FIELD GOAL KICKIN’ – The 1970’s

By Dean Gearhart 3/2/15

In part two of my story, I decided to take a closer look at the kickers of the 1970’s. My research began with my 1977 Topps football card set. Before the internet, this was all we had.

The 1977 set includes 528 cards. Of course, you have to adjust that number for non-player cards – such as the 28 team checklists. They didn’t have a photo they just listed the players in the set from that particular team.

They are useful, to me as a grown-up, but definitely a disappointment to any child opening a pack and expecting to see an actual football player on the card. There are also cards for: league leaders in rushing, receiving, scoring, etc.; cards for guys who broke records during the previous season; three cards showing the results of the conference championship games and Super Bowl; and finally 4 checklist cards that list all the cards in the set.

That leaves 482 cards of actual NFL players. If you divide that by 28 teams and that comes to just over 17 cards per team. That’s less than the number of offensive and defensive starters for each team. By contrast, Topps baseball card sets gave you almost an entire 25-man roster for each team.

Some teams earned more cards than others. The Colts had 25 cards, while some of the more lowly teams – such as the expansion Buccaneers - had to settle for just 11. I guess Topps figured everybody on those teams had to play offense AND defense.

Despite the fact that there were only so many spots to go around, nearly every team has a card for its kicker. Obviously, Topps realized the importance of the position to their respective teams……..either that or the kickers were usually just standing around on the sidelines and naturally would have been first in line to get his picture taken for a bubble gum card. There are also a great many punters and backup quarterbacks in the set, seemingly supporting my point.

Also, for some reason, Topps did not have the rights to use team logos during the 1970’s. Any helmet pictured had the logo air brushed out. This was the case until the 1982.

On the back of these cards were the player’s statistics from the 1976 season. 1976 was a subpar year for kickers. The success rate on field goals that season was a measly 59.5%. There were a grand total of 8 successful kicks of 50+ yards.

Below is a representation of the NFL kickers from the 1976 season:

Cypress’ own Garo Yepremian and Jan Stenerud of Norway. Garo was 16 of 23(69.6%) in 1976 and 1-1 in 50+ yard attempts. Hall of Famer Stenerud was 21 for 38 (only 55.3%). He led the league in field goal attempts and connected on one 50+ yarder. Yepremian led the league in field goal percentage three times (’70, ’75 & ’78), ending his career at 67.1%. Stenerud was the most accurate kicker four times (’68, ’69, ’81 & ’84) with a career mark was 66.8%.

Steve and Nick Mike-Mayer……..of the kicking Mike-Mayers (pronounced Mick-A-My-Er) Steve was born in Budapest. Nick was born in Italy. The brothers went 26-49 on the year (53.1%) and Steve missed the only 50+ yard attempt between the two of them.

Behold the one “true” kicker of his day - Don Cockroft. Don had that rare and special ability to punt and kick. Don saved his team a valuable roster spot and gave Topps an extra spot to give a card to an actual football player. Today’s specialist environment would never allow for such versatility. Don was 15 for 28 (53.6%). He managed to hit on 1 of 3 50+ yard attempts. Don had led the NFL in field goal percentage three times previously (1968, 1972 & 1974).

Some assorted others. George Jaka….Jakowa…..Jabberw……, Fred Cox and my personal favorite – based on his 1977 card - Horst Muhlmann of Germany.

They’re not booing, they’re chanting Muhhhhhhhhl…..mann!!!!! No, wait, it’s Philly. They’re booing. Horst went 11 for 16 for the Eagles in 1976 – a cool 68.8%. Horst was, however, a mere 1 for 6 from 40 yards or more and was never even allowed an attempt of 50+ yards that year.

The best kickers….at least according to this definitive Scoring Leaders card were Mark Moseley of the Redskins and Toni Linhart of the Colts.

Moseley went 22 for 34 for Washington (64.7%) and totaled 97 points for the year to lead the NFC. Linhart – more specifically, Anton Hans Jorg Linhart out of Austria Technical - was 20 of 27 for a sparkling success rate of 74.1%. He accounted for 109 points that season to lead the AFC.

Actually the most accurate kickers of 1976 were these two guys – Rich Szaro of Poland and Efren Herrera from Guadalajara. Both hit on 18 of 23 attempts (78.3%).

Herrera went on to be named All-Pro for the Cowboys in 1977, but he missed three field goal attempts in Super Bowl XII and went from All-Pro to All-Gone in Dallas.

One of the few teams that did not have a kicker represented in the 1977 Topps set was the defending champion Oakland Raiders. Hmmm. That seems odd.

I guess I’ll have to investigate that story now………..stay tuned.