Michael Arthur Haffner (born July 7, 1942) is a former 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 with ...

player who played wide receiver for four seasons for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

(1968–1970) and

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

(1971). 's NFL off-season, he still held the Broncos rookie franchise record for yards per reception at 30.5, for a 4 reception, 122 yard performance on 14 Dec 1968 against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

Career

After retirement, Haffner was a color commentator for the

NFL on NBC 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 ...

. He is most noted for being the sideline reporter who inadvertently captured on his live microphone a two‐word expletive uttered by

Terry Donahue Terrence Michael Donahue (June 24, 1944 – July 4, 2021) was an American football coach and executive. He served as the head coach at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1976 to 1995, compiling a record of 151–74–8. His 15 ...

who was voicing his disapproval over a Bruins

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

being nullified due to a penalty in NBC's

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

telecast of the

1978 Fiesta Bowl The 1978 Fiesta Bowl was the eighth Fiesta Bowl, edition of the college football bowl game, played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona on Monday, December 25. Part of the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season#Bowls, 1978–79 bowl game sea ...

. Haffner and Donohue had been roommates at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

."Two Words From the Coach With Expletives Undeleted," ''The Associated Press'' (AP), Monday, December 25, 1978.
Retrieved December 7, 2020

References

1942 births Living people American football wide receivers Cincinnati Bengals players Denver Broncos (AFL) players Denver Broncos players National Football League announcers Sportspeople from Waterloo, Iowa UCLA Bruins football players {{widereceiver-1940s-stub