At the tail end of the 1960s, Roberts worked as a preliminary wrestler in the American Wrestling Association (AWA).
Roberts moved to World Class Championship Wrestling in late 1982 as a part of The Fabulous Freebirds (alongside Michael "P.S." Hayes, Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, and Jimmy "Jam" Garvin) and began a high-profile feud with the Von Erich family. They wrestled David Von Erich, Kerry Von Erich, Mike Von Erich and Kevin Von Erich numerous times in 1986. Roberts also had a long-standing feud with Von Erich ally Chris Adams, which lasted on and off for more than five years.
Roberts' most famous singles angle came in WCCW in 1983, and involved the invention of what the Freebirds referred to as "Freebird Hair Removal Cream". The angle culminated in a hair match between Roberts and Iceman Parsons on June 17. Roberts seemingly won the match via tight-pulling, but the decision was reversed and the match restarted. In the fracas, Roberts' head was lathered in the hair removal cream. At subsequent events, Roberts wore a wig, kept in place by boxing headgear.
In 1984, Roberts and the Freebirds had a short stint in the World Wrestling Federation, mainly competing in six-man tag matches. Here, they were managed by Cyndi Lauper's manager, David Wolff. They left the promotion when WWF officials stated their intention to split the team up. At the AWA's SuperClash in 1985, Roberts helped Hayes and Gordy defeat The Road Warriors for the AWA World Tag Team Championship, but the decision was later reversed.
In 1987, The Freebirds went back to WCCW, where they both split up and reformed. Roberts and Gordy turned on Hayes and teamed with Iceman Parsons to feud with Hayes and the Von Erichs. Gordy eventually left Roberts to rejoin Hayes. The feud ended in late 1988 when Hayes and Gordy left for WCW, and Roberts acted as a manager to the Samoan Swat Team before he retired from wrestling. Roberts also had a short feud with World Class referee David Manning, which included several gimmick matches, such as Roberts wrestling with one arm tied behind his back. Manning, who was touted as an accomplished amateur wrestler by the promotion to compensate for the obvious size difference between the two, won most of the matches on a fluke.
Roberts managed Hayes and Jimmy Garvin in one match against Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) on September 5, 1990.
On November 26, 2012, Roberts passed away.
On April 2, 2016, Roberts was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his son, Buddy "Jack" Roberts Jr. as part of The Fabulous Freebirds.