Tom Dempsey
The straight-toe kicker who booted a record 63-yard field goal with a custom shoe and no toes.
Thomas John Dempsey (January 12, 1947 – April 4, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills. He was born with no toes on his right foot and no fingers on his right hand. Dempsey wore a special shoe for kicking. Unlike the 'soccer-style' approach which was becoming more widely used during his career, Dempsey's kicking style was the then-standard straight-toe style. With the Saints in 1970, he made a 63-yard field goal, setting an NFL record which stood for 43 years.
Quick Facts
- Position
- Placekicker
- Born
- 12 January 1947
- Birthplace
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
- Died
- 4 April 2020
- Place of death
- New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
- High school
- San Dieguito (Encinitas, California)
- College
- Palomar
- Highlights
- First-team All-Pro (1969)
- Pro Bowl (1969)
- George Halas Award (1971)
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
Facts from the source article.
Background
Dempsey was born in Milwaukee and attended high school and college in Southern California. To accommodate his foot structure, Dempsey wore a custom, flat-front kicking shoe that had no toe box. The custom-made $200 shoe generated controversy about whether such a shoe gave a player an unfair advantage. When reporters would ask him if he thought it was unfair, he said, 'Unfair, eh?
How 'bout you try kickin' a 63-yard field goal to win it with 2 seconds left an' yer wearin' a square shoe, oh yeah, and no toes either.' Additionally, ESPN Sport Science analyzed Dempsey's kick and determined his modified shoe gave Dempsey no advantage. The league made two rule changes in the subsequent years to discourage further long field goal attempts. The first was in 1974, which moved the goal posts from the goal line to the back of the end zone, adding ten yards to the kick distance, and awarded the ball to the defense on a missed kick at the spot from where the ball was hiked.
(This was changed in 1994 to the spot of the kick.) Then, in 1977, the NFL added a rule, informally known as the 'Tom Dempsey Rule', that 'any shoe that is worn by a player with an artificial limb on his kicking leg must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe.'
Did You Know?
- Dempsey's 63-yard field goal record stood for 43 years until Matt Prater broke it in 2013.
- He tested positive for COVID-19 on March 30, 2020, and died on April 4, 2020.
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