Gary Anderson

Gary Allan Anderson (born July 16, 1959 in Parys, Free State, South Africa) is a former American football placekicker. He was the first NFL kicker to have a "perfect season," successfully making every field goal and every PAT during regular season play.

Early life

Anderson was born in Parys, South Africa and grew up in Durban. His father was an Irish born Protestant pastor and former professional soccer player. His mother was a white South African. Shortly after Gary graduated from high school at Brettonwood High, Reverend Anderson left South Africa and moved his family to the United States to protest South Africa's policy of apartheid.

Anderson hoped to follow in his father's footsteps and become a professional soccer player in Europe. While practicing soccer at a high school football field in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, he began practicing kicking field goals with a borrowed football. When the high school coach Charles Chiccino saw him, he arranged a tryout for four scouts from Syracuse, Georgia, Indiana and South Carolina. After the tryout, all four scouts offered scholarships on the spot. Gary chose Syracuse after they promised him that he would also be able to play on the school's soccer team.

NFL career

After graduating from Syracuse University, he was drafted as a placekicker by the Buffalo Bills in the 1982 NFL Draft but was cut before the season began. He then signed as a free agent with the Pittsburgh Steelers and spent the following 12 seasons in Pittsburgh. For the 1995 season, Anderson signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Eagles. Anderson spent the 1997 season as a member of the San Francisco 49ers.

1998, the "almost perfect" season

In 1998, Anderson signed with the Minnesota Vikings and converted all 35 of his attempted field goals and all 59 extra points in regular season play, becoming the first placekicker to finish the regular season with a 100% success rate on both field goals and extra points. However, Anderson would miss his most crucial attempt of the season in the NFC Championship Game vs. the Atlanta Falcons. With the Vikings leading 27-20 with 2:07 left in the 4th quarter, Anderson lined up for a 38-yard field goal to give them a two possession lead. A converted kick would have, barring a miracle, delivered the Vikings to their first Super Bowl in 22 years. The missed kick gave the Falcons a chance, and they took full advantage of it by traveling down the field and scoring the tying touchdown sending the game to overtime. The Falcons would then win the game in overtime on, ironically, a 38-yard kick by Morten Andersen. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Vikings who went 15-1 in the regular season.

NFL records

Anderson holds the NFL record for points in a single season with no touchdowns scored, kicking 59 PATs and 35 field goals in 1998 for a total of 164 points. Gary Anderson also holds second place for most career points in the NFL with 2,434. He held the record for several years after passing George Blanda's old record in October 2000, but was himself passed by Morten Andersen in 2006.

Retirement

Anderson stayed with the Vikings until the 2003 season, when he joined the Tennessee Titans out of retirement as a replacement for the injured Joe Nedney after the first game of the season. After that season, Anderson again retired and turned down offers from several teams to come kick for them. When Nedney went down with another season-ending injury after the start of the 2004 season, Anderson again agreed to unretire for the Titans.

Anderson re-retired at the end of the 2004 season and currently resides in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. He operates a fly fishing charter business called Perfect Season, as well as coaching teenage soccer. At the time of his retirement, Anderson was the last active player in the NFL to have played under former Steelers head coach Chuck Noll.

Trivia

• There are a number of interesting coincidences between Anderson and Morten Andersen. Anderson and Andersen have nearly identical last names, were born within a year of one another outside the United States (Andersen was born in Denmark), came to the United States as teenagers, had long and successful NFL careers throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and hold first or second place in a number of NFL records for scoring, field goals, and longevity. Their overall accuracy is also nearly identical; their career percentage being within .5 % of each other on both FGs and PATs.
• He also had the distinction of wearing a one-bar facemask throughout his career, even though the NFL outlawed their use prior to his final season in 2004 - he, along with Arizona Cardinals punter Scott Player, were afforded a grandfather clause.

Notes and references

External links

• Anderson misses, Andersen makes it