Larry Robert Seiple (born February 14, 1945) 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 ...

player and coach. He played professionally as a punter for the

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 p ...

of the

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. ...

(AFL) from 1967 through 1969, and the NFL's Dolphins from 1970 through 1977.

Early life and education

Seiple was born in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

, where he played football for

William Allen High School William Allen High School is one of two large, urban public high schools of the Allentown School District in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The school provides public education for grades 9 through 12. William Allen High School is located at 106 North 1 ...

. He played collegiate football at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. At Kentucky, Seiple played wide receiver and running back, while also handling punts, kickoffs, and kickoff returns. He was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference selection in his junior season, averaging 4.3 yards per carry while also scoring 9 touchdowns and gaining 1,081 yards of offense. n three seasons, Seiple gained 2,137 yards from scrimmage and scored 18 touchdowns, while setting school records for average yards per catch, both in a season (23.5 in 1965) and in a career (19.8). He had four receptions of at least 70 yards, and once converted a 4th and 41 with a 70 yard touchdown on a fake punt.

Football career

National Football League

Seiple entered the 1967 NFL Draft and was selected by the

in Round 7 with the 163rd overall selection. Unlike most punters, Seiple also caught and carried the ball on occasion for the Dolphins. His most prolific year was 1969 when he netted 577 yards and scored five touchdowns, leading the Dolphins in both categories that year. Seiple was often able to rush for yards instead of punting. That type of risk paid dividends for the Dolphins in a 1972 playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in which he ran for a 37-yard gain, keeping a drive alive. Miami would go on to win that game and the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

that year, completing a

perfect season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...

of 17–0, the only perfect season by an NFL team in the league's history.

Coaching career

Seiple was the offensive coordinator at

Florida Atlantic University Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida, and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce. FAU belongs to the 12-ca ...

, where the head coach was another former University of Kentucky player,

Howard Schnellenberger Howard Leslie Schnellenberger (March 16, 1934 – March 27, 2021) was an American football coach with long service at both the professional and college levels. He held head coaching positions with the National Football League's Baltimore Colts a ...

. Seiple coached with the Dolphins as assistant coach for quarterbacks from 1998 to 1999, and for wide receivers from 1988 to 1997, 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 ...

as assistant coach for wide receivers from 1985 to 1986, 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 ...

from 1980 to 1984. On June 20, 2014 it was announced that Seiple would be inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seiple, Larry 1945 births Living people American Football League players American football punters Detroit Lions coaches Florida Atlantic Owls football coaches Kentucky Wildcats football players Miami Dolphins coaches Miami Dolphins players Players of American football from Pennsylvania Sportspeople from Allentown, Pennsylvania Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches William Allen High School alumni