Tom Dempsey Kicks the Long-Distance FG Torch to Harrison Butker

The list of athletes who overcame significant physical disabilities to carve out a career in major professional sports is not long.

Among the more prominent:

• MLB's Jim Abbott, who was born without a right hand but became a first-round draft choice and, threw a no-hitter against Cleveland, and even racked up a couple of hits.
• MLB's Pete Gray, who lost an arm in a childhood accident, made The Show during the WWII years, stole lotsa bases, and was part of the only St Louis Browns team to make a World Series.

 

• The Kansas City Chiefs' Fred Arbanas, the one-eyed TE who earned All-Star honors before the AFL-NFL merger.
• The NBA's Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf -- born Chris Jackson -- born with Tourette's Syndrome, who became one of the league's best shooting guards.

And then there was Tom Dempsey, born without toes on his right foot and fingers on his right hand.

Turns out, though, in the days of straight-on kickers, toes just get in the way. So, when Dempsey was signed by the New Orleans in 1969 and drilled a 55-yard FG that year, the Saints had enough confidence to give him a shot at winning a game from the next area code in 1970:

 

Putting one through the crossbars from 63 yards was damn near unthinkable back then, so much so that Detroit Lions DT Alex Karras said later that he and his teammates spent the first 62 yards laughing about it.

As they would, the NFL's old boys figured that sledgehammer of a foot was an unfair advantage and passed a new rule:

Fortunately, then-Commish Pete Rozelle knew the basics of ex post facto from his lawyering days and grandfathered Dempsey from this brazen act, enabling him to be a productive dude for 11 NFL seasons.

That in itself was an accomplishment, as teams had begun to buy into the soccer-style placekicking revolution introduced by the Buffalo Bills' Pete Gogolak in 1964. Despite the extra power those mechanics could provide, Dempsey's record held up for 40 years.

It's kinda appropriate to remember all this now:

 

The time is also ripe to start wondering if the next major breakthrough in placekicking is at hand.

As if the Kansas City Chiefs don't have enough weapons -- and as they're exactly $177 under the salary cap, they've got some creative thinking to do -- they're just possibly in FG range when they line up on their own 33.

 

All Harrison Butker needs to do is prove he can do this with a snapper, holder, and dudes with bad intentions trying to get a piece of him or the ball:

 

With two of those three elements added during warm-ups last season, dude was good from 70:

 

OK, that was at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, but given what Butker just showed on his own with that 77-yarder, thin air isn't everything.

The Chiefs have been conservative with Butker's abilities. To date, his longest FG is a mere 56 yards against the Chicago Bears last season.

Maybe he's just got to wait for his Dempsey moment, ie- a desperation long shot to win a game in the dying seconds.

 

To date, 18 kickers have nailed a FG from 60 yards, although none have matched Matt Prater's 64. One of them is no surprise: Baltimore's Justin Tucker.

Dude popped a 75-yarder from the tee and made a 69-yard attempt with a snapper and holder in practice. He claims he can be good from 84 yards whenever John Harbaugh has reason to turn him loose.

 

Dempsey recounted a recent incident when a dude approached him, talking trash like you're nothing but a one-kick kicker.

Dempsey didn't respond -- because why? -- but thought to himself, yeah, but I kicked it once. What the hell did you do?

And that's not even counting overcoming a disability to make a mark in the NFL record book. Able-bodied dudes like Prater, Butker, and Tucker know to respect it. As should everyone else.