Dan Hampton was a rookie in 1979, coming to the Bears in what would be Doug Buffone’s last year in the NFL. By that time, Buffone was no longer a starting linebacker and Hampton wasn’t seeing Buffone in anything near the latter’s prime.
But Hampton, inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002, saw the essential Doug Buffone, in more ways than one.
“When I got here in 1979, Doug was ‘The Dos Equis Man,’ Hampton said, laughing. “You know: ‘Stay thirsty, my friend.’ He had the nightclubs, all the stuff, and he was bigger than life.