 Topps card of Gogolak, 1966 | |||||||||
| No. 3 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Placekicker | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1942-04-18)April 18, 1942 (age 83) Budapest, Hungary | ||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | Ogdensburg Free Academy(Ogdensburg, New York) | ||||||||
| College | Cornell | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1964: undrafted | ||||||||
| AFL draft | 1964: 12th round, 92nd overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Peter Kornel Gogolak (English:/ˈɡoʊɡəlæk/;Hungarian:Gogolák Péter Kornél; born April 18, 1942) is a Hungarian-born formerAmerican football player who was aplacekicker in theAmerican Football League (AFL) for theBuffalo Bills, and in theNational Football League (NFL) for theNew York Giants.[1]
Gogolak is widely considered the chief figure behind the game's adoption ofsoccer style placekicking.[2] In 1966, after playing two seasons for the AFL's Bills, he joined the NFL's Giants in May after playing out his option,[3][4] sparking the "war between the leagues" and effectively expediting the subsequentAFL–NFL merger agreement in June. He is distinguished as being the firstHungarian to play in the NFL. His younger brotherCharlie Gogolak also became a placekicker, playing six seasons professionally.
In 2010, the New York Giants announced that Gogolak would be included in the team's new Ring of Honor to be displayed at all home games in their new stadium.[5] To this day, he remains the Giants all-time leading scorer with 646 points.[6]
The son of aphysician, Gogolak came to the United States with his family as a teen, following theHungarian Revolution of 1956, and settled inOgdensburg, New York.[1][7] He playedcollege football in theIvy League atCornell University, where he was elected to theSphinx Head Society and was a member ofDelta Upsilonfraternity.[8]
With his roots in Europeansoccer, Gogolak approached the football at an angle and kicked it with his instep, rather than the then-conventional straight-on approach, impacting with the toes.[9] Not taken in the twenty-round1964 NFL draft, he was selected in the twelfth round of theAFL draft by theBuffalo Bills, bringing yet another innovation to the upstart league that had become known for its experimentation. The unorthodox style that had made Gogolak notable while in college now made him professional football's first "soccer style" (as opposed to "conventional") kicker. In1965, he scored 115 points and was selected by his peers as aSporting News All-AFL player. He made 28 of 46 field goal attempts (.609), and connected on all 31 extra point attempts, as the Bills repeated asAFL champions.
Gogolak was also a prime factor in the "war between the leagues" and the subsequentmerger of theNational Football League with the American Football League. Bills' ownerRalph Wilson paid Gogolak $10,000 in 1964 and offered him $13,500 for1965, exceptional pay, in those days, for a kicker. Choosing instead to take a reduction in pay to $9,900,[10] Gogolak was able to "play out his option", thereby forcing the Bills to match any other team's subsequent offer. A wealthy suitor was at hand: the NFL'sNew York Giants, playing in the NFL's largest market, found itself saddled with struggling rookie kickerBob Timberlake, who made just one field goal in fifteen attempts (.067) in1965. FullbackChuck Mercein also had two attempts without success and the Giants finished at 7–7, four games behind theCleveland Browns. The Giants' mediocrity could not be attributed to a lack of field goal proficiency; the average margin in their seven losses was 21 points, and the closest was 13 points (to the Browns).
Wellington Mara of the Giants ignored the owners' "gentleman's agreement" against signing another league's players,[1][10] an arrangement that had previously depressed player wages and prevented inter-league competition over otherwise valued athletes. The only player to jump leagues had been endWillard Dewveall, who left theChicago Bears after the1960 season for the AFL'sHouston Oilers.[11] Although the leagues competed for new collegiate talent over the next five years, they had adhered to an unwritten understanding not to sign each other's veteran players.
The desperate Giants, then playing inYankee Stadium, whose late autumn winds sometimes rivaled those faced by Gogolak in Buffalo, signed the Bills star and Gogolak went on to become the Giants' all-time leading scorer. As NFL owners had feared, the May signing led to a marked increase in similar "poachings" by new AFL CommissionerAl Davis, bringing other NFL stars to the newer league. Ultimately, this increasingly expensive competition for key players was a significant contributory factor to the two leagues' owners reaching accord in theAFL–NFL merger on June 8, 1966. Part of the agreement was no inter-league trades, so the movement of notable NFL players (Roman Gabriel,John Brodie, andMike Ditka) to the AFL was disallowed.
TheGiants reactivatedLen Grant's #3 in 1966, at Gogolak's request (Len Grant was theGiants' tackle and captain, who died from a lightning strike in 1938 while playing golf, shortly before training camp, and his #3 was retired that same year).
Gogolak made 16 of 28 attempts (.571) for the Giants in1966, but they finished at 1–12–1, the worst record in franchise history (and in pro football in 1966). Gogolak was inducted into theU.S. Army in January 1967; he had failed a physical the previous summer due to a childhood spinal injury, but standards had since been relaxed.[12] He appeared in only nine games in1967 and retired after the1974 season, his ninth with the Giants.[1]
After his playing career, Gogolak was a longtime sales executive with the printing firmRR Donnelley in New York City, and resides inDarien, Connecticut.[13]
He was not the only placekicker in his family; his younger brotherCharlie played college football atPrinceton and followed him into pro football, playing with theWashington Redskins andBoston / New England Patriots in a six-year career.[13] While with the Redskins, he earned a law degree fromGeorge Washington University.[14]
In 2008, Pete Gogolak's 36-year-old son David, a restaurateur, was killed in anavalanche whileskiing nearWhitefish Mountain Resort in northwestMontana.[15][16][17]
As there was no high school soccer team at the time, both brothers playedfootball atOgdensburg Free Academy inOgdensburg, New York,[14] a small city on theSt. Lawrence River along theCanada–US border.
He is a vocal critic of Colin Kaepernick and NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem.[18] Gogolak is a Republican and long time supporter of Donald Trump.[19]
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