The Hall of Excellence announced the Class of 2026, which includes a familiar face from the Cardinals: kicker Jim Bakken. He will join nine other professional football players.
Buchan played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1962 to 1978, playing 17 years before retiring. Today, he is 85 years old and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
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The Hall of Excellence (HOVG) is a secondary hall for membership of the Professional Football Research Association (PFRA). Each year, members recommend players for that year’s Hall of Fame, and the list is then whittled down to 20 names. From there, 10 players were voted on.
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The purpose of the HOVG is to recognize professional football players who have had outstanding careers, but not good enough to be nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Many players were elected to the HOVG and later were indeed inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Including Buchan, the Cardinals now have 10 players selected to HOVG: RB OJ Anderson, HB John David Crow, S Pat Fischer, HB Marshall Goldberg, DE Ken Gray, FB Pat Harder, OT Duke Slater, DB Abe Woodson and coach Don Coryell.
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Buchan grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, playing basketball, baseball, and quarterbacking the high school football team. He then went on to play quarterback at the University of Wisconsin, where he was also the team’s punter and kicker. During his sophomore year, he was named All-Big Ten as a punter and kicker.
His punt average led the Big Ten in his junior and senior seasons. His longest field goal was 47 yards.
In today’s NFL, kickers and punters are typically drafted on the third day. A lot of very good specialists went undrafted but went on to become very good kickers. K Adam Vinatieri was inducted into the Hall of Fame class of 2026 but was undrafted. The 1962 NFL Draft had 20 rounds, so teams typically selected punters and kickers. This is also a time when there are very few experts in the NFL. The punter is usually a quarterback or safety, while the kicker is almost always an offensive lineman. The long snapper doesn’t exist as a stand-alone position, so the task is filled by the center or tight end. It’s not uncommon for multiple players to take on these “extra responsibilities.”
Buchan was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the seventh round of the 1962 NFL Draft.
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He was the last player cut from the Rams training camp and was claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals. Veteran Danny Villanueva takes on all the kicking duties, and Bakken can’t replace him. Both players have a direct playing style.
For the 1961 St. Louis team, offensive tackle Gerry Perry was the punter and strong safety Jerry Norton was the team’s punter.
In 1962, NFL teams had only eight coaches and rosters were limited to 36 players. The coaching staff doesn’t want kickers or punters taking up valuable space on their roster, so other players take on those jobs. But in 1962, Buchan became the Cardinals’ first specialist.
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In his third season, he went 25-38 from the field and 40-40 from the field. In 1964, he led the NFL in field goal percentage and field goal percentage. The following season, he led the league in field goal percentage with 67.7% and was selected to his first Pro Bowl.
Buchan went to a total of four Pro Bowls, was named to the All-Pro First Team twice and became the NFL’s scoring leader in 1967 (117). In addition, he was later named to the “NFL All-Decade Team of the 1960s” and the “NFL All-Decade Team of the 1970s.”
His nickname was “Bag” because his teammates called him “Money in the Bank.”
He also achieved great success in his later years. In his 13th season, he went 19-24 with a 40-41 PAT and was selected to his third Pro Bowl. The following season, he was named to the Pro Bowl again after posting a 20-27 field goal percentage and a 33-35 PAT mark.
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In addition, Buchan had 65 NFL punts for 2,439 yards, averaging 36.8 yards per punt and 56 yards long.
The 2026 HOVG is his fourth Hall of Fame honor. He was inducted into the “Madison (Wisconsin) Sports Hall of Fame” in 1984, the “University of Wisconsin Athletic Department-National W Club Hall of Fame” in 2001, and the “St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame” in 2015.
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Link: PFRA Home Page
The remaining members of the 2026 HOVG class include Nate Newton, Clem Daniels, Charley Brock, Mike Stratton, Wilber Marshall, Kent Hull, George Christensen, Greg Lloyd and Chris Hinton.
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After retiring, Buchan was hired as the Director of External Relations for the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department until his retirement. He was a seven-time Wisconsin Masters Handball Doubles Champion (1991-97).
In 2010, his greatest honor may have been the annual trophy given to the Big-10’s top kicker, named the Buchan-Anderson Kicker of the Year Award. It is named after former Michigan State University kicker Morten Andersen, who played in the NFL for 25 years with five different clubs.
