Benjamin James "The Toeless Wonder" Agajanian (August 28, 1919 – February 8, 2018) was an American

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 wi ...

player, primarily a placekicker in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

, the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

and

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

Early life

Born in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the 13th-m ...

, he graduated from San Pedro High School in the San Pedro community in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. A

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. S ...

, he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at Compton Junior College and the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

. He served in the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as a physical training instructor. While playing in college, Agajanian had four toes of his kicking foot crushed in a work accident and then amputated in 1939,

Pro football career

Agajanian played professionally in the

from 1945 through 1959, then in the newly formed

for the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers in 1960, 1961, and 1964. He also played for the Dallas Texans in 1961 and the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

in 1962. He is one of two players (the other was Hardy Brown) who played in the

, the

, and the

. He was pro football's third kicking specialist (after Jack Manders and

Mose Kelsch Christian "Mose" Kelsch (January 31, 1897 – July 13, 1935) was an American football placekicker and running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was a charter member of the Pittsburgh Pirates (which would later be renamed the St ...

), booting

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

s for 10 different professional teams in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, including two

NFL champions The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

: the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

and 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) North division. It is the t ...

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

. In the 1956 title game, he went 5-for-6 on extra points and 2-for-3 on field goals whole in the 1960 title game he was perfect on extra points (one) and field goals (three). He led the league in field goal attempts in 1947 (24) and 1954 (25) and also led in made field goals (15) in the former.

Later life

After retiring from the field at age 45, he was the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

kicking coach for 20 years. He also coached

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

kicker

Mac Percival Mac L. Percival (born February 26, 1940, in Vernon, Texas) is a former American football placekicker in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys. He played college basketball at Texas Tech University. Early years P ...

for the 1968 season. Agajanian died in

Cathedral City, California Cathedral City, colloquially known as "Cat City", is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. Situated between Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, the city has the second larg ...

on February 8, 2018 at age 98. His older brother was the late Motorsports promoter J. C. Agajanian.

References

External links

*
Ben Agajanian, the oldest living Los Angeles Ram at 96, gets a real kick out of their return to L.A.
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agajanian, Ben 1919 births 2018 deaths American football placekickers Players of American football from California Dallas Cowboys coaches Dallas Texans (AFL) players Green Bay Packers players Los Angeles Chargers players Los Angeles Dons players New Mexico Lobos football players New York Giants players Oakland Raiders players Philadelphia Eagles players Pittsburgh Steelers players San Diego Chargers players Sportspeople from Santa Ana, California American sportspeople of Armenian descent American Football League players United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces soldiers

Early life

Pro football career

Later life

See also

References

External links