Michael Theodore Gaechter was an American professional football safety in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys.
11 Facts About Mike Gaechter
1.
2.
Mike Gaechter played college football at the University of Oregon.
3.
Mike Gaechter played linebacker and was voted the team's most improved player.
4.
Mike Gaechter was signed by the Dallas Cowboys in 1962 as an undrafted free agent and became the starting left cornerback as a rookie because of injuries.
5.
Mike Gaechter's interception return was a franchise record that was broken by Bryan McCann 48 years later in 2010.
6.
Mike Gaechter earned the reputation as a feared defensive player in the Cowboys secondary.
7.
Mike Gaechter's late hit in the end zone that upended the Packers' Boyd Dowler after a touchdown reception in the third quarter of the 1966 NFL Championship Game, caused Dowler a shoulder injury and allowed the seldom-used Max McGee to star in Super Bowl I two weeks later.
8.
Mike Gaechter had been a mainstay on the Cowboys defense for most of the 1960s, until rupturing his Achilles tendon at the end of the 1969 season, in the third place Playoff Bowl loss to the Los Angeles Rams in January 1970.
9.
Mike Gaechter has two of the five longest interception returns in team history.
10.
In 1970, Cornell Green moved from cornerback to strong safety to replace Mike Gaechter who was placed on the injured reserve list.
11.
In 1971, after only a few weeks of training camp under new head coach George Allen, Mike Gaechter was released by the Redskins on August 11.