Bobby Mitchell and Tom Dempsey: A reflection of two greats
By Marc Lande
Tom Dempsey, Mark Moseley, and straight-on kickers
Forty-somethings: do you remember Arcola’s Greatest Moments? The Immaculate Reception, Casper’s Ghost TD, but who could forget Arcola’s Greatest Moment presents Tom Dempsey’s 60-yard game-winning field goal as time expires!
Just as I saw pictures of Mitchell, I saw pictures of Dempsey’s heroic kick, probably even in a worn-out catty-cornered book on NFL records.
As a child, this kick was No. 1!
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It was years later I got the backstory to Dempsey. That he had lost four toes at birth on his right kicking foot and wore a specially designed boot.
Dempsey, a journeymen kicker, hit a kick that was so beyond what any kicker could conceive that his nearly immaculate feat immortalizes him on the Mount Rushmore of NFL greatest moments.
Remember, Dempsey was a straight-on kicker. No one could hit from 60. But he did accomplish this astonishing feat.
Now, my childhood connection to Dempsey came from books and Arcola and from watching Mark Moseley. How many games, I thought, does Moseley have 61 yards in him? How he never did.
Moseley was the last great straight-on kicker. Nowadays, I would like to see all of the greatest soccer-style kickers try to make a 60 yarder straight-on. Moseley was good but never came close to a kick like Dempsey did that day, except for maybe one kick.
Unlike the journeyman Dempsey, Moseley rewrote the record books for NFL kickers. For a New York minute, Moseley’s record for most consecutive field goals looked imposing.
I was in the stands that day with my dad when Moseley went for the record. We were there in the snowstorm and this might have been my greatest moment as a Redskin die-hard.
Down by two, the Redskins turned to Moseley to deliver a 42-yard field goal. He stood set in this snowstorm. We were in his end zone to the right of the upright.
The ball snapped, Moseley struck with his foot and the kick-off his foot looked good. But I swear you could see each snowdrop slowly pushing that ball towards the ground. Wobbling in the snow, would it make it over the crossbar?
We, I think every Redskins fan and Giant fan in the stadium, held our collective breaths. Giants praying for the miss. Redskins wanting it through the uprights, wanting first place, wanting 16 in a row, wanting the NFL record, and as the Post would proclaim, wanting ‘RESPECT.’
Remember, this was before the soccer-style kicker. Making 16 straight was a big big deal. The ball slipped inches over the crossbar. The ball through, we rejoiced in a confetti showering of snow.
Those days of Moseley and kickers like Dempsey are now way gone given root to soccer-style greats. Later when Moseley was holding on with the Cleveland Browns, he spent a winter day, a playoff game wearing a boot and missing chip shot after chip shot.
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I wonder if that day Dempsey (the journeyman, who was now much older) was watching from his house and itching and curious, thinking, ‘where’s my boot anyhow?’