up by the Chargers this year as a free agent, he is a long shot to make the final roster as a defensive end.

But to consider only that would be to ignore the circumstances that make him more than simply a draft-day miscalculation. His brief time on the field tells nothing of his greater struggles.

Buczkowski’s indoctrination into pro football has been trying. The glory he received as a surprise first-round choice has been little compensation for the pain he has forced himself to endure to live up to that billing.

Three back operations, surgery on both shoulders and a case of hepatitis brought his career with the Raiders to a premature end.

He was so battered that when it came time to walk away from the Raiders, he could no longer stand tall.

“My back hurt so much bad, I couldn’t walk,” Buczkowski said. “My shoulders hurt me so bad, I couldn’t lift them to scratch my head.

“At that point, I didn’t want to play football anymore. I called my parents and told them, ‘I’m done. This is ridiculous. Nobody should go through all of this.’ ”

At 24, Buczkowski was ready to call an end to his football career. He spent the next several months visiting friends and family, neglecting his training regimen. Not until he received a call in January from the Chargers did he begin to work seriously toward a comeback.

He said he decided to try again because he liked his chances with the Chargers. Steve Ortmayer and Chet Franklin in the front office worked for the Raiders when they drafted him 24th overall in 1986 out of Pittsburgh. They knew the player he was then and what he has gone through since.

Today at noon, when the Chargers play the Dallas Cowboys in their exhibition opener at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, Buczkowski hopes to begin rewarding them for their faith.

“This is the best I have felt in a long time,” Buczkowski said. “That has been the greatest thing, to stay healthy. As long as I am out there practicing, that is a plus.”

How quickly goals change. But while the wounds heal, the feelings of failed expectations remain. Some scars take longer to fade than others.

Buczkowski was a curious first-round choice from the start. He played on an undistinguished team at Pitt. The Raiders were impressed with his speed and size (6-feet-5, 265 pounds), but until the announcement, few were figuring on Buczkowski as a first-rounder. Not the draftnicks. Not his coaches at Pitt. Not even Buczkowski.

Only later did he become convinced he was a legitimate early pick.

“Immediately after the draft, I was surprised because everyone said I wasn’t supposed to go in the first round,” Buczkowski said. “But if you look at the film, look at everybody else who got drafted in the first round, I was up there with them. I didn’t get as much publicity, but I had as many tackles for losses and sacks. I was as fast as them. I deserved to be up with them.”

Maybe so, but he never had much of a chance.

His troubles began in mini-camp in the spring of his rookie season when he twisted his back on a pass rush.

“The next day when I woke up, I could hardly move,” Buczkowski said.

He continued to work out over the summer and said he believed his back was getting better, but a few days after he reported for camp in 1986, the problem flared up again.

“I should have taken care of it with an operation right then,” Buczkowski said. “But I tried to practice, and I did certain things I shouldn’t have. I took shots and stuff like that to numb it up.”

When the condition did not improve, surgery was ordered. But instead of an end to his troubles, it was only the beginning of the worst.

The first operation failed to clear up the condition, and a second was performed in August 1986. That, too, failed to solve the problem. Buczkowski had a third back surgery in December to remove disks and bone fragments.

After spending his entire rookie season on the disabled list, Buczkowski was ready to make a strong impression in 1987. But as soon as he arrived at camp, he knew something else was wrong.

“I started getting sick,” Buczkowski said. “It felt like a cold, but I knew it was more than a cold. But what was I going to do? Go up to the coach and say, ‘Coach. Help me out here. I got a cold, I can’t practice.’ So I practiced for 10 days because I didn’t want to say anything.”

He finally sought help and was diagnosed as having hepatitis. He was sent home and missed the first three games. He played two games, then sprained his ankle and spent most of the rest of the 1987 season on the disabled list. He returned in time to play the final game against Chicago.

“I opened some eyes in that game,” Buczkowski said. “That was when they traded Sean Jones away and told me I would go to spring with the starting position.”

But his difficulties soon started anew. He underwent operations in April 1988 to repair chronic ligament and bone damage in both shoulders. He missed mini-camp, and when he reported for training camp last year, he was faced with the need to impress a new coach--Mike Shanahan.

By now, the luster of being a first-round pick had faded, especially with a new staff not responsible for drafting him. It did not take long before Buczkowski found himself on the way out.

“Things started going sour,” Buczkowski said. “I had a bad attitude. I was in so much pain, I didn’t give a crap what happened. That carried over to the coaches. When the time came to make the final cuts, they let me go.”

As bad as he felt then, Buczkowski said, he believed he had something left to prove in football. He was, after all, a first-round draft choice. That means something to him, even if others scoffed at his credentials. If not for that, Buczkowski might not be back trying in the Charger camp at UC San Diego.

“I want to prove to these people that I can play the game,” Buczkowski said. “I knew deep down in my heart, I could play the game; I was just hurt too much.”

But for all its inspiration, the first-round honor has been a curse. He said it has driven him to play when maybe he wasn’t physically ready, or take a shot to lessen the pain when rest would have been better.

“I was in a rush to come back,” Buczkowski said. “When you are a first-round draft choice there is a lot of pressure to perform.”

Most of that, Buczkowski said, was self-imposed. He does not blame the Raiders. Even though they eventually let him go, Buczkowski said they believed in his abilities when others were skeptical. He would like nothing better than to reward that faith with success with the Chargers.

“Mr. (Al) Davis drafted me, and everybody said it was a mistake,” Buczkowski said. “The Raiders stuck by me for a long time. It got old for everybody. It got old when the kid keeps getting hurt.

“But I can still play football. That is why I am here. I want to do well, then it will look like Mr. Davis didn’t make a mistake.”

Not quite. Then the mistake will not have been drafting him, but letting him go.