As the West Central Valley Wildcats prepare to play their homecoming football game tonight in Stuart, we remember that one of the greatest of all time Notre Dame University football players, and NFL coaches, has high school football roots in Stuart.

 

Buck Shaw played only four football games as a senior in Stuart in 1917, but would continue playing the sport at Creighton University in Omaha. It was there, Notre Dame Football historian Jim Lefebvre says, that Creighton coach Tommy Mills noticed Shaw’s talent belonged at a higher level. “In that freshman season of 1918, Mills recognized Shaw’s athletic ability and noted that he might give Notre Dame a try.”

 

Shaw transferred to Notre Dame and played three seasons, from 1919-1921, under legendary head coach Knute Rockne. Lefebvre says Shaw is fairly highly regarded in Notre Dame football lore. “He’s listed in the all-time list of All Americans. He got second-team All American honors in his senior year of 1921, and was voted, I think, on a team of all-time Notre Dame players at some point.”

 

Lefebvre notes that Shaw lost just one game as a member of the Fightin’ Irish, and it was in his home state. “On October 8th, 1921, Notre Dame travelled to Iowa City and they lost to the Hawkeyes 10-7. It was a good Hawkeye team led by the great Duke Slater.”

 

Shaw began coaching after his college playing career ended, and showed much success in the collegiate ranks and later in the NFL. Lefebvre says in Shaw’s final game, serving as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, he accomplished something no one ever had, or ever would again. “His final game of coaching is the famous championship game of 1960, against the Green Bay Packers, where the pivotal play — the final stop of the game, the tackle of the Packers’ Jim Taylor, is made by the Eagles’ Chuck Bednarik, to beat the Packers. Of course, that’s the only loss in playoff football ever suffered by a Vince Lombardi-coached team.”

 

After retiring, Shaw moved to California, but would return to Iowa to visit brothers Bill and Jim, who lived in the Des Moines area through the 1970’s. Shaw passed away in Menlo Park, California in 1977, at the age of 77. Lefebvre will tell us more about Shaw today on Let’s Talk Guthrie County. It airs during the 9 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. hours on K107.9 and www.raccoonvalleyradio.com.