Tom Dempsey, who became a record-setting NFL kicker despite being born without toes on his kicking foot, died Saturday in New Orleans of complications of the novel coronavirus. He was 73.
Dempsey, who also was born without fingers on his right hand, overcame incredible odds to become a kicker for the New Orleans Saints, and he became well-known in 1970 when he set what seemed like an unbeatable NFL record with a 63-yard field goal. The kick beat the Detroit Lions, 19-17, on the last play of the Nov. 8, 1970, game, breaking the previous mark by seven yards and standing as the league record for decades. After Dempsey’s record was equaled a number of times, Denver’s Matt Prater made a 64-yard field goal in 2013.
“Tom’s life spoke directly to the power of the human spirit and exemplified his resolute determination to not allow setbacks to impede following his dreams and aspirations,” the Saints said in a statement. “He exemplified the same fight and fortitude in recent years as he battled valiantly against illnesses but never wavered and kept his trademark sense of humor. He holds a special place in the hearts and minds of the Saints family.”
Dempsey’s mark, impressive as it was, generated some controversy because he wore a special, squared-off shoe on his right, kicking foot. Fred Dryer, a former teammate, recalled the “thud” that Dempsey’s kicks made and how “the ball just took off frozen in midair before it began to spin … kind of like a knuckleball.”
Did it give him an unfair competitive advantage? Years later, ESPN’s Sport Science analyzed the kick and determined the shoe, now on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, actually was a disadvantage.
Tom Dempsey’s historic 63-yard field goal on Nov. 8, 1970 pic.twitter.com/UcZNBoOw9t
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) April 5, 2020
Tex Schramm, a Dallas Cowboys executive and chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, compared Dempsey’s shoe to “the head of a golf club with a sledgehammer surface,” and in 1977 the NFL passed “the Dempsey rule,” which required kickers’ shoes to have “a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe.” The rule offended Dempsey.
“The owners make the rules,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 2010, “and my favorite saying about owners is, ‘If you threw them a jockstrap, they’d put it on as a nose guard.’ They don’t know a damn thing about football.”
On that day in 1970, Dempsey had made three of four field goal attempts when a coach said, using his awful locker room nickname, “Tell Stumpy to get ready,” he recalled in a 2010 interview with ESPN. The kick immediately felt right, “like golf, when you hit a good driver,” he said. It sounded like “a loud bang,” and he was mobbed by his teammates. Later, he learned he had broken the record of 56 yards, set in 1953 by the Baltimore Colts’ Bert Rechichar.
Dempsey signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent out of Palomar College in 1969 and was cut the year after his record kick. He went on to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills before retiring after the 1979 season.
His record-setting kick, though, was indelible for football fans of a certain age. “People come up to me all the time,” Dempsey told the Times in 2010. “The older you get, the nicer it is to be remembered.”
Dempsey is at least the second former NFL player who has died after contracting the coronavirus. Orlando McDaniel, a wide receiver who played three games for the Broncos in 1982, died last week at 59.
There will be a private funeral for Dempsey, with a memorial to celebrate his life at a later date. According to the Times-Picayune, he is survived by his wife, Carlene; his daughters, Ashley and Meghan; his son, Toby; and his sister, Janice. He also had three grandchildren.
Dempsey was in isolation during his last days, but his family was able to video chat with him daily.
“We didn’t want him to think we had abandoned him,” his daughter Ashley told the Times-Picayune. “We wanted him to know we still loved him — always.”
