Dead at 73 from complications of Covid-19.
https://www.neworleanssaints.com/news/new-orleans-saints-legend-tom-dempsey-dies-at-73
I can still remember exactly where I was the day I learned he kicked the NFL record field goal. I was driving into Philadelphia with my father to see the Flyers game that night, and I had the radio turned to WCAU to get the sports news. As they were running down the football scores, the announcer casually mentioned that "Tom Dempsey kicked a 63 yard field goal as time expired to give the New Orleans Saints a 19-17 win over the Detroit Lions ..."
I turned to my dad and said "Did he just say that someone kicked a 63 yard field goal?" My father said "You misheard it. He said 53." And in those pre-internet days, I didn't find out that he had, in fact, set a new NFL record until we got the paper the next morning.
Here's a video that replays the last minute of the game and demonstrates how absurd the notion seemed at the time. (Don Criqui was incredulous that they were even attempting the field goal.)
RIP.
https://www.neworleanssaints.com/news/new-orleans-saints-legend-tom-dempsey-dies-at-73
I can still remember exactly where I was the day I learned he kicked the NFL record field goal. I was driving into Philadelphia with my father to see the Flyers game that night, and I had the radio turned to WCAU to get the sports news. As they were running down the football scores, the announcer casually mentioned that "Tom Dempsey kicked a 63 yard field goal as time expired to give the New Orleans Saints a 19-17 win over the Detroit Lions ..."
I turned to my dad and said "Did he just say that someone kicked a 63 yard field goal?" My father said "You misheard it. He said 53." And in those pre-internet days, I didn't find out that he had, in fact, set a new NFL record until we got the paper the next morning.
Here's a video that replays the last minute of the game and demonstrates how absurd the notion seemed at the time. (Don Criqui was incredulous that they were even attempting the field goal.)
RIP.