Doug Buffone a character with character

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The 1975 draft that brought the Bears Walter Payton also brought them a defensive end, Mike Hartenstine, from Penn State. The rookie was struggling a bit, but there was a veteran more than willing to help.

Doug Buffone.

Buffone would retire in 1979. But before that, “Douggie taught me so much,” Hartenstine told CSNChicago.com. “I would hear him on the radio sometimes, saying that I helped him stay on (in the NFL).

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“But he really helped me. I was pretty good at ‘two-gapping’ (as a defensive lineman) and keeping guys off Doug, and he knew where I would be going where I had to go. I think we didn’t give up two yards a run to our side; more like 1.6 yards or something like that.”

But “Douggie” put a hit on more than the opponent.

“I remember that he knocked me out in the Astrodome against Houston,” Hartenstine recalled. “He was swinging around the quarterback and kicked me in the head. I was out. I was knocked out only twice in my career, and that was a pretty good one.”

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