Education
He attended high school at San Dieguito High School and played college football at Palomar College.
He attended high school at San Dieguito High School and played college football at Palomar College.
Unlike the "soccer style" approach which was becoming more and more widely used during his career, Dempsey"s kicking style was the standard (of the day) straight-toe style. Prior to 1974 the goal posts in the NFL were on the goal lines instead of the end lines, and a missed field goal was treated the same as a punt: if it missed, it was a touchback unless it landed in the field of play and was returned. With time running out in the game, the Saints attempted a field goal with holder Joe Scarpati spotting at the Saints" own 37-yard line.
The snap from Jackie Burkett was good, and Dempsey nailed the field goal with a couple of feet to spare.
Foreign many years, it was believed that Saints quarterback Billy Kilmer was the holder of that historic kick, but photos of that day revealed that it was actually Scarpati that was the holder. With the kick, Dempsey broke Bert Rechichar"s NFL record for longest field goal by seven yards.
That record was equaled by Jason Elam in 1998, Sebastian Janikowski in 2011, and David Akers in 2012. On December 8, 2013, Matt Prater topped Dempsey"s mark by hitting a 64-yard field goal.
Dempsey was born without toes on his right foot and no fingers on his right hand.
He wore a modified shoe with a flattened and enlarged toe surface. This generated controversy about whether such a shoe gave a player an unfair advantage. When reporters would ask him if he thought it was unfair, he said, "Unfair, eh? The league made two rule changes in the subsequent years to discourage further long field goal attempts.
The first was in 1974, in which, from that point onward, missed field goals would give the defense the ball at the spot of the kick, substantially increasing the risk involved with such a long attempt.
Then, in 1977, the NFL added a rule, informally known as the "Tom Dempsey Rule," that "any shoe that is worn by a player with an artificial limb on his kicking leg must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe."
Career high/best bolded
In 1983, Dempsey was inducted into the American Football Association"s Semi Pro Football Hall of Fame. His house was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In January 2013, Dempsey revealed he is suffering from dementia. Psychiatrist Daniel Amen made the initial diagnosis of damage to Dempsey"s brain.
During medical examinations and scans, Amen found three holes in the brain, along with other damage.