Interestingly though, for anyone who thinks Mel was the pioneer, he wasn't. It was a nerdy guy named Joel Buschsbaum obsessively cluttering up his parents house in Brooklyn with pre-computerized hard copy information and ringing up $1500 monthly telephone bills. I did know about him previously but he skipped my mind until listening to Jim Rome yesterday interview The Colts new GM, Ryan Grigson (who actually sounds sharp as ****) whose background and obsession since a youngster was in player scouting and evaluation. My memory got refreshed when he brought Joel up as the pioneering gold standard and bragged about actually getting to meet him once. Joel was an interesting reclusive character who essentially got usurped by Mel as the draft pioneer. I for one am happy to do my small part to spread the word that Mel wasn't all that as a visionary either.
Excellent summary and info, Vaark. Joel Buchsbaum was the #1 draft source for years before Kiper showed up, and beyond. Circa late '70s/early '80s there were 5 or 6 prominent draft guides that would be advertised in publications like Sporting News. I shelled out roughly $70-90 every year for them, with names like "The Drugstore List." Buchsbaum's version was the most comprehensive and best. He had terrific phrasing like, "Lacks a defined bubble butt," or "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane."
When Kiper's blue book debuted, it was weak in detail in comparison to Buchsbaum and he never caught up. Kiper used big print and had lots of features like NFL roster analysis and lists of underclassmen prospects for forthcoming drafts, but the scouting reports never threatened Buchsbaum.
Buchsbaum actually wasn't the first draft analyst for Pro Football Weekly. They had a couple of brothers who did a great job but departed after a few years, for whatever reason. Buchsbaum quickly became the star. Pro Football Weekly was jolted in the late '70s when the founder died suddenly. Arkush. I think he had a heart attack while jogging. Quite young. They devoted a full cover to it. From that point forth the sons seemed determined to uphold their father's vision and become the paper of record for pro football and particularly the draft. Buchsbaum had a weekly column during the season in which he'd pick college games -- horribly -- while spotlighting the pro prospects in those games. At the end of the column he'd feature tidbits on other college teams and prospects. Virtually every issue also included a separate Buchsbaum column in which he'd analyze a specific position and the top rated guys. I always threw away the rest of the magazine but kept those player printouts toward the draft. Every year it struck me that the early evaluations from the fall proved superior to Buchsbaum's last minute ratings, and I've maintained that notion ever since.
In Miami, the sources for draft info were WIOD 610 and WKAT 1360. WIOD was the Dolphin flagship station and had nightly sports talk from 7-11 or 7-midnight. WKAT had a very young Chris Myers, the guy who is now on FOX Sports. He was a huge fan of Los Angeles sports teams and amused station bigwig Sonny Hirsch by bringing on so many draft experts to interview, devoting hours. Myers had Dolphin general manager Chuck Connor on the air all the time. I would call and ask questions, along with a handful of others. The same callers dominated the draft shows. Keep in mind there was no such thing as morning or afternoon sports talk in those days. It would have been unthinkable. The prime time hosts were the stars. WIOD had Hank Goldberg, who had plenty of contacts and featured draft interviews and discussion for weeks leading up to the draft, which was 17 rounds in those days, then shortened to 12. I remember Buchsbaum on WIOD occasionally, but not weekly shows like he did elsewhere. I was jealous of those cities.
It's largely a myth that draft knowledge was unobtainable. I certainly was more versed on more prospects in those days. But I was 20ish and devoted tons of time. You had to follow the college season in real time, not ignore it and try to cram in the final weeks. The college all star games like the Senior Bowl and Hula Bowl and Christmas Day Blue-Grey game were more widely available on network TV. The big stars converged on the Hula Bowl, enjoying the trip, and started to skip the Senior Bowl. There was talk of the Senior Bowl leaving Mobile, or falling by the wayside. Once VCRs were in vogue I'd tape those games and keep the tape for draft related study.
When ESPN started covering the draft they used Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated and Howard Balzer of Sporting News. Along with Pro Football Weekly, Sporting News was a major player in draft coverage in those years. I'd anticipate their weekly editions throughout the late winter and early spring. Every week they'd cover a new position, with the latest rumors and mocks. Big articles and feature columns. Pro Football Weekly became a monthly after the Super Bowl. The pre draft issue was massive and contained updates from Buchsbaum's final draft guide, which generally was published in mid to late March.
Buchsbaum made a very brief appearance on ESPN during the early years of the draft coverage. One of the roving anchors would stick a microphone in his face and ask for impressions. It was awkward, to put it kindly. Buchsbaum was a classic skinny nerd with a raspy voice and an extreme number of words per minute. He'd get nervous on TV and wasn't as effective as radio.
Once Kiper took over in 1984, Buchsbaum might have appeared once or twice more in the limited role, then was phased out. You'd see his book on the ESPN table but seldom a mention of him.
Joel kept it up for two more decades and always said his dream was to die at an old age after yet another successful draft analysis. Unfortunately he died suddenly perhaps 7 or 8 years ago, and relatively young, probably late 40s or early 50s. I never wanted to read the details...overly sad.
BTW, I notice I may have zapped the color scheme. Unintentional, if so.
