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Who Is DeForest Buckner’s Father George Buckner?

Author

John Campbell

Updated on February 23, 2026

DeForest George Buckner, a defensive tackle with the National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts, was born on March 17, 1994. (NFL). The San Francisco 49ers selected him in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft after he played college football for the University of Oregon. In 2019, Buckner was a second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl pick while playing for the 49ers. He was chosen for the first team All-Pro for the Colts in 2020, and the following year, he was named for the Pro Bowl.

Buckner’s parents were a Samoan mother and an African American father. He attended Hawaii’s Punahou School and was a four-star recruit. Both Buckner and the current kicker for the Houston Texans, Kaimi Fairbairn, were teammates. In January 2012, Buckner made the decision to play college football and made a commitment to the University of Oregon. Buckner also played basketball in high school.

Who Is DeForest Buckner’s, Father George Buckner?

George Buckner was born in 1942 in the historic African American neighborhood of Gifford, just north of Vero Beach, Florida. He was the oldest of a total of 12 children, including his brother Ellis Buckner, another renowned Highwaymen painter. The community that helped shape the Highwaymen’s artistic fortunes was mostly absent from the young Buckner brothers’ life until they met Highwaymen painter Harold Newton, a fellow Gifford native, in their later teens. This experience gave Buckner the inspiration to eventually join the organization.