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From: tonti@ptsfc.UUCP (Guy Tonti)
Newsgroups: net.sport.football
Subject: Re: Drop Kicks, Return Kicks, and Free Kicks
Message-ID: <518@ptsfc.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Feb-86 13:41:02 EST
Article-I.D.: ptsfc.518
Posted: Tue Feb  4 13:41:02 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Feb-86 10:14:05 EST
References: <2764@sunybcs.UUCP> <1114@mmintl.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Francisco
Lines: 28
Summary: Roger LeClerc

> >     We have all heard the football play-by-play men bring up the
> >possibility of a team staging a free kick to get 3 points.  I have never
> >seen this done successfully.  To kick a free kick you have to either
> >give up a safety or fair catch a punt.  When a team punts from deep in
> >their end with seconds to go in a half, invariably Marv Albert will call
> >for a fair catch so the receiving team can try for a 40 yard field goal
> >with no chance of blockage.  This never works.  Has anyone out there
> >ever seen this happen?
> >
> 
> Back in the late 60's or early 70's, the Bears and the Packers used one of
> these (I don't remember which) in the two games they played against each
> other, in each case winning the game on the play.  I don't know the year,
> and I don't know if this was the last time the play was used successfully.
>
You're forcing me to reach way back in my memory (no football digest books
for this kid), but it seems like Roger LeCler (sic) of the Bears kicked
a field goal after a fair catch to beat the Pack in the forementioned game.
Obviously my memory is sketchy, but I distinctly remember it occurring. 

Also, another interesting quirk in football rules.
My dad says he remembers from his college days in the 30's, that after a
safety, a team gets a choice of making a free kick OR running a single play
from scrimmage, from their own 20 yard line!?  If their are any historians/
rule buffs who could verify this, is it still in force or was it ever used,
it would be most appreciated (it has been a debate in the family for years).

Guy Tonti