Rechichar to Dempsey

[Jay Z]

Does anyone have a list of attempts to kick a field goal longer than 56 yards from 1953 until Tom Dempsey had his 63 yarder in 1970?

[Citizen]

A couple courtesy of the Packers' media guide:

- 12-5-65: Fred Cox tried from 59 against the Packers.
- 11-12-67: Lou Groze (I presume) tried from 57 against the Packers (blocked).

[Ken Pullis]

I found more than 30 but the list may not be complete. I could not confirm the 11-12-67 Groza attempt. The play-by-play does not have a field goal attempt for him.


Agajanian, Ben 10/11/1953 LA GB 57N
Baker, Sam 12/23/1956 Was Bal 65N
Soltau, Gordie 11/2/1958 SF Det 61N
Conrad, Bobby Joe 11/2/1958 ChiC Phi 60N
Martin, Jim 11/8/1959 Det Pit 58N
Martin, Jim 12/13/1959 Det ChiB 59N
Fleming, George 11/17/1961 Oak Bos 60N
Mingo, Gene 10/14/1962 Den Oak 57N
Shockley, Bill 10/28/1962 NYT SD 58N
Villanueva, Danny 11/25/1962 LA Min 60N
Mingo, Gene 10/13/1963 Den Hou 58N
Davis, Tommy 10/20/1963 SF Chi 58N
Martin, Jim 11/24/1963 Bal LA 62N
Baker, Sam 9/20/1964 Phi SF 57N
Cappelletti, Gino 9/20/1964 Bos SD 57N
Gogolak, Pete 11/1/1964 Buf Hou 57N
Cox, Fred 11/22/1964 Min Det 60N
Michaels, Lou 10/9/1966 Bal Chi 57N
Baker, Sam 11/20/1966 Phi SF 58N
Michaels, Lou 11/5/1967 Bal GB 57B
Wittenborn, John 11/12/1967 Hou Den 57N
Durkee, Charlie 11/3/1968 NO Dal 57N
Cox, Fred 12/8/1968 Min SF 57N
Gerela, Roy 9/14/1969 Hou Oak 59N
Muhlmann, Horst 9/21/1969 Cin SD 59N
Michaels, Lou 10/19/1969 Bal NO 57N
Gerela, Roy 11/9/1969 Hou Cin 60N
Dempsey, Tom 11/16/1969 NO SF 57N
Bakken, Jim 11/30/1969 SL Pit 60N
Mingo, Gene 10/18/1970 Pit Hou 57N

[Bryan]

I found more than 30 but the list may not be complete. I could not confirm the 11-12-67 Groza attempt. The play-by-play does not have a field goal attempt for him.


Agajanian, Ben 10/11/1953 LA GB 57N
Baker, Sam 12/23/1956 Was Bal 65N
Soltau, Gordie 11/2/1958 SF Det 61N
Conrad, Bobby Joe 11/2/1958 ChiC Phi 60N
Martin, Jim 11/8/1959 Det Pit 58N
Martin, Jim 12/13/1959 Det ChiB 59N
Fleming, George 11/17/1961 Oak Bos 60N
Mingo, Gene 10/14/1962 Den Oak 57N
Shockley, Bill 10/28/1962 NYT SD 58N
Villanueva, Danny 11/25/1962 LA Min 60N
Mingo, Gene 10/13/1963 Den Hou 58N
Davis, Tommy 10/20/1963 SF Chi 58N
Martin, Jim 11/24/1963 Bal LA 62N
Baker, Sam 9/20/1964 Phi SF 57N
Cappelletti, Gino 9/20/1964 Bos SD 57N
Gogolak, Pete 11/1/1964 Buf Hou 57N
Cox, Fred 11/22/1964 Min Det 60N
Michaels, Lou 10/9/1966 Bal Chi 57N
Baker, Sam 11/20/1966 Phi SF 58N
Michaels, Lou 11/5/1967 Bal GB 57B
Wittenborn, John 11/12/1967 Hou Den 57N
Durkee, Charlie 11/3/1968 NO Dal 57N
Cox, Fred 12/8/1968 Min SF 57N
Gerela, Roy 9/14/1969 Hou Oak 59N
Muhlmann, Horst 9/21/1969 Cin SD 59N
Michaels, Lou 10/19/1969 Bal NO 57N
Gerela, Roy 11/9/1969 Hou Cin 60N
Dempsey, Tom 11/16/1969 NO SF 57N
Bakken, Jim 11/30/1969 SL Pit 60N
Mingo, Gene 10/18/1970 Pit Hou 57N

Interesting list...thanks for posting. Gene Mingo's name appears quite often. In an era when 50-yard+ FGs were extremely rare, Mingo made 6 of them between 1960-1964. Impressive even when acknowledging the thin Denver air.

[Jay Z]

Thanks for the list. Only one that was more than 63 yards before Dempsey. But no one was making any over 56 with at least 30 attempts, so why try I guess.

I would have thought Stenerud would have some attempts. He seemed to have a big leg when he was young, lots of touchbacks.

[NWebster]

If he's out there I think Rupert Patrick would be the man for this question, he's come as close as anyone j know of documenting every field goal ever.

[Rupert Patrick]

If he's out there I think Rupert Patrick would be the man for this question, he's come as close as anyone j know of documenting every field goal ever.

I've been working with Ken the last few years to coordinate our databases of missed FG distances, we've shared our databases and reviewed them against each other so he now has the same database I have. I've also worked with Pete Palmer on the 1941-59 weekly NFL team statistical releases to determine how many FG misses each team had in each game. The numbers we came up with were imprecise, but it got me much closer to filling in a lot of the blanks. I'm still missing the distances of about 700 missed FG's from 1938-67, but now I know for most of them which week they happened in.

[Saban1]

A couple courtesy of the Packers' media guide:

- 12-5-65: Fred Cox tried from 59 against the Packers.
- 11-12-67: Lou Groze (I presume) tried from 57 against the Packers (blocked).

I am not sure about Groza's blocked 57 yard field goal attempt by Green Bay, but it would not surprise me. That was a day when very little went right for the Cleveland Browns. They lost 55 to 7 in one of the worst games in their history.

It was a bad day to play Lombardi's Green Bay team in the first place because they had lost the previous week's game to Baltimore by the score of 13 to 10. I think that the worst time to play Green Bay in those days was the week after the Pack had lost a game.

So, what went wrong for Cleveland that day. Well, to start with, Green Bay's Travis Williams returned Cleveland's only two kickoffs that day for TD's, including the one to start the game. A Cleveland player fumbled one of Green Bay's many kick offs that day, resulting in an easy TD for the Pack. Cleveland had 7 turnovers that day, including 4 interceptions by Frank Ryan, at least one or two of the interceptions early in the game. The Pack had one turnover all day, an interception. The score after the first QUARTER was 35 to 7.

Ironically, in Jerry Kramer's book, "Instant Replay," Kramer talks about watching Cleveland's game films and remarks that the Browns look good. He might have been watching Cleveland's game at Pittsburgh from the week before when the Browns had one of their best games of the season winning 34 to 14.

[Rupert Patrick]

Janikowski's 76-yard attempt remains (I am quite certain) the longest FG attempt in pro football history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk968VCdxXY

[rhickok1109]

A couple courtesy of the Packers' media guide:

- 12-5-65: Fred Cox tried from 59 against the Packers.
- 11-12-67: Lou Groze (I presume) tried from 57 against the Packers (blocked).

I am not sure about Groza's blocked 57 yard field goal attempt by Green Bay, but it would not surprise me. That was a day when very little went right for the Cleveland Browns. They lost 55 to 7 in one of the worst games in their history.

It was a bad day to play Lombardi's Green Bay team in the first place because they had lost the previous week's game to Baltimore by the score of 13 to 10. I think that the worst time to play Green Bay in those days was the week after the Pack had lost a game.

So, what went wrong for Cleveland that day. Well, to start with, Green Bay's Travis Williams returned Cleveland's only two kickoffs that day for TD's, including the one to start the game. A Cleveland player fumbled one of Green Bay's many kick offs that day, resulting in an easy TD for the Pack. Cleveland had 7 turnovers that day, including 4 interceptions by Frank Ryan, at least one or two of the interceptions early in the game. The Pack had one turnover all day, an interception. The score after the first QUARTER was 35 to 7.

Ironically, in Jerry Kramer's book, "Instant Replay," Kramer talks about watching Cleveland's game films and remarks that the Browns look good. He might have been watching Cleveland's game at Pittsburgh from the week before when the Browns had one of their best games of the season winning 34 to 14.

It was after that win over Cleveland that Lombardi really tore into his team, telling them how poorly they had played. He didn't want them to get complacent.