This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/TheManWithTheBigName on 2024-12-21 05:14:49+00:00.

Wikipedia has a list of known fair catch kicks in the NFL, which the article notes may not be exhaustive thanks to inconsistent record-keeping. I believe I’ve found a couple attempts that predate the first currently listed. At least one qualifying kick occurred prior to Curly Lambeau’s November 6, 1921 free kick, making the photo caption at the top of the article incorrect.

 

First was in the game between the Buffalo All-Americans and the non-league “All-Buffalo” team on October 10, 1920. For the first few seasons there wasn’t rigid scheduling and NFL teams played plenty of non-league opponents. A majority of games in the 1920 season were NFL vs. non-NFL matchups. Since this game was against a non-league team you could argue that it shouldn’t count. In at least one instance I’ve seen the NFL include records from such games in their record books, though with an asterisk mentioning that the opponent was not an NFL team.

According to the Buffalo Morning Express article from the following day, the game saw a converted fair catch kick. The game write-up can be found in the leftmost column of the right page in the link.

The fair catch kick attempt was made by Heinie Miller of the All-Americans. The kick is mentioned in the scoring summary section midway down the article. The relevant section reads: “[Kicks from?] touchdowns, Oscar Anderson four, Heine Miller two, Bodie Weldon missed one[,] field goal from fair catch, Heine Miller (15 yard line).” This lists off all of Buffalo’s PAT attempts (6/7 made), and the converted fair catch kick.

The exact situation is described in the section of the write-up at the top of the second column of the article, which reads: “To start the fourth quarter Weldon shot a forward pass to Heinie Miller for fifteen yards, and, after being held three downs, booted. Yeates of all-Buffalo punted and Thieischer attempted a fair catch, but was tackled. The fifteen-yard penalty brought the ball to the fifteen yard line and Heinie Miller made a place kick over the bars for three points. After the kickoff…” Bad punt plus a 15 yard fair catch interference penalty made for an easier kick. Sounds familiar, but I can’t quite figure out why…

If you count games played against by NFL teams against non-NFL teams, then this is the earliest known converted fair catch kick. In theory there could be an earlier one in one of the 8 games played in the first two weeks of the 1920 season. I couldn’t tell you why the All Americans would opt for a fair catch kick from the 15 yard line early in the fourth quarter, but they did. Maybe mercy because they were already up 34-0?

 

Second was the NFL game between the Buffalo All-Americans and the New York Brickley Giants on October 16, 1921. It’s worth noting that these teams are completely distinct from the Buffalo Bills and New York Giants that exist today. The modern Giants were founded in 1925 after the Brickley team folded in 1921.

The source for this game is a Buffalo Courrier article from the following day. This scan is thankfully much easier to read than the one for the previous game. The kick following fair catch was made by one Elmer Oliphant.

The write-up states: “New York intercepted a forward pass close to their own line and O’Hearn kicked on the first down. Anderson made a free catch and Oliphant made a pretty placement kick from the 32 yard line.” If games between NFL and non-NFL teams do not count, then this is the first known fair catch kick in NFL history. Again, there could easily be plenty more that went unmentioned or which were recorded in newspapers that haven’t been archived and indexed.

This time it isn’t explicitly and unambiguously stated that a “fair catch kick” occurred, but as a kick following a fair catch it seems obvious to assume it was. Throughout the write-up and scoring summary the author differentiates between “place kicks” and “field goals”. The article states that Buffalo “scored six touchdowns, six goals from touchdown, a place kick and a field goal against the Brickley team,” and later stated that Oliphant “topped off his performance by kicking a field goal and a goal from placement.” It would seem that it was the author’s practice to use the phrase “field goal” to refer to goals on scrimmage plays, and “place kick”, “placement kick”, or a “goal from placement” to refer to fair catch kicks. This is also consistent with the first article I posted, in which the fair catch kick is referred to as a “place kick” in the write-up.

 

So, what have we learned? Well we learned that back in the day teams would just punt on first down if they were pinned deep, which seems insane to a modern reader. We learned that the Broncos aren’t the first team to blunder into allowing a fair catch kick by interfering with the fair catch. We also learned that in the early days of the NFL a fair catch kick wasn’t a crazy unusual occurrence that only happened at the end of halves. And most importantly we learned that there have been at least two more fair catch kicks than the Wikipedia article lists, and that Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers did not make the first fair catch kick in NFL history. Sorry cheeseheads, you’ll have to cede that honor to Buffalo—at least for now.

I could say that I also learned something about myself: That I may spend more than an hour tracking down random nonsense on the internet and writing overly detailed posts about it, even when I could have spent the time doing anything else. In truth I already knew that though.

If anyone here feels like editing the Wikipedia article to add these and knows how to properly do so have at it.

 

TL;DR: There were (at least) two fair catch kicks that are not currently included on the Wikipedia page. One was a 15 yard kick by Heinie Miller of the Buffalo All-Americans against All Buffalo on October 10, 1920. The other was a 32 yard kick by Elmer Oliphant of the Buffalo All-Americans against the New York Brickley Giants on October 16, 1921.

 

EDIT: Found another one. Oliphant again. Buffalo All Americans vs. Columbus Panhandlers, October 9, 1921. ~50 yard kick in first half. From the article at the furthest left: “Nesser kicked to midfield, Oliphant receiving the kick and electing to make the place kick. His attempt went true and the scorer chalked up three more points.”