Garo Yepremian was a steady NFL placekicker, but his legacy is tied to two famous plays.
Born in Larnaca, Cyprus, Garo Yepremian played soccer in an organized league in London. He came to the United States at the age of 22 and made his NFL debut with the Detroit Lions in 1966. During his rookie year, he kicked six field goals in a game against the Minnesota Vikings. But that was it for the NFL, at least for that decade.
For the remainder of the 1960s, Yepremian served in the United States Army, signed with the Michigan Arrows of the Continental Football League, and sat out the 1969 football season.
The 1970s were different. Yepremian joined the Miami Dolphins in 1970 and became a key member of Miami’s early 1970s teams. He is probably best remembered for his performance on Christmas Day 1971, as the nation watched. In the second overtime, which was then the longest game in NFL history, Yepremian kicked a 37-yard field goal to beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
But that triumph was followed by what some call the biggest flub in NFL history. It was the 1973 Super Bowl game, featuring the 16-0 Dolphins against the Washington Redskins. The Dolphins led 14-0 when Yepremian’s field goal attempt was blocked. Yepremian picked up the ball, threw a pass, and Washington’s Mike Bass returned it for a touchdown. Although it was the Redskins’ only score and the Dolphins prevailed to cap an undefeated season, Washington’s defensive score kept the Dolphins from ending their perfect season with an exclamation point: a shutout.
Yepremian remembers people approaching him about “the Super Bowl Blooper”: “Every airport you go to, people point to you and say, ‘Here’s the guy who screwed up in the Super Bowl. After a while, it bothers you. If it were anybody else, he would go crazy, but fortunately, I’m a happy-go-lucky guy.”
Overall, though, he will be remembered as having a great NFL career. He was a two-time Super Bowl Champion and also made the Pro Bowl twice. Other accomplishments include leading the NFL in total scoring with 905 points in the 1970s. He also had the longest NFL career for a player who did not play football in college. Yepremian also played for the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
After retiring from football in the early 80s, Yepremian focused on brain tumor research and other charitable causes. Yepremian founded the Garo Yepremian Foundation for Brain Tumor Research in 2001. He established the foundation after his daughter-in-law was afflicted by a brain tumor, from which she passed away in 2004. His daughter-in-law’s brain tumor encouraged Yepremian to seek treatment for his own brain cancer. To this day, the foundation continues to support brain cancer and many other initiatives.
Garo Yepremian died in 2015 from neuroendocrine cancer. He was 70.
