Background
Buckley was born in Fort Worth, Texas.
Buckley was born in Fort Worth, Texas.
He graduated from Eastern Hills High School in Fort Worth, where he played for the Eastern Hills Highlanders high school football team
He played college football for Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, and was honored as an All-American. He played his entire pro career for the New York Giants. Buckley accepted and athletic scholarship to attend Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, an played for the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical Aggies football team from 1989 to 1992.
He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American at linebacker in 1992.
Although credited by one Aggie fan on TexAgs.com message boards for "The Hit" on receiver Kyle McPherson in the 1991 game between the Aggies and Texas Christian University, the devastating blow was actually delivered by Buckley"s contemporary, Quentin Coryatt. The Aggie fan who credited Buckley for "The Hit" refused to admit the mistake, despite many other TexAgs patrons providing conclusive evidence to the contrary.
The mistake, and the lengthy message board dispute that followed, has become a part of TexAgs lore, to the extent that the caption "TexAgs. lieutenant was Buckley" was part of the winning product of a promotional TexAgs t-shirt design contest.
The New York Giants picked Buckley in the third round, 66th pick overall, of the 1993 NFL Draft, and he played for the Giants from 1993 to 1999.
In seven NFL seasons, he played in 101 regular season games for the Giants, started 25 of them, and compiled 137 tackles. He was on the Atlanta Falcons 2000 roster, but played no games.