It’s mid-August (you can smell it in the air), which means college football season is right around the corner. One way to get ready for the new season is to reflect on seasons past. Who’s my favorite college football player of all time? “Jim Braxton,” I always answer. That answer was born during another mid-August, a long time ago.
It was August 1970, and I had just arrived in Morgantown to start graduate school, eager to study and experience campus life. My office in Old Forestry was up the hill from Mountaineer Field (everything in Morgantown is up or down a hill), and one afternoon I wandered down to the football stadium. West Virginia’s football team was practicing. It was one of those days I was able to walk in without restrictions.
Braxton v. Maryland (1969). WVU won, 31-7. (photo, Daily Athenaeum)
The Mountaineers went 10-1 in 1969, capping off the season with a Peach Bowl win over South Carolina. Many of the players were back for the ’70 season, and I was excited about the team. WVU had a new head coach. Jim Carlen had left for Texas Tech and his WVU assistant, Bobby Bowden, took the reins. Bowden was riding high as the offensive mastermind of the Peach Bowl win.
As I looked over the practice field that day, I looked for Bowden and, then, I saw “him.” It was Jim Braxton, Mr. All-Everything for WVU–tight end, running back, and (some of you will be amazed to read), placekicker, too. In ’69, Braxton kicked three field goals, made 26 extra points, and finished 8th in the country in scoring. Oh, and he ran for 850 yards.
Bottom line: Braxton was too good to play just one position. A running back as a sophomore (275 yards), he continued in that role in 1969 (845 yards) until Bowden–the offensive coordinator at the time–made a bold move as the team prepared for the Peach Bowl game. Eddie Williams got the nod at RB in Braxton’s place. The Gamecocks had prepared for Braxton, and they got Williams … and more …The Wishbone Offense. Williams responded by gaining over 200 yards, a key factor in the win, and Braxton scored on a 1-yard run and kicked two extra points in the Mountaineers 14-3 win.
Braxton played TE in 1970, and he had a stellar season, catching 30 passes and gaining about 600 yards. The AP named him first-time All-America tight end. Teammate Dale Farley, my linebacking favorite, joined Braxton as an All-America courtesy of The Sporting News and ProFootballWeekly.
I just knew Braxton would play pro ball and was tickled when he was drafted by my hometown team—the Buffalo Bills—selected as the 57th pick in Round 3 of the NFL Draft. Braxton quickly became the Bills starting fullback, but his primary value to Coach Lou Saban wasn’t running. It was blocking. That’s because the Bills had another guy to do the running–the heralded O.J. Simpson.
Simpson gained nearly 11,300 yards behind Braxton and that prolific Bills’ offensive line, “The Electric Company.” That line may have just been the best in NFL history–Joe DeLamielleure, Reggie McKenzie, Paul Seymour, Willie Parker, Dave Foley, Mike Montler, Donnie Green, and Bruce Jarvis, among others.
Courtesy: Pro Look Photos Company
No Bills fan of that era will ever forget 1973. The culmination was a snowy December day, the regular season’s last game. The place was Shea Stadium, and the opponents were the New York Jets. O.J. ran for over 200 yards that day for a total of 2003 yards that season, a record. Jim Braxton and The Electric Company cleared the way.
Simpson said of Braxton: “He was my protector…. What he meant to my career is impossible to calculate, but I know many of the things I achieved wouldn’t have been possible without him.” ProFootballWeekly put it this way: Braxton enabled ”The Juice to run loose.”
Jim Braxton wasn’t just a blocking back, though. He was also a formidable offensive force. In eight pro seasons (seven years with the Bills and one with the Dolphins), Braxton accounted for about 4500 yards—nearly 3000 rushing and 1500 receiving, and he scored over 30 touchdowns.
No question about it, Jim Braxton had a great college and pro career. He could run, receive, block, and kick. Then, less than a decade later, he was gone. Cancer took him. Braxton suffered for about a year and a half before the end came at Roswell Memorial Institute in Buffalo. The date was July 28, 1986. He was 37 years old.
Jim Braxton: I enjoy life, I enjoy football, but most of all, I enjoy people. I came from a small town of 800 people where you can get to know all the people.
Braxton did a lot of living before that fateful day. He had a stint in real estate management, running an operation in Buffalo, and served as an NAACP staff member. He and his wife, Pam, whom he met at WVU, started a family during his time with the Bills. Jim was a family man, too.
In private life, Jim Braxton took to youth development. During his pro years, he’d return to West Virginia during the off-season and work with youth. “He created a drop-out prevention program, and he worked with kids all across the state,” Pam recounts. Son Brandon remembers that his dad gave special attention to kids with less athletic talent. “He liked to make sure that each kid was getting something out of the experience,” Brandon recalls. “He knew that winning was important, but there was more to the experience than that.” (source: TribLIVE, 6/23/12)
Courtesy WVU Athletics
Today there’s a residence hall at WVU named “Braxton Tower,” named after “Bubby,” as his friends and Buffalo fans knew him. The Tower is a memorial to what he did at WVU and also for who he was.
Even after all the years—and with plenty of other sports experiences in my file folder—Jim Braxton, among all the others, remains at the top of my list. For one thing, Jim was an exceptionally versatile athlete. Play him here or play him there. He’d do it and do it well. That was Jim Braxton, the football player.
What I admire more, though, is how comfortable he was switching positions and roles. He was adept at taking the lead or playing a support role. The 1969 Peach Bowl is an example. In Buffalo, O.J. Simpson was the star, not Jim Braxton, but Braxton made it possible for Simpson to shine … and for the team to succeed.
Leadership is often thought of as an “out front” activity, but that shortchanges what it really is. Braxton did what the team needed him to do. The Bills’ quarterback at the time, Joe Ferguson, viewed him as “the brains of the operation.” Braxton would let Ferguson know if he thought a play wouldn’t work. He’d recommend an alternative—never aggressively—just matter-of-factly. Ferguson recalls that Braxton was rarely wrong.
I see Jim Braxton daily. He’s in the upper-right corner of my The Sports Column home page. It’s a reminder. My favorite college football player….
I haven’t forgotten him. I never will.
Mr. Fear, I just want to thank you for such a well-written article and tribute about my uncle. Our family loved reading it. Let’s goooooo Mountaineers!
Thank you Mr. Fear! I echo my niece, Jamie Braxton, that this article was well-written and above all, a tribute to Bubby. It’s so nice to know that Bubby has had such an impact on others. Of course our family knew he was ‘special’ besides being a fantastic athlete, but you sincerely voicing how he touched and impacted your life was wonderful. Thank you again for keeping his memory alive.
I just saw this. What a beautiful tribute to Jim Braxton! Sad that he passed away so young. I had the opportunity to know him for a few months when he played for the Miami Dolphins and was a neighbor. You have depicted him exactly as he was, except I don’t know that Don Shula recognized, that though he was an older athlete, he was a great human being. He talked about his family, but I never did get to meet them. Hope they are all doing well. I was blessed to have him as a neighbor, and friend, even for such a short time.
I REMEMBER WATCHING JIM BRAXTON PLAY. HE WAS KIND OF LIKE THE DARYL “MOOSE” JOHNSTON OF HIS DAY. I HAD NO IDEA HE DIED SO YOUNG.
Hello Frank. Your column on my WV team mate “Bubby” Braxton brought so many fond memories. “Bubby” will always be with us & remembered as a consummate team player. We both were members of the ‘67 Mountaineer recruiting class. Four years living, eating, practicing, attending class, meetings, travel, & game days brought us together in a difficult time in America. There’s so much I can share with you as Jim & I competed against each other in high school here in WPA. Not many know, but he excelled on the baseball diamond the likes of McCovey, Stargell, & other powerful lefties. We played so many games on the diamond & gridiron only to be reunited at WVU. Thanks again. Bob Zitelli
I read Mr. Fear’s article on Jim Braxton. I totally agree Jim is the best all-around player ever at WVU. He was a running back, a punter, an extra point kicker, field goal kicker. Kicked off, and was one of the first running backs that threw passes. He was switched to tight end his senior year and was a first-team All-American. O.J. Simpson would have never got his yardage without this great team player and athlete. I had the fortune of playing basketball with him one time and could see the athlete he was. Even more important he was a good human being and such a great role model. He was one of a kind. Thank you for your reporting of him.
Thanks for the great article about Bubby Braxton. He was my friend at WVU and remains my favorite football player, too. He was also kind, loving, and generous.