Pete Gogolak

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Peter Kornel Gogolak (born April 18, 1942 in Budapest, Hungary) is a retired American football kicker.

Gogolak was signed out of Cornell University by the American Football League's Buffalo Bills in 1964, becoming another example of innovation in the AFL, as professional football's first "soccer style" (as opposed to "conventional" kicker. Prior to Gogolak, placekickers approached the ball straight on, with the toe making first contact with the ball. Gogolak approached the ball at an angle and kicked it with his instep. Virtually all placekickers in American college and professional football now use this technique.

Gogolak was a prime player in the "war between the leagues" and the subsequent merger of the NFL with the American Football League. Bills general manager Harvey Johnson recognized a revolutionary trend and gave Gogolak a chance. Bills owner Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. paid Gogolak $10,000 in 1964 and offered him $13,500 for 1965: exceptional pay, in those days, for a kicker. Gogolak wanted to "play out his option"; so he chose to take a standard pay cut to $9,900. Playing out your option meant that your team could match any other team's offer. Of course, a competing league didn't have to respect that process, and the NFL did not. Their NY Giants signed Gogolak, ignoring the AFL's rules. This led to the signing blitz by then-AFL Comissioner Al Davis of John Brodie, Roman Gabriel, Mike Ditka, and other NFL stars; and it was this that ultimately led to the negotiations for the AFL-NFL Merger.

Even today, forty years later, Bills fans generally remember not that Gogolak was pro football's first soccer-style kicker; nor even that he helped the Bills win two straight league championships, but that Gogolak "jumped to the other league", and in so doing, hastened the demise of the American Football League.

Gogolak is the Giants’ all-time leading scorer, with 646 points...holds the Giants’ franchise records for most points after touchdowns attempted (277) and made (268)...most PATs in a game (eight vs. Philadelphia on Nov. 26, 1972)... most consecutive PATs (133)... most field goals attempted (219) and made (126).

Other American Football League players

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