 Dempsey with the Los Angeles Rams in 1975 | |||||||
| No. 19, 10, 23, 6 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Placekicker | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born: | (1947-01-12)January 12, 1947 Milwaukee,Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||
| Died: | April 4, 2020(2020-04-04) (aged 73) New Orleans,Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 255 lb (116 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school: | San Dieguito (Encinitas, California) | ||||||
| College: | Palomar | ||||||
| Undrafted: | 1968 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||
| |||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
| |||||||
Thomas John Dempsey (January 12, 1947 – April 4, 2020) was an American professionalfootball player who was aplacekicker in theNational Football League (NFL) for theNew Orleans Saints,Philadelphia Eagles,Los Angeles Rams,Houston Oilers andBuffalo Bills. Unlike the "soccer style" approach which was becoming more and more widely used during his career, Dempsey's kicking style was the then-standard straight-toe style.[1] With the Saints in 1970, he made a 63-yardfield goal, setting an NFL record which stood for over 40 years.
Dempsey was born inMilwaukee and attended high school and college in Southern California. He was born with no toes on his right foot and no fingers on his right hand. To accommodate his foot structure, Dempsey wore a custom, flat-front kicking shoe that had notoe box.[2]
Dempsey was born without toes on his right foot and no fingers on his right hand. He wore a modified shoe with a flattened and enlarged toe surface. The custom made,$200 (equivalent to $1,619 in 2024) shoe[3] generated controversy about whether such a shoe gave a player an unfair advantage.[4][5] 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."[4] Additionally,ESPNSport Science analyzed Dempsey's kick and determined his modified shoe gave Dempsey no advantage.[6]
The league made two rule changes in the subsequent years to discourage further long field goal attempts. The first was in1974, 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 where the ball was snapped. (This was changed in1994 to the spot of the kick.) Then, in 1977, theNFL 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."[7][8]
Dempsey is most widely known for kicking a 63-yardfield goal as time expired to give theSaints a 19–17 win over theDetroit Lions on November 8, 1970, atTulane Stadium inNew Orleans.[9] Prior to1974, the goal posts in the NFL were on the goal lines instead of the end lines.[10] With time running out in the game, the Saints attempted a field goal with holderJoe Scarpati spotting at the Saints' own 37-yard line. The snap fromJackie Burkett was good, and Dempsey's kick just barely cleared the crossbar to make the try good.[11] The win was one of only two for the Saints that season.[12]
With the kick, Dempsey brokeBert Rechichar's NFL record for longest field goal by seven yards. His record was tied three times—byJason Elam with theDenver Broncos in1998,Sebastian Janikowski with theOakland Raiders in2011, andDavid Akers with theSan Francisco 49ers in2012[13]—before it was broken on December 8, 2013,byMatt Prater, who hit a 64-yard field goal.[12] On Sunday, September 26, 2021,Justin Tucker of theBaltimore Ravens broke that record with a 66-yard field goal as time expired to beat theDetroit Lions. This walk-off kick eclipsed both Dempsey's andGraham Gano's 63-yarder in2018 as the longest field goal to win a game on its final play.[11][14]
Since Dempsey was the only kicker to make a field goal from more than sixty yards prior to the relocation of the goal posts, he remains the only player in NFL history to successfully kick a field goal from beyond his own team's 40-yard line.
Career high/bestbolded
| Regular season statistics[15] | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team (record) | G | FGM | FGA | % | <20 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | LNG | BLK | XPM | XPA | % | PTS |
| 1969 | NO (5–9) | 14 | 22 | 41 | 53.7 | 5–6 | 6–7 | 3–6 | 7–11 | 1–11 | 55 | 0 | 33 | 35 | 94.3 | 99 |
| 1970 | NO (2–11–1) | 14 | 18 | 34 | 52.9 | 4–5 | 6–8 | 1–5 | 4–7 | 3–9 | 63 | 0 | 16 | 17 | 94.1 | 70 |
| 1971 | PHI (6–7–1) | 5 | 12 | 17 | 70.6 | 0–0 | 6–7 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 3–5 | 54 | 0 | 13 | 14 | 92.9 | 49 |
| 1972 | PHI (2–11–1) | 14 | 20 | 35 | 57.1 | 6–6 | 3–6 | 7–10 | 2–9 | 2–4 | 52 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 91.7 | 71 |
| 1973 | PHI (5–8–1) | 14 | 24 | 40 | 60.0 | 7–7 | 4–7 | 7–11 | 4–9 | 2–6 | 51 | 0 | 34 | 34 | 100.0 | 106 |
| 1974 | PHI (7–7) | 14 | 10 | 16 | 62.5 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 4–6 | 4–6 | 0–1 | 48 | 0 | 26 | 30 | 86.7 | 56 |
| 1975 | LAR (12–2) | 14 | 21 | 26 | 80.8 | 2–2 | 7–7 | 7–10 | 4–5 | 1–2 | 51 | 0 | 31 | 36 | 86.1 | 94 |
| 1976 | LAR (10–3–1) | 14 | 17 | 26 | 65.4 | 2–2 | 5–8 | 4–5 | 6–10 | 0–1 | 49 | 0 | 36 | 44 | 81.8 | 87 |
| 1977 | HOU (8–6) | 5 | 4 | 6 | 66.7 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 37 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 72.7 | 20 |
| 1978 | BUF (5–11) | 16 | 10 | 13 | 76.9 | 0–0 | 5–5 | 4–5 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 46 | 0 | 36 | 38 | 94.7 | 66 |
| 1979 | BUF (7–9) | 3 | 1 | 4 | 25.0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 18 | 0 | 8 | 11 | 72.7 | 11 |
| Career (11 seasons) | 127 | 159 | 258 | 61.6 | 28–30 | 46–60 | 39–64 | 34–65 | 12–39 | 63 | 0 | 252 | 282 | 89.4 | 729 | |
Source:[16]
The hurricane flooded me out of a lot of memorabilia, but it can't flood out the memories.
— Dempsey on the effects ofHurricane Katrina
In 1983, Dempsey was inducted into the American Football Association's Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame.[17][18]
After retiring from professional football, Dempsey resided with his wife Carlene, who taught history at Kehoe-France, a private school inMetairie, Louisiana, a suburb ofNew Orleans. His house was flooded duringHurricane Katrina in 2005.[19]
Dempsey married Carlene and had three children, one named Ashley.[20]
In January 2013, Dempsey revealed he haddementia. PsychiatristDaniel Amen made the initial diagnosis of damage to Dempsey's brain. During medical examinations and scans, Amen found three holes in the brain, along with other damage.[21]
On March 30, 2020, Dempsey tested positive forCOVID-19 during thecoronavirus pandemic.[22] He was one of 15 residents at aNew Orleans senior residence to test positive for the virus. Dempsey died on April 4, due to COVID.[23][24]