New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - The Advocate Saints legend Tom Dempsey has died after contracting coronavirus. He was 73.

Tom Dempsey, historic New Orleans Saints placekicker, dies at 73 after coronavirus battle

BY RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS | STAFF WRITER

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PUBLISHED APR 4, 2020 AT 11:26 PM | UPDATED APR 5, 2020 AT 9:11 AM

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*3 min to read

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Tom Dempsey of New Orleans kicks a 63-yard field goal on Nov. 8, 1970, against the Detroit Lions at Tulane Stadium. With that last-minute score, the Saints won, 19-17. The field goal was tied for the longest in NFL history until 2013. (Photo by G. E. Arnold,*NOLA.com*| The Times-Picayune archive) ORG XMIT: NOLA1608121454151620

G. E. ARNOLD

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New Orleans Saints icon Tom Dempsey, photographed Friday, Jan. 7, 2005. After he kicked an NFL-record 63-yard field goal in 1970, Dempsey was mobbed by his teammates and carried off the field on their shoulders. Several thousand Saints fans waited outside the locker room for more than two hours to catch a glimpse of the man behind what The Times-Picayune dubbed "the miracle on Willow Street." (John McCusker/The Times-Picayune archive)

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Ramon Antonio Vargas

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Tom Dempsey, whose 63-yard-field goal in 1970 set the NFL record and gave New Orleans Saints fans a rare raucous moment in the franchise's lean early years, died late Saturday of complications from the novel coronavirus, his family said. He was 73.
Dempsey — who overcame astronomical odds to establish what was then considered a virtually unbeatable record*— *contracted the virus in March during an outbreak at the Lambeth House retirement home in Uptown New Orleans. He is one of at least 15 residents there to die after being stricken with the disease.
Before long-distance place-kicking became a staple of the sport, Dempsey's thunderous boot not only beat the Detroit Lions 19-17 on the last play of the game at Tulane Stadium on Nov. 8, 1970, but also stood as the NFL record for more than four decades. It beat the previous record by a full 7 yards.*

The Denver Broncos' Matt Prater bested Dempsey with a 64-yarder in 2013, 43 years after Dempsey unleashed his cannon-shot opposite Lions' defenders who had been laughing at what they believed to be an impossible attempt.
Before Prater's kick, three others had also hit 63-yarders over the years.
Prater's kick came in the thin air of Denver, 5,000-feet above sea level, as had those by two of the players who tied Dempsey's mark.*
When his daughter, Ashley, told Dempsey that his record had finally been eclipsed, he quipped, “Must have been a heckuva kick.”
Nicknamed “Stumpy’’ by teammates, Dempsey seemed an unlikely football hero. He was born without fingers on his right hand or toes on his right foot. He wore a small, flat shoe on his kicking foot that is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

As a rookie in 1969, Dempsey delivered an All-Pro season but was cut by the Saints in 1971 after missing seven of eight kicks during preseason, which he attributed to falling out of shape while being treated to countless drinks and meals after his historic kick. But he rebounded and played for several other teams*— the Eagles, Rams, Oilers and Bills*— before retiring following the 1979 season.
Dempsey's right hand and right foot never deterred him from athletics growing up in Encinitas, California. He was a defensive lineman and kicker for San Dieguito High School, then briefly at Palomar College, where a clash with a coach cut his tenure short. Dempsey continued plying his trade by playing semi-pro ball in Massachusetts and caught on with the Saints after a couple of failed NFL tryouts.*

His 63-yarder was one of the few highlights of the Saints' two-win season that year.*
The broadcast of the play, along with the play call from CBS commentator Don Criqui, still makes Saints fans misty-eyed.*
“I don’t believe this ...,” Criqui said as the ball sailed nearly two-thirds of the field, then added as the ball cleared the bar by a yard, "It's GOOD! I don't believe it!"*
The miraculous moment so moved powerful Louisiana Congressman F. Edward Hebert that he had an account of “The Kick” by Dempsey inserted into the Congressional Record.
After retiring, Dempsey returned to New Orleans with his wife, Carlene. He helped her raise a family and — over the years —*worked as an oilfield salesman, coached football at Archbishop Rummel High School and managed a car dealership for the late Tom Benson, who bought the Saints in 1985.*

In 2012, Dempsey publicly disclosed that he had been diagnosed with dementia and detailed the treatment he was receiving. He spent the final years of his life at Lambeth House.
Dempsey was diagnosed with COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease, on March 25, Ashley Dempsey said.*

She said her father's fight against the virus started promisingly, but his condition gradually worsened.

Ex-Saint Tom Dempsey has setback, but fight with coronavirus continues, family says

[Doubling his family's pain is that they could not be with him during his final days because Lambeth House residents were quarantined. However, they spoke to him via video chat daily, Ashley Dempsey said.*
"We didn't want him to think we had abandoned him," she said. "We wanted him to know we still loved him*— always."]

How sucky is that? Not able to be there with your loved one as they go through this. Corona SUCKS

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