By Ralph N. Paulk, APS Storyteller

Typically, when a hall of fame selection committee convenes for the first time it cautiously navigates the thorny weeds of statistics. Then, with a mostly attentive audience, someone delivers a poignant story to accentuate an athlete’s greatness.

And that tale of glory leaves no doubt that the subject overshadows the hype. In the case of Michael Buckner, the hype was an understatement.

Every member of the Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame committee gave definitive thumbs up to include the East High School graduate into the 2025 class of standout athletes, who will be enshrined on Oct. 18 during an induction ceremony at Guy’s Party Center in Akron.

Even though Buckner was an easy choice, it was difficult to cast him into a definitive role, mostly because he was an accomplished figure at every level – athlete, coach and administrator. Ultimately, the perplexed committee opted to vote him into the Hall of Fame as a coach.

Buckner’s journey to the hall seemed unlikely during a childhood reared in what he described as “cardboard houses” on the city’s East side. He was born on the North side, but his family moved him and his siblings near what is now James Ingram Way.

“We moved up into the world into our cardboard homes in the Goodyear Heights projects,” said Buckner, who played with both the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins. “The thing is we were all poor, but we didn’t know we were poor, if you know what I mean.

“My father was my first coach, and he taught me everything. And then, of course, my mother was a skillful person as well. They were a good team.”

Buckner’s parents talked excessively about family, friends and community. More than half a century later, his friendships are just as strong with many of the men he played with and competed against. 

“A lot of our fathers worked in the rubber plants, and we were a close-knit community,” said Buckner who served as the district’s director of athletes before his retirement after nearly 38 years with Akron Public Schools. I remember thinking back then that I had never lived in a house until we moved to the East side, but we had a home no matter where we lived. It’s really something when you think about how those relationships have lasted all these years.”

The early years of Buckner’s life helped shape his attitude about coaching. And it greatly influenced his willingness to give back to his community and the selfless manner in which he has impacted the lives of many of the athletes who made him a championship coach.

“Coach Buckner cares about his athletes as men, and it’s why we all respect him,” the late Clayvon Bradford said on the eve of the 2023 celebration that honored his former coach and mentor. “He believed in us, and we believed in him.”

Buckner never had a shortage of confidence. And what he lacked in skill, he made up with immeasurable grit and knowledge. He earned his graduate degree at Kent State as he was convincing others to excel beyond their imaginations.

“I feel good about having helped a lot of young men and women,” said Buckner, who along with his late wife, Pat, were mainstays in the Akron community. “Sometimes, I had to serve as a surrogate parent and a whole lot of other stuff, and that’s what I feel good about.” 

Buckner began his coaching career as an assistant at Canton McKinley before moving on to Toledo Scott, where the then-24-year-old became the youngest head coach in the school’s history. Buckner revived a struggling program almost immediately. The program’s meteoric ascension from cellar dwellers to league champions set the stage for a brilliant, yet abbreviated coaching career.

In 1971, City Series administrators lured the Northwestern University graduate back home with the job of his choice. He had to pick sides between two bitter rivals: South and Buchtel. The Griffins were the beneficiaries as Buckner revitalized the program by changing the culture with a confident swagger that created a belief that winning was inevitable.

The Toledo job was his proving ground. Buchtel would become part of his APS legacy.

‘I considered the job at South before deciding on Buchtel,” said Buckner, the grandfather of six. “I knew I could take Buchtel from being cake eaters to cornbread eaters. I would say that Buchtel was somewhat like Firestone is today – everyone wanted to go there.”

While he couldn’t recruit all of the city’s best athletes to attend Buchtel, nothing kept Buckner from pursuing elite assistant coaches – including Carlton Preer and Jim Cahoon, who would lead the Buchtel girls basketball team to back-to-back state semifinals in the 1980s.

Buckner, who at 26 became the league’s youngest coach at the time, led the Griffins to five consecutive Turkey Day Championship games. Buchtel won titles in 1976 and 1978 by compiling 10-1 records.

More impressively, the Griffins earned a reputation as winners. Buckner set the stage for the late Tim Flossie to succeed as the Griffins would later win state championships both in 1987 and 1988.

“Mike was a guy that just had drive and he was intense at all times,” said Frank Williams, a fellow Hall of Fame inductee and East High classmate. “He’s always been a winner both on and off the field.”

Buckner finished his coaching career with 47 wins, 28 losses and 1 tie. The numbers could have been greater if only he had committed to coaching longer. He adjusted his ambitions when the opportunity came to coach and develop his sons, Tobin and Brandon, both of whom would become All-City performers.

Tobin was an All-City lineman who found his way from Buchtel to his father’s alma mater, Northwestern. Brandon, who passed away in 2022, was a graduate of Ashland University and led Firestone to a league title in 1988.

Michael Buckner – Through the Years

• Summit County Sports Hall of Fame
• Ohio High School Athletic Association Football Coaches Hall of Fame
• Buchtel football field named in his honor
• Buchtel and East Hall of Fame inductee
• Harold K. Stubbs Award
• Lifetime member of Akron NAACP, Akron Urban League, Tiretown Golf Club & Charities, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity