Christopher Allen Gardocki (born February 7, 1970) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a punter 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 ...

(NFL). Gardocki played for the

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 NF ...

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

, and

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

from 1991 to 2006. He won

Super Bowl XL Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion f ...

with the Steelers over the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

Early career

Gardocki played as the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

, and punter for

Redan High School Redan High School is a public secondary school of the DeKalb County School District located in Redan, Georgia. Redan was established in 1976 by the DeKalb County School District. The school's mascot is the Raider. Both Redan High School and its ...

Stone Mountain, Georgia Stone Mountain is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The population was 6,703 according to the 2020 US Census. Stone Mountain is in the eastern part of DeKalb County and is a suburb of Atlanta that encompasses nearly 1.7 square mil ...

. He declared for the NFL after his junior year at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

Professional career

Through the end of the 2006 NFL regular season, Gardocki holds the NFL record for most consecutive punts (1,177 for his career) with no blocks. Gardocki averaged a career-best 45.7 yards per punt for the Colts in 1996 and was selected for the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

. After playing for both

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL s ...

rivals Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Gardocki was released by the Steelers on May 23, 2007, less than a month after the team selected Baylor punter

Daniel Sepulveda Daniel Wade Sepulveda (born January 12, 1984) is a former American football punter who played five seasons in the National Football League (NFL), all with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for Baylor University, earned All- ...

in the 2007 NFL Draft. Gardocki is best remembered by some for an incident while playing for the Browns in a 2000 game against the Steelers in

Cleveland Browns Stadium FirstEnergy Stadium is a stadium in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, primarily for American football. It is the home field of the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL), and serves as a venue for other events such as college and ...

. After being tackled by Steelers

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

Joey Porter Joseph Eugene Porter (born March 22, 1977) is an American former football outside linebacker who played 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), and is a former outside linebackers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After playing coll ...

following a punt that left Gardocki briefly motionless (Porter would be penalized for roughing the punter), Gardocki flipped the

middle finger The middle finger, long finger, second finger, third finger, toll finger or tall man is the third digit of the human hand, located between the index finger and the ring finger. It is typically the longest digit. In anatomy, it is also called ...

twice to Steelers head coach

Bill Cowher William Laird Cowher (born May 8, 1957) is an American sports analyst, former football player and coach. Following a six-year playing career as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), he served as a head coach in the NFL for 15 se ...

. The incident, caught on live television, resulted in a $5,000 fine for Gardocki.

Personal life

Chris' wife, Sally Gardocki, is a real estate attorney. They have a son named Cole, born in 1995, and raised on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. In 1997, Sally, an attorney and author, wrote a book titled "The Wives Room", which provided a behind-the-scenes look at the life of an NFL wife. Both donate time to several non-profit organizations including the Boys and Girls Club and the Taste of the NFL, and have regularly served turkey dinners to area residents during the holidays.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardocki, Chris 1970 births Living people American football punters Clemson Tigers football players Chicago Bears players Indianapolis Colts players Cleveland Browns players Pittsburgh Steelers players American Conference Pro Bowl players People from Stone Mountain, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportspeople from DeKalb County, Georgia

Early career

Professional career

Personal life

See also

References