re: Former LSU QB Buddy Lee Died

Buddy Lee and I were both '48 models. When I was running track in High School we sometimes had meets that included Zachary. Buddy Lee was a man at 15. He ran the 100 and 220 on the Zachary track team and could motor in the 220 running in the mid 22s. Not quite enough start to be a great 100 guy but darned fast when he got moving. One of his receivers was a boy named Kenny Hurst. Hurst was a miler and I ran against him several times without success. I was as fast at the end of the year as he was at the start of the year which says it all.

I went to LSU starting in '69 after 2 1/2 years in the Army on the GI bill. Ran Cross Country and a little track before graduating in May of '72 which meant I spent some time around the football team.

It is my personal opinion that Buddy Lee is the most underrated post WWII quarterback to play for LSU. His one year as a starter came between Mike Hillman and Bert Jones Which sealed his doom, today he's barely a footnote.

A lot has been said about how much LSU ran the ball, LSU ran the ball about the same as most other teams in the late 60s - early 70's. In Lee's senior season in 11 regular season games he completed 73 out of 138 passes for 1162 yards (53%,) Bert Jones completed 50 of 99 for 894 yards (52%.) That's 2056 yards or just under 200 yards a game in a year in which the Tigers averaged about 375 yards a game total offense. That was explosive offense back then. The rules gave the edge to the defense then and the fact that the QBs had less time to throw and the emphasis was on the downfield game meant that any quarterback who completed about 55% of his passes would likely be on the podium for the Heisman. The only time LSU attempted a pass less than about 20 yards was on a checkdown or a screen. In 1970 LSU averaged 17 yards per completion. The leading receivers, Andy Hamilton, Gerald Keigly, Ken Kavanaugh Jr., and Jimmy LeDoux averaged 22, 17, 13 and 18 yards a catch respectively.

I talked to a fellow I know who started on the LSU defense for three years and was a senior on the 1970 team. He said that Buddy Lee was a decent and honorable man, which I suppose does mean more than being a good football player.