Walt Buland
Born:(1892-02-07)February 7, 1892
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Died:May 26, 1937(1937-05-26) (aged 45)
Rock Island, Illinois
Career information
Position(s)Tackle
CollegeNone
Career history
As player
1907–1909, 1911-1917Minneapolis Marines
1916West Duluth
1917, 1919–1921, 1924, 1927Rock Island Independents
1922-1923, 1925Hibbing All-Stars
1924Green Bay Packers
1926Duluth Eskimos

Walter Daniel "Fat" Buland (February 7, 1892 – May 26, 1937)[1] was a professional football player in the early National Football League. He played in the NFL for the Rock Island Independents, Green Bay Packers and Duluth Eskimos. He also played for the Minneapolis Marines prior to their entry into the NFL.[2]

Buland played in one of the two very first NFL games. On October 3, 1920, during a game between the Independents and the Muncie Flyers, Buland blocked a Ken Huffine punt in the Flyers endzone and recovered it for a touchdown.[3]

Buland played as a ringer for West Duluth in 1916 and for Rock Island in 1917. He also played for and coached the Hibbing All-Stars in 1922-1923 and in 1925.[4]

Buland served in the 122nd Machine Gun Battalion during World War I and fought in the trenches near Amiens, France, and in the battle of Saint-Mihiel. He is buried in the Rock Island National Cemetery.[5]

After Buland’s death, sportswriter George Barton of the Minneapolis Tribune remembered that men who had played against Buland, including many former University of Minnesota Gophers players, declared Buland “could have won a place at tackle at any university in the Western conference, or anywhere else for that matter, had he decided upon a college career.”[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1939-1930 Necrology at Oldest Living Pro Football Players
  2. ↑ Quirk, Jim (1998). "The Minneapolis Marines: Minnesota's Forgotten NFL Team" (PDF). Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 20 (1): 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-18.
  3. ↑ "The First NFL Game(s)" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. 2: 1–4. 1981. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-18.
  4. ↑ Christiansen, R. C. (2023). Mill City Scrum: The History of Minnesota's First Team in the National Football League. Independently published. ISBN 979-8398571127.
  5. ↑ Christiansen, R. C. (2023). Mill City Scrum: The History of Minnesota's First Team in the National Football League. Independently published. ISBN 979-8398571127.
  6. ↑ Christiansen, R. C. (2023). Mill City Scrum: The History of Minnesota's First Team in the National Football League. Independently published. ISBN 979-8398571127.


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