University Southern California Trojans
Heritage Association Spotlight: Don Buford — USC Baseball & Football
January 31, 2019 | Baseball, Trojan Athletic Fund, Features
Long, warm summer days spent on the baseball field taught Buford invaluable skills about the game that he was growing to love. High school came around the corner quickly and he was exhilarated to begin playing team sports. At Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, Buford shone as a star athlete for the freshman basketball team, the varsity football and the varsity baseball teams. As his successful high school career came to a close, he recalls struggling to get attention from recruiters. "I was 5'7 and 150 pounds in high school, and the big colleges weren't very interested in recruiting such a small guy," Buford said. LA City College was his next option where he attended for one year, dominating in both football and baseball.
After a few conversations with USC baseball's infamous coach Rod Dedeaux, Buford landed on USC's radar. "Him being the gracious and great guy that he was, he said 'yeah, come on out tiger!'" Buford recalls that coach used to call everyone tiger, and they all got a kick out of it.
Buford quickly became a leader on the team, but after working tremendously hard to pay his way through his first year at USC, he realized he could not financially afford his remaining years at the school. Buford presented Dedeaux with his dilemma and luckily, coach had an idea. At the time, the USC football program was on probation, so Dedeaux figured they could financially spot Buford in return for his participation on the football team. Still 5'7 and 150 pounds, Buford couldn't help but feel tentative about the idea of being tackled by 250 pound men, but he gratefully accepted the challenge.
Buford fondly remembers Coach Dedeaux as the greatest coach of the century. "He was awesome. He taught us basic fundamentals, life skills, and how to be winners in sports and more importantly, winners in life." He and his teammates looked up to Dedeaux and felt that he was a strong father figure and mentor to them all. Beyond his experience with his own teammates and coaches, Buford felt honored to be part of such a strong heritage at USC. While attending Dorsey High School, he and his friends would trek the short distance to the coliseum together to watch the football team dominate at the coliseum. Although USC was always right around the block from Buford, he remained enamored by the opportunity to become a part of the Trojan family someday. "The history of the school was already great at that time. There was outstanding representation from athletics for years," said Buford.
Buford embodied tremendous confidence and grace as he played on the USC baseball team as the school's very first African American player. He paved the way for all of those who would follow in his footsteps. When asked about the impact this had on his experience, Buford simply said, "I never even thought about it." He recalls never having any sort of racial issues within the USC community. However, he did go on to have some of those experiences outside of USC when he eventually joined the minor leagues years later.
"This was before the end of segregation and it was an eye-opener," Buford said. "I wasn't allowed to live in certain housing facilities, go into a lot of different movie theaters with my teammates, and I wasn't allowed into some restaurants." But, Buford stayed the course and continued moving forward with his baseball career and his life as a young man. One thing that helped him was that he carried along with him much of the wisdom he had garnered from playing for Coach Dedeaux at USC. "I felt I had an advantage over a lot of players in the minor leagues. They didn't have the experience, nor were they as sound fundamentally."
He went on to play for the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, where he primarily played as a second and third baseman, and a consistent leadoff hitter. In 1993, Buford was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame, and in 2001 he was indcuted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame. Both of his sons, Don Jr. and Damon, continued their father's legacy playing on the USC baseball team as well. Buford enjoys giving back to USC and to his community in several ways. He is involved in a program with the Compton Unified School District, which is composed of three high schools, six middle schools, and twenty elementary schools. The program aims to teach young children the basic fundamentals of baseball and softball, as well as various life skills such as public speaking and media relations. "Not only does our program help kids learn the game, but it teaches them to be able to introduce themselves, look people in the eye, and other life skills in that sense," Buford said. High school students in the area provide their mentorship and assistance to the younger students, making it a rewarding experience for all who are involved.
Buford is also involved as a key member of the Trojan Baseball Athletic Association, which hosts football tailgates, and runs various alumni and community service events. After all that USC has provided Buford with, both in terms of baseball and in life skills, he is more than honored to give back.
