Honestly, if you ask a casual LSU fan about the greatest running backs in school history, they’ll probably point to Billy Cannon’s Halloween run or Leonard Fournette’s absolute destruction of defenders. Maybe Derrius Guice. But there’s a massive piece of the puzzle missing if you don’t know about Steve Van Buren LSU.
He wasn’t just good. He was a force of nature who basically invented the modern concept of the "workhorse" back in Baton Rouge.
Before he was "Wham Bam" or the "Moving Van" in the NFL, Steve Van Buren was a kid from Honduras who moved to New Orleans after being orphaned at age ten. He didn't even make his high school team as a sophomore. He weighed 125 pounds. Can you imagine? One of the most violent runners in football history was once considered too small for New Orleans prep ball. He spent two years working in an iron foundry, bulked up, and eventually caught the eye of LSU’s Bernie Moore.
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The Blocking Back Who Was Too Good to Hide
For a long time, Moore didn't even use him as a primary runner. That sounds like coaching malpractice today, but back then, the game was different. Van Buren spent his early years at LSU as a blocking back. He was the guy paving the way for others.
Moore once famously called him a "genius with an inferiority complex." It took a massive manpower shortage caused by World War II in 1943 for Van Buren to finally get the rock full-time.
He didn't just take the opportunity. He obliterated it.
In the 1943 season opener against Georgia, the Tigers were heavy underdogs. Van Buren responded by scoring four touchdowns, including the game-winner with only 35 seconds left on the clock. That single afternoon changed the trajectory of the program. He went on to lead the nation in scoring that year with 98 points and finished second in the country with 847 rushing yards.
Those numbers might look modest in the era of 15-game seasons, but in 1943? That was otherworldly. Those school records stood for thirty years. Think about the legends who passed through Baton Rouge in the 50s and 60s who couldn't touch what Steve did in just eight games.
Why the 1944 Orange Bowl Changed Everything
LSU had never won a bowl game. Not one.
They went into the 1944 Orange Bowl against a Texas A&M team that had already beaten them during the regular season. Van Buren was nursing an injury late in the year, and there was legitimate concern about whether he’d even be effective.
He wasn't just effective. He was the entire offense.
Steve carried the ball 24 times for 160 yards. To put that in perspective, the entire LSU team only had 181 rushing yards total. He ran for two scores and, just to show off, threw a touchdown pass as well. LSU walked away with a 19-14 win and their first ever bowl trophy.
The Physicality of a Different Era
You’ve got to understand how he ran. He wasn't a "dance in the hole" kind of guy. At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds—which was huge for a skill player in the 40s—he ran with a punishing, north-south violence.
Marty Broussard, the legendary LSU trainer, used to say Steve worked harder than any athlete he’d ever seen. He had to. The fields were often literal mud pits. Equipment was minimal. Defenses were specifically designed to stack eight or nine guys in the box because the forward pass was still treated like a secondary option.
Despite the targets on his back, Steve Van Buren LSU records became the gold standard.
- 98 Points: Led the NCAA in 1943.
- 847 Yards: Second in the nation in 1943.
- First Bowl MVP: Essentially the catalyst for LSU's post-season success.
From Tiger Stadium to Canton
The Philadelphia Eagles didn't overthink it. They took him 5th overall in the 1944 draft.
Even though he’s an LSU icon, his pro career is where the "greatest of all time" talk usually starts. He led the league in rushing four times. He won two NFL championships. He was the first player to ever have multiple 1,000-yard seasons. When he retired, he held the NFL career records for attempts, yards, and touchdowns.
But he never forgot the bayou. He was inducted into the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1944—immediately after his senior season—and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1961.
People often forget that his brother, Ebert Van Buren, also played at LSU and followed him to the Eagles. The Van Buren name was synonymous with "power football" for a decade.
The "What If" of Steve Van Buren
There’s a common misconception that Steve was just a product of a weak era. Honestly, that's nonsense.
If you watch the grainy film of his 1948 or 1949 NFL Championship games—played in a blizzard and a torrential mud-flood, respectively—you see a guy who would thrive in any decade. His balance was incredible.
Bernie Moore later lamented using him as a blocker for so long, saying, "The folks in Baton Rouge never let me forget that." It makes you wonder what his career stats would look like if he’d been the featured back for three years instead of just one. He likely would have put up numbers that wouldn't have been broken until the 2000s.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Historians
If you’re looking to truly appreciate the impact of Steve Van Buren on LSU and football history, here is how you can dig deeper into his legacy:
- Visit the Jack and Priscilla Andonie Museum: Located on the LSU campus, it houses significant memorabilia from the era of Bernie Moore and Steve Van Buren. It's the best place to see the physical history of that 1944 Orange Bowl win.
- Study the 1943 "War Year" Rosters: Researching how WWII depleted college rosters provides context for why Van Buren’s 1943 season was so statistically dominant compared to his peers.
- Compare Adjusted Stats: When looking at his 847 yards in 1943, compare it to the total offensive output of the SEC that year. You’ll find he accounted for a higher percentage of his team’s offense than almost any modern Heisman winner.
- Watch the 1948 NFL Championship Film: While not LSU footage, this is the best available video of Van Buren’s running style. It perfectly illustrates the "power-speed" combo that he developed while in Baton Rouge.
Steve Van Buren was the original LSU superstar. He set the template for the "DBU" and "RBU" monikers the school claims today. He proved that a kid from the streets of New Orleans, who was told he was too small to play, could end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That's a legacy that deserves to be remembered every time a back runs through a tackle in Death Valley.
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