1. Garabed Sarkis "Garo" Yepremian was an Armenian-Cypriot American football placekicker who played in the National Football League for 15 seasons, primarily with the Miami Dolphins.
22 Facts About Garo Yepremian
1. 2.
Garo Yepremian played for the Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before retiring in 1981.
3.
Garo Yepremian, who had earlier played in an organized soccer league in London, was not eligible to play college football.
4.
Garo Yepremian was offered to play with Arsenal, but Krikor wanted his brother to play football in the United States.
5.
Garo Yepremian signed with the Detroit Lions on 13 October 1966.
6.
Garo Yepremian was an immediate target to NFL players who considered American football the exclusive realm of Americans.
7.
Garo Yepremian kicked off, then in a harried state ran to the wrong bench, finding himself sitting with the opposing team who while laughing then picked him up and threw him back onto the field.
8.
Garo Yepremian had never worn a helmet and at first decided not to use one with a face mask, but that changed during Week 4 of the 1966 season, when he was knocked to the ground, roughed up and badly injured by Green Bay Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke.
9.
Garo Yepremian was the last player in the NFL to not wear a facemask on his helmet.
10.
Garo Yepremian was sent in to kick the extra point, and he was so excited after converting the point that he went running off the field with his arms raised in celebration.
11.
Garo Yepremian led the NFL with 117 points in 1971, and in Super Bowl VI, he scored the only three Dolphin points against the Dallas Cowboys.
12.
Garo Yepremian went to the New Orleans Saints for the 1979 season, signed after their 1979 first round draft choice, Russell Erxleben, suffered a season-ending injury prior to the Saints' week two game with the Green Bay Packers.
13.
Garo Yepremian spent his final two years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
14.
Over his career, Garo Yepremian was successful on 210 of 313 field goals and 444 of 464 extra points for a total of 1,074 points.
15.
Garo Yepremian led the league in field goal accuracy three times, in 1970,1975, and 1978.
16.
The field goal attempt was blocked by Bill Brundige, and Garo Yepremian managed to get to the ball before any other player did.
17.
Garo Yepremian then attempted to bat the ball out of bounds but instead batted it back up in the air, and it went right into the arms of his former Lions teammate, Redskins cornerback Mike Bass, who returned it for a touchdown.
18.
Garo Yepremian was elected to another Pro Bowl in 1978, and he kicked 20 consecutive field goals without a miss in 1979.
19.
Garo Yepremian guest starred in an episode of The Odd Couple in 1974 called "The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly In Vain".
20.
Garo Yepremian appeared in the movie Paper Lion as himself.
21.
Garo Yepremian died on the morning of 15 May 2015, from high grade neuroendocrine cancer at the age of 70.
22.
Garo Yepremian is interred at the Oaklands Cemetery in West Chester, Pennsylvania.