Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

Lou Michaels died last week. But that’s not the sad part.

01.25.2016 by David Murray // Leave a Comment

The headline of the New York Times obituary was, "Lou Michaels, Who Missed Kicks in 1969 Super Bowl, Dies at 80." 4-lou-michaels-de-k_pg_6001

But that's not the sad part, either.

The veteran Michaels missed two field goals in Super Bowl III, in which his Baltimore Colts were upset by the 7-1 underdog New York Jets. "I'm disgusted with myself," he said after the game. "I started out kicking in seventh grade. I get all the way to the Super Bowl and I goof."

But that's not the sad part either.

The Colts released Michaels in 1970, and the next year the Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth Super Bowl. They won on a last-second kick by a rookie field goal kicker, Jim O'Brien.

Miami-super-bowl-jim-obrien-200mh020110

But that's not the sad part either.

After his playing career, Michaels ran a tavern and served as a prison athletic director.

But that's not the sad part, either.

The defensive coordinator on that upstart Jets team that Michaels' misses helped beat the Colts—was his own brother Walt.

"People say, 'Forget about it,'" Lou Michaels said in 2010, beginning to get to the sad part. "How do you do that when your brother has your Super Bowl ring?"

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