Franchise Origins- Fan Favorite & Franchise Great
- Saints Hall of Fame
Tom Dempsey
- Position
- KSpecialist
- Number
- #19
- Saints years
- 1969–1970
- NFL career
- 1969–1979
- Era
- Franchise Origins
- Franchise
- New Orleans Saints
Honors
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
- Longest field goal in NFL history, 1970–2013
- Pro Bowl
Also played for Philadelphia Eagles (1971–1974), Los Angeles Rams / Houston Oilers / Buffalo Bills (1975–1979).
Why he’s a legend
The legacy
Tom Dempsey played two seasons for the Saints and is more famous than almost anyone who played twenty. On 8 November 1970, with two seconds left and the Saints trailing Detroit by one, he kicked a 63-yard field goal — nineteen yards longer than the NFL record at the time — with a right foot that had been born without toes. The record stood for forty-three years.
Why he matters
- His 63-yard field goal on 8 November 1970 broke the NFL record by seven yards and stood as the longest in league history until 2013.
- He was born without toes on his kicking foot and without fingers on his right hand, and played eleven NFL seasons.
- A Pro Bowl selection in 1969, his rookie season.
- The kick is the single most famous play in franchise history that does not involve a Super Bowl, and it happened in the fourth year the team existed.
Defining moment
Sixty-three yards
1970 season
Two seconds on the clock at Tulane Stadium, the Saints down 17–16, the ball on their own 45. The snap, the hold, and a kick that cleared the crossbar with room. New Orleans won 19–17. The record was broken by Matt Prater in 2013, forty-three years later.
Career statistics
Current through the 1979 season
With the Saints
- Longest Field Goal
- 63 yards (1970)
- Seasons
- 2
Where he ranks
- #1Longest Field Goal in Saints History63 yardsSaints all-time
Honors & accolades
Championships & enshrinement
- New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame
Selections & records
- Pro Bowl1969
- Longest field goal in NFL history, 1970–201363 yards
Career timeline
11 seasons in the NFL, 2 of them in New Orleans.
- 1969New Orleans SaintsJoins the Saints undrafted; Pro Bowl selection as a rookie
- 1970New Orleans Saints63-yard field goal beats Detroit and sets an NFL record
- 1971Philadelphia EaglesLeaves for Philadelphia
- 1972Philadelphia Eagles
- 1973Philadelphia Eagles
- 1974Philadelphia Eagles
- 1975Los Angeles Rams / Houston Oilers / Buffalo Bills
- 1976Los Angeles Rams / Houston Oilers / Buffalo Bills
- 1977Los Angeles Rams / Houston Oilers / Buffalo Bills
- 1978Los Angeles Rams / Houston Oilers / Buffalo Bills
- 1979Los Angeles Rams / Houston Oilers / Buffalo Bills
Era context
What the league looked like while Tom Dempsey played it. Raw totals across eras are not like-for-like.
Franchise Origins
1967–1970
An expansion team, a brass band, and the longest field goal anyone had ever kicked.
- Seasons were 14 games long; a 16-game schedule did not arrive until 1978.
- The Saints played outdoors at Tulane Stadium; the Superdome did not open until 1975.
- Sacks were not an official NFL statistic, so pass-rush production from this era cannot be stated as a career total.
- The AFL-NFL merger was still in progress; New Orleans entered as an NFL expansion club.
Data & sources
Statistics on this profile are current through the 1979 season.
- Kicking statistics from 1969 and 1970 are not compiled in this profile; the record kick and the Pro Bowl selection are league-documented.
- Field goal accuracy from this era is not comparable to the modern game — league-wide conversion rates were roughly half of what they are now.
