Friday, January 22, 2016

Lou Michaels, a former...

...NFL kicker, died at age 80.

The All-American from Kentucky missed two field goal attempts for the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. From his obit in the Times:

“I am disgusted with myself,” Michaels told The Washington Post in 1969. “I started out kicking in seventh grade. I get all the way to the Super Bowl and I goof.”

The Jets won the game, 16-7, so it didn't matter anyway. But I'm surprised I didn't remember that. Ironically,

Baltimore released Michaels in 1970. The next season the Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth Super Bowl, 16-13, winning in the last seconds on a field goal by Jim O’Brien.

I do remember that; I watched the game with my brother in my grandmother's hospital room. Was that the only time the hero of the Super Bowl had an Irish surname? I also didn't know:

Winning was personal for Michaels — his brother Walt was the Jets’ defensive coordinator. 

The sting of losing the big game never left him, Michaels told The Baltimore Sun in 2010.

“People say, ‘Forget about it,’ ” he said. “How do you do that when your brother has your Super Bowl ring?”

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