NEW ORLEANS – Former NFL kicker Tom Dempsey, who was born without toes on his kicking foot and made a record 63-yard field goal, died late Saturday while struggling with complications from the new coronavirus, his daughter said. He was 73.
The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate first reported Dempsey’s death.
Ashley Dempsey said Sunday that her father, who has resided in an assisted living home for several years after being diagnosed with dementia, tested positive for the coronavirus a little more than a week earlier.
The Orleans Parish coroner has yet to release an official cause of death.
Dempsey’s winning field goal for the New Orleans Saints against the Detroit Lions on Nov. 8, 1970, stood as an NFL record for 43 years until the Denver Broncos’ Matt Prater broke it with a 64-yarder in 2013.