Donald Gene "Babe" Chandler (September 5, 1934 – August 11, 2011) was a 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 wi ...

player. He was a punter and

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 ...

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 ...

(NFL) for 12 seasons in the 1950s and 1960s. Chandler 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 ...

for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, and thereafter, he played professionally for 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 ...

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 ...

of the NFL.

Early years

Chandler was born in

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...

.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Don Chandler
Retrieved August 11, 2011. He attended

Will Rogers High School Will Rogers Middle and High School, located at 3909 E. 5th Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was built by Tulsa Public Schools in 1939 using WPA workers and designed by Joseph R. Koberling, Jr. and Leon B. Senter. It was named for the humorist Will Ro ...

in Tulsa, Oklahoma,databaseFootball.com, Players
Don Chandler
. Retrieved August 11, 2011. and he played for the Will Rogers Ropers high school football team.

College career

After graduating from high school, Chandler first attended

Bacone College Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a private tribal college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by missionary Almon C. Bacone, it was originally affiliated with the mission arm of what is now Ameri ...

in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and then transferred to the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played halfback, punter and

for coach

Bob Woodruff Robert Warren Woodruff (born August 18, 1961) is an American television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a reporter for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight in 2006 alongside ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division o ...

team in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

.
2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 152–153, 159, 180 (2011). Retrieved August 28, 2011. As a senior in 1955, Chandler led all major college punters with an average kick of 44.3 yards, narrowly beating out

Earl Morrall Earl Edwin Morrall (May 17, 1934 – April 25, 2014) was an American football player who was a quarterback (and occasional punter) in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons, both a starter and reserve. In the latter capacity, he be ...

of the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

. Memorably, Chandler also kicked a 76-yard punt against the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wre ...

in 1955, which remains tied for the second longest punt in Gators history. Woodruff ranked him and

Bobby Joe Green Bobby Joe Green (May 7, 1936 – May 28, 1993) was an American college and professional football player who was a punter and running back in the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons during the 1960s and early 1970s. Green played ...

as the Gators' best kickers of the 1950s. Chandler graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in 1956, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."

Professional career

After college, he was selected in the fifth round (57th pick overall) of the 1956 NFL Draft, and played with the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers.National Football League, Historical Players
Don Chandler
Retrieved August 11, 2011. He played in the first two overtime games ever in the NFL, in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

with the Giants against the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

and again in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

when he kicked the winning field goal for the Packers against the same Colts in a Western Conference playoff game at Green Bay.Richard Goldstein,
Don Chandler, Standout Kicker in N.F.L., Dies at 76
, ''The New York Times'' (August 11, 2011). Retrieved July 8, 2014. Chandler's fourth-quarter field goal that tied the game at 10–10 stirred controversy, as many Baltimore players and fans thought he missed the kick to the right. Chandler was named the punter on the

NFL 1960s All-Decade Team This is a list of 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 C ...

. He went to 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 the 1967 season. He led the NFL in average yards per punt with 44.6 yards in 1957 and led the league with a field goal percentage of 67.9 percent on 19 of 28 attempts in 1962. Chandler still holds the record for most field goals scored in a Super Bowl with four in the 1968 Super Bowl against the Oakland Raiders, clinching the championship for the Packers. Chandler helped

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

's Green Bay Packers teams win Super Bowls I and II. Memorably, he kicked a 90-yard punt against the San Francisco 49ers in 1965. He was named to the All Pro team in 1967. In his 12-season NFL career, Chandler played in 154 regular season games, kicked 660 punts for a total of 28,678 yards, 248 extra points on 258 attempts, and 94 field goals on 161 attempts. He also rushed for 146 yards on 13 carries, and completed a perfect three passes on three attempts for a total of 67 yards.

Life after football

Chandler was inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame in 1975, along with tight end

Ron Kramer Ronald John Kramer (June 24, 1935 – September 11, 2010) was a multi-sport college athlete and professional American football player. Kramer attended the University of Michigan from 1953 to 1957, winning a total of nine varsity letters in fo ...

, defensive end Willie Davis, guards

Jerry Kramer Gerald Louis Kramer (born January 23, 1936) is a former professional American football player, author and sports commentator, best remembered for his 11-year National Football League (NFL) career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive linema ...

and

Fuzzy Thurston Frederick Charles "Fuzzy" Thurston (December 29, 1933 – December 14, 2014) was an American football player who played offensive guard for the Baltimore Colts and the Green Bay Packers. Early years Born and raised in the small western Wisconsi ...

and

. He was selected as the premier punter for the decade in the 1960s. In 2002, he was named to the Oklahoma Team of the Century by ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th large ...

''. In 2003, he was added to the list of Oklahoma's Greatest Athletes by the ''

Tulsa World The ''Tulsa World'' is the daily newspaper for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma. Tulsa World Media Company is part of Lee Enterprises. The new owners announced in January 20 ...

''. Chandler is also a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and the New York Giants Wall of Fame. Chandler died at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 11, 2011; he was 76 years old.Rhett Morgan,
Former NFL kicker Don Chandler dies
, ''Tulsa World'' (August 11, 2011). Retrieved August 11, 2011.Jeff Ash,
Former Green Bay Packers K Don Chandler dies at 76
, ''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' (August 11, 2011). Retrieved August 11, 2011.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * McEwen, Tom, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Don 1934 births 2011 deaths Sportspeople from Council Bluffs, Iowa Sportspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma Players of American football from Iowa Players of American football from Oklahoma American football halfbacks American football placekickers American football punters Bacone Warriors football players Florida Gators football players New York Giants players Green Bay Packers players Western Conference Pro Bowl players