Buoniconti was born to Nicholas Anthony Buoniconti Sr. and Pasqualina "Patsy" Mercolino in Springfield, Massachusetts. The couple ran a family bakery in the predominantly Italian South End of the city. He was raised Catholic and played football for Cathedral High School, where a plaque honoring him as a "Hometown Hall of Famer" was unveiled in 2012.\n', '

In 1985, his son Marc suffered a spinal cord injury making a tackle for The Citadel, rendering him a quadriplegic. Nick became the public face of the group that founded the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, now one of the world\'s leading neurological research centers.\n', '

Buoniconti graduated from Notre Dame, and was drafted by the American Football League\'s Patriots in the thirteenth round of the 1962 AFL draft.\n', '

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