Despite winning two Super Bowls as a Miami Dolphin, being a Pro Bowl MVP, and a member of the NFL All-Decade Team for the 1970’s, Garo Yepremian is best remembered for one of the greatest bloopers of all time.
Yepremian passed away last week, but will live forever in the minds of football fans of my generation. Let me take the rest of you back in time. The scene was Super Bowl VII and featured the undefeated Miami Dolphins attempting to close out a perfect season against the ageless Washington Redskins. Most football fans know the ending, if for no other reason than the annual perfect season watch that happens in the NFL. When the last undefeated team is vanquished during the season, the surviving Dolphins strike up cigars and the media commemorate the moment.
But back to 1973. The Dolphins had cruised through the ’72 regular season despite the loss of their star QB Bob Griese. His backup (Earl Morall), an unmatched running game featuring Larry Csonka, and a no-name defence featuring….well that would ruin the point… carried the team to a prefect regular season campaign. Sweeping through the playoffs with minutes remaining in the Super Bowl, and the Dokphins leading 14-0, out trotted Yepremian to cap a potential 17-0 season with a three pointer to make the score a highly symbolic 17-0!
Yepremian was a tiny man who was raised in a Cyprus house with no running water. He came to the United States to play soccer but was ruled ineligible. Remarkably he made the Detroit Lions roster without ever having played football before. He so disliked his helmet, he refused a facemask until he was smacked around early in the season. He suffered racism, pounding abuse, and taunting…but withstood the odds to cement an outstanding NFL career.
Now here he was about to make history even more historic. That is until his kick attempt was blocked and the ball sent sailing back into his hands. Here is where the lack of gridiron experience really set in. A seasoned player would have fallen to the ground and allowed the play to end harmlessly. Instead, the eager Yepremian attempted to throw the ball and could only manage to let it squirt straight up in the air. It came right back to him and so, like any seasoned veteran would do, he batted it back into the air. Right into the arms of a Redskins defender who raced down the field for a touchdown.
What should have been 17-0, was now 14-7. Oh, oh.
Blessedly, the Dolphins hung on. Persevered perfection. Bailed Garo out. Created immortality.
The video antics of Garo’s bobbled pass have highlighted every Super Bowl preview ever since. It’s a shame that one goofy play became the hallmark of a man’s career. I’m guilty of it here. Marking his death with a blog about the play.
But it’s not my intention to ridicule Garo or his memory. Instead it’s to encourage you to learn about how Garo recovered from that near disaster. Watch the video replay and you see the 142 pound kicker chasing the Skins player down the field, valiantly trying to make a tackle. Fast forward a season later and he is winning another Super Bowl. Super fast forward years later and you see him chairing a foundation to raise money for brain tumour research after the tragic loss of his daughter-in-law.
One mistake, one as innocent as a bad football play, should not mar a mans life. Yepremian is proof of that. In some ways the play gave him more notoriety than many kickers achieve. Plus he came out a champion. I’m sure “Wide Right” Scott Norwood would have traded places with Garo at the time.
What people also overlooked was the clutch kicking that helped the Dolphins to a perfect season. Like I have said before in this space, nobody’s perfect. Not even a Perfect Champion.