Bert Rechichar obit

Bert Rechichar, Pro Bowl defensive back and record-setting kicker, dies at 89

 

 He was not on the list. 

Bert Rechichar, a Pro Bowl defensive back who also kicked and once owned the NFL record for longest field goal, has died at the age of 89.

A star on both offense and defense at Tennessee, Rechichar was selected by the Browns with the 10th overall pick in the 1952 NFL draft. After one year he was traded to the Baltimore Colts, where he found his greatest success.

Most of that success came as a defensive back, where Rechichar was twice chosen to the Pro Bowl. But his single most famous play came on special teams.

That was in a 1953 game when Rechichar (who had already had a pick-six on defense in the first half) was called upon to kick for the first time in his NFL career. He wasn’t the Colts’ normal kicker, but he was known to have a strong leg, and when they had the ball with a chance for a 56-yard field goal with four seconds remaining before halftime, the coaches called upon Rechichar to try it. Rechichar made the kick from 56 yards, which was the longest field goal in NFL history at the time. He would own the record for 17 years, until Tom Dempsey made a 63-yarder in 1970.

Born in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, Rechichar was the youngest of ten children. Rechichar played college football at the University of Tennessee and was an outfielder on the baseball team, helping the Volunteers to the 1951 College World Series. He later played in the farm system of the Cleveland Indians, reaching as high as Reading in the Class A Eastern League.

Rechichar was the tenth overall pick of the 1952 NFL Draft, selected by the Browns out of Tennessee.

While playing for the Baltimore Colts against the Chicago Bears on September 27, 1953, Rechichar successfully kicked a 56-yard field goal, breaking the previous unofficial record of 55 yards (set by drop kick by Paddy Driscoll in 1924). Rechichar held the NFL record for the longest field goal kick for over seventeen years; his record stood until Tom Dempsey booted a 63-yarder in 1970; His record-setting kick was his first field goal attempt as a professional. Sportswriter John Steadman, reporting on the then-record setting field goal, said Rechichar "drove the kick clear over the back line from 56 yards ... while wearing a regular, soft-toed football shoe, not a square-toed kicking shoe."

Rechichar played seven seasons for the Colts and was a member of the team that won the 1958 NFL championship in what became known as the “Greatest Game Ever Played.” He closed out his career with one year playing for the Steelers and one for the New York Titans.