William George Capece (born April 1, 1959, in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

for three seasons for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

. He attended

Chaminade High School Chaminade High School is a Roman Catholic Marianist college preparatory high school for boys in Mineola, New York, United States. Chaminade’s main campus is also home to Saragossa Retreat Center, one of their three retreat houses. Athletics ...

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now ...

along with

David Shula David Donald Shula (born May 28, 1959) is an American football coach and former player. He is the wide receivers coach at Dartmouth College. Shula served as the head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL) from 19 ...

, and was invited by Shula's father,

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

coach

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...

, to attend Dolphin practices and work out with placekicker

Garo Yepremian Garabed Sarkis "Garo" Yepremian (June 2, 1944 – May 15, 2015) was a Cypriot-Armenian American football placekicker who played in the National Football League for 15 seasons, primarily with the Miami Dolphins. During his nine seasons in Miam ...

. It was Yepremian who provided Capece with the encouragement to consider a career in professional football. Capece attended

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

, where he graduated as the holder of FSU's records for single-season scoring (104 points), most field goals in a game (five, against

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

), and field goal percentage (100%). His 104 points in 1980 were the most by a kicker in national collegiate history. He was signed to a professional contract with the Buccaneers in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, during a week in which the Buccaneers cut both their placekicker and their punter. Ironically, Capece's signing marked the end of his former mentor's career, as Yepremian was the player he was signed to replace. Capece missed a field goal and an extra point in a

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

loss to the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the 1983 home finale, and was told to stay home for the season’s final game in Detroit. After that game, a 23-20 loss, coach John McKay made his famous announcement that "Capece is kaput". Capece returned as the team's placekicker the following season, but was waived following a poor performance in a preseason game against the Dolphins. His 41 field goals stood as the Buccaneers' career record until broken in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

Donald Igwebuike Donald Amechi Igwebuike (born December 27, 1960) is a Nigerian-born former American football kicker who played professionally for the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1985 to 1989. He is the fourth place all-time scorer for t ...

."Monday Morning Quarterback". St. Petersburg Times. 2 Nov 1987

References

1959 births Living people Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School alumni Players of American football from Miami American football placekickers Florida State Seminoles football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players People from Hollywood, Florida {{Amfoot-kicker-stub