Before Dont’a Hightower or Tedy Bruschi were the Patriots’ playmaking linebackers, there was Springfield native Nick Buoniconti. And after seven seasons in New England, Buoniconti went on to achieve his highest level of fame as a member of the undefeated 1972 Dolphins (winning a second Super Bowl in 1973).
Yet in 2017, at 76-years-old, the former middle linebacker is struggling with familiar issues for retired NFL players. He has memory loss (and can’t remember how to tie a tie), balance issues, as well as other physical problems derived from what he said were as many as 500,000 hits to the head during his football career.