Thread: The 20 Biggest Baddest Bears of All Time Series; #18 No. 18 Doug Plank Dou

No. 18 Doug Plank


Doug Plank


Teamed with Gary Fencik to form a tandem of safeties known as “The Hitmen,” Plank only knew one speed, and that was 110 miles per hour with his hair on fire.


I spoke with Doug Buffone about Plank, whom he asked the coaching staff to take a look at for the starting safety spot during one of Buffone’s last seasons.

“I said to the staff they should take a look at this kid as a starter, but because he was undrafted, the coaches weren’t so keen on the idea,” Buffone recalled. “As luck would have it, injuries piled up, and Plank got his chance and never relinquished it.

Buffone called Plank the missile, as he wasn’t one to try and make a lot of plays on the football, but would rather go for big hits. Plank is known for an all-time great hit in the NFL where he ran through Earl Campbell. On that play, you could clearly see the intent was not to make the tackle, but to destroy Campbell.


Another story Buffone relayed to me was one about how he once tried to play racquetball with Plank, against his own intuit. “He asked me to come play a round of racquetball with him, and I refused to do it,” Buffone said.


After some strong friendly persistence from Plank, Buffone finally relented.
“I said OK, but this is just a friendly game of racquet ball, nothing too crazy,” Buffone said. “So I hit this lob shot, and out of the corner of my eye, I see Doug coming at me full speed with this look in his eye and he takes the full swing at the ball, misses the ball and smashes the racquet against my face. I went down hard, I was out on the floor…mouth split wide open bleeding all over the place. I wound up with like 20 stitches in my mouth after this and never played racquetball with him again.

“But that was how he played (on the football field), 100 miles an hour every time. He didn’t know any other speed.”