Jim O'Brien (born February 7, 1947) is a former
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
. He played for 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 ...
from
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
to
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
and the
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
in
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
. He also played
wide receiver, catching the bulk of his career passes during the
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
season while still performing his kicking duties. O'Brien is best remembered for kicking a game-winning field goal in the waning seconds of
Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to determine the National Football League (NFL) champio ...
, making him the first of only three placekickers to accomplish such a feat.
Career
O'Brien attended the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
, where he led the nation in scoring as a football senior. He also played basketball for the
Bearcats. O'Brien graduated from
Aiken High School in Cincinnati and had an appointment to the
U.S. Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Unit ...
, but received a medical discharge for an ulcer.
O'Brien, nicknamed "Lassie" by his teammates, had an auspicious start with his rookie season, making 19 of 34 field goals while having a peak of 48 yards for longest kick. O'Brien would prove to have a crucial part within mixed success in the postseason. In the Colts' run to
Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys to determine the National Football League (NFL) champio ...
, O'Brien made 3 of 7 field goals while being perfect on all five extra points leading up to the final game against 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 divisi ...
. It was O'Brien that played a part in setting the stage for the first big kick of the Super Bowl, as he had made just one of his two extra points (the missed one had been blocked) that meant the score was 13-13 late in the fourth quarter. A
Mike Curtis interception brought the ball to the 28 yard-line, and on third down with seven yards to go, O'Brien was sent to kick a field goal. Before kicking the field goal, teammates saw that O'Brien was so nervous, he tried to take some of the artificial turf off the field to figure out the wind, thinking the field was regular grass. With nine seconds remaining, his kick sailed through the uprights to make the first Super Bowl to be decided in the fourth quarter. For twenty years, it would be the only Super Bowl to be decided on a field goal (
Super Bowl XXV
Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...
however was the first to have the field goal be the true last play of the game, as V ended on a failed long pass attempt). Because of his singular moment kicking the Super Bowl-winning field goal,
NFL Films
NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ot ...
named him the #9 "One-Hit Wonder" of all time. In the NFL Films video, his former Colt teammates amusedly related that they saw "Lassie" as a hippie due to his long hair (
Bubba Smith
Charles Aaron Smith (February 28, 1945 – August 3, 2011), commonly known as Bubba Smith, was an American football defensive end and actor. He first came into prominence at Michigan State University, where he twice earned All-American hon ...
clarified that O'Brien wasn't actually a hippie type in any way except for his hair) and that they planned to forcibly shear his long locks after the Super Bowl, but after he made the championship-winning kick
Bill Curry
William Alexander Curry (born October 21, 1942) is a retired American football coach and former player.
Most recently, Curry was the head coach at Georgia State University, which began competing in college football in 2010. Previously, Curry s ...
got the veterans to agree that O'Brien deserved to keep his hair just as it was. Curry told a visibly relieved O'Brien he was both a world champion and would not get an involuntary crew cut.
The next season, O'Brien kicked 20 out of 29 field goals successfully while having a peak of 50 yards on one kick. He missed just one extra point during the season. He regressed wildly in 1972, having gone 13 of 31 while having a peak of just 42 yards on his kicks. He also caught 11 passes for 263 yards for two touchdowns during the season, which proved to be his last in Baltimore. He rejected the Colts' suggestion that he focus on being a wide receiver in 1972, and was traded to Detroit for a draft pick before the 1972 season. He made 8 of 14 field goals with a peak of 39 yards while making every extra point. In 1974, O'Brien was hit in the face with a beer bottle while at a bar and required surgery for a cut cornea. He cited this as likely a big reason for him not latching on to a team after that incident.
Ultimately, O'Brien posted a 55.6 percentage with 60 of 108
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 ...
attempts made.
Personal life
Since retirement, O'Brien has worked in project management for construction in
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. It is named af ...
.
See also
*
List of NCAA major college football yearly scoring leaders
The list of NCAA major college football yearly scoring leaders identifies the NCAA major college scoring leaders. Beginning with the 1937 college football season, when the NCAA began maintaining official records, the list includes each year's lea ...
References
External links
NFL.com player page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Jim
1947 births
Living people
American football placekickers
American football wide receivers
Baltimore Colts players
Cincinnati Bearcats football players
Detroit Lions players
Players of American football from El Paso, Texas