 Chandler as a member of the Green Bay Packers | |||||||||||
| No. 34 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Placekicker Punter | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born: | (1934-09-05)September 5, 1934 Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Died: | August 11, 2011(2011-08-11) (aged 76) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||
| Weight: | 215 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school: | Will Rogers (Tulsa) | ||||||||||
| College: | Florida | ||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1956: 5th round, 57th pick | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||
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Donald Gene "Babe"Chandler (September 5, 1934 – August 11, 2011) was an American professionalfootball player who was apunter andplacekicker for 12 seasons in theNational Football League (NFL) in the 1950s and 1960s. Chandler playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators, and thereafter, he played professionally for theNew York Giants and theGreen Bay Packers of the NFL.
Chandler was born inCouncil Bluffs, Iowa.[1] He attendedWill Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma,[2] and he played for the Will Rogers Ropers high school football team.
After graduating from high school, Chandler first attendedBacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and then transferred to theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he playedhalfback,punter andplacekicker for coachBob Woodruff'sFlorida Gators football team in1954 and1955.[3] As a senior in 1955, Chandler led all major college punters with an average kick of 44.3 yards, narrowly beating outEarl Morrall of theMichigan State Spartans.[4] Memorably, Chandler also kicked a 76-yard punt against theGeorgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 1955, which remains tied for the second longest punt in Gators history.[3] Woodruff ranked him andBobby Joe Green as the Gators' best kickers of the 1950s.[5]
Chandler graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in 1956, and was later inducted into theUniversity of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."[6]
After college, he was selected in the fifth round (57th pick overall) of the1956 NFL draft,[7] and played with the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers.[8] He played in the first two overtime games ever in the NFL, in1958 with the Giants against theBaltimore Colts and again in1965 when he kicked the winning field goal for the Packers against the same Colts in aWestern Conference playoff game at Green Bay.[9] Chandler's fourth-quarter field goal that tied the game at 10–10 stirred controversy, as many Baltimore players and fans (and even Chandler himself) thought he missed the kick to the right. Footage of the kick shows a disgusted Chandler flip his head back in anger after he supposedly missed his kick. Chandler was named the punter on theNFL 1960s All-Decade Team.[9] He went to thePro Bowl after the1967 season.[9]
He led the NFL in average yards per punt with 44.6 yards in 1957 and led the league with a field goal percentage of 67.9 percent on 19 of 28 attempts in 1962. Chandler set a record for most field goals scored in a Super Bowl with four in the 1968 edition of the Super Bowl against the Oakland Raiders, clinching the championship for the Packers;Ray Wersching tied himfourteen years later.[9]
Chandler helpedVince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers teams win Super Bowls I and II. Memorably, he kicked a 90-yard punt against the San Francisco 49ers in 1965.[9] He was named to the All Pro team in 1967.[1]
In his 12-season NFL career, Chandler played in 154 regular season games, kicked 660 punts for a total of 28,678 yards, 248 extra points on 258 attempts, and 94 field goals on 161 attempts.[1] He also rushed for 146 yards on 13 carries, and completed a perfect three passes on three attempts for a total of 67 yards.[1]
Chandler was inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame in 1975, along with tight endRon Kramer, defensive endWillie Davis, guardsJerry Kramer andFuzzy Thurston andVince Lombardi.[10] He was selected as the premier punter for the decade in the 1960s. In 2002, he was named to the Oklahoma Team of the Century byThe Oklahoman. In 2003, he was added to the list of Oklahoma's Greatest Athletes by theTulsa World. Chandler is also a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and the New York Giants Wall of Fame.[11]
Chandler died at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 11, 2011; he was 76 years old.[12][13]