Olindo Franco Mare (born June 6, 1973) 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 ...

. He was originally signed by 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 division. ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 1996. He 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 rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at MacMurray College and

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. Mare, who was selected 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 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, has also played 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 pla ...

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

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 ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

and

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 ...

Early years

Mare attended Cooper City High School ( Cooper City, Florida), lettering in

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 ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. Olindo Mare graduated from Cooper City High School in 1991. Olindo played at MacMurray College in

Jacksonville, Illinois Jacksonville is a city in Morgan County, Illinois, Morgan County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,446 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. It is home to Illinois College, Illinois School for the Deaf, and the ...

and finished his college career for the Syracuse Orange.

Professional career

New York Giants

Mare was originally signed by the

as an

in 1996, but he was released before the season.

Miami Dolphins

Mare played the first 10 seasons of his career with the Miami Dolphins. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, Mare attempted his first, and only rushing attempt on a fake field goal against the

. He was stopped for a five-yard loss. On October 10, 2004, when Mare was out with a calf injury, wide receiver

Wes Welker Wesley Carter Welker (born May 1, 1981) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the wide receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach for the San ...

replaced him and became only the second player in NFL history to return a kickoff and a punt, kick an extra point and a field goal, and make a tackle in a single game. During the 2005 season, he made 25 of 30 field goals, averaged 67.0 yards per kickoff, and had 16 touchbacks in 73 kicks. Mare also recorded his first career fumble recovery during the season on an

onside kick In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff, in which the kicking team intends to give the ball to the o ...

New Orleans Saints

On April 3, 2007, the Dolphins traded Mare to the

for a

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

sixth-round draft pick. He inherited the position from kicker John Carney, who was released from the team a day after. He missed his first field goal attempt of the 2007 season against the

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 ...

. At the midway point of the 2007 season, Mare had made exactly half of his field goal attempts. He also missed 3 field goals in the final preseason game. Early in the season, it was revealed that Mare injured his groin muscle, and punter Steven Weatherford took over on kick-offs for a few games. While playing the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mare missed his second attempt of the game, and ended up being called on again a few minutes later after the Saints intercepted and drove back into field goal range. Fans booed Mare as he walked onto the field to attempt the long shot (over 50 yards), which he missed. Despite the reaction of fans, and his extremely poor play, head coach Sean Payton continued to stand by the kicker until he was injured in the second game against the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

, and replaced with

Martín Gramática Martín Gramática (born November 27, 1975) is an Argentine-born former American football placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts, Dallas Cowboys, and New Orleans Saints. He played c ...

. On February 27, 2008, he was released from the Saints after only one season.

Seattle Seahawks

On March 27, 2008, Mare signed with the

to a two-year contract worth $3.5 million. He won the kicking battle during training camp and pre-season against

Brandon Coutu Brandon Coutu (born September 29, 1984) is a former American-football placekicker. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Georgia. He was born in Lawrenceville, Georgi ...

. He had a superb 2008 season, as he finished the season making 24/27 field goals and making all of his PATs. In 2009, Mare faced significant scrutiny after missing two field goals in a week 3 game against the

. The misses resulted in a six-point loss for the Seahawks. In a post-game news conference, head coach

Jim L. Mora James Lawrence Mora (born November 19, 1961) is an American football coach who is the head coach at the University of Connecticut. Before that, he was the head coach of the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference from 2012 to 2017. Prior to takin ...

called Mare's playing "not acceptable". Olindo Mare had a fantastic 2009 season as he finished with 24/26 field goals, with a franchise record 21 straight (since surpassed by Jason Myers in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

). He earned a 2009 Pro Bowl Alternate honor and a franchise tag that gave him a base salary of what the top five kickers earned in the NFL or a 20% salary increase, whichever was greater.

Dick Stockton Richard Edward Stokvis (born November 22, 1942), known professionally as Dick Stockton, is an American retired sportscaster. Stockton began his career in Philadelphia, then moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as the sports director for KDKA-TV ...

's inability to pronounce Mare's last name correctly has resulted in the nickname Mar-AA. Mar-AA is a reference to a Seattle drinking game.

Carolina Panthers

After the Panthers released popular kicker

John Kasay John David Kasay (born October 27, 1969) is a former American football kicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers. He played college football at Georgia and was selected by the Se ...

, the Panthers were looking for a proven kicker. On July 27, 2011, the Carolina Panthers signed Mare to a four-year, $12 million contract. However, a year after signing the deal, and after Mare missed two game-winning field goals, the Panthers cut him.

Chicago Bears

On December 11, 2012, the Bears signed Mare to a one-year deal due to an injury to Robbie Gould. Mare beat out

Billy Cundiff William Ambrose Cundiff (born March 30, 1980) is a former American football placekicker. He played college football for Drake University, and was signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2002. College career Cundiff played for ...

and

Neil Rackers Neil William Rackers (born August 16, 1976) is a former American football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He played college football for the University of Illinois. Rackers was drafted by ...

for the job. Mare played his first game as a Bear on December 16, 2012, against 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) NFC North, North division. It ...

. Mare was successful on both of his field goal attempts, but the Bears would go on to lose 21–13. In December 2013, he received a workout with the Lions, but did not make the team.

Career regular season statistics

''Career high/best bolded''

Personal life

Mare is married to his wife Sandy, with three sons, Hayden, Rylan, and Landon, and one daughter, Kayla. Mare is mentioned in

Wale Wale or WALE may refer to: Places *Wale, Devon, a hamlet in England *Wale, Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, a village in Poland People *Wale (surname) *Wale (rapper), stage name of American rapper Olubowale Victor Akintimehin Radio and television ...

's song "TV in the Radio" in the line "I kick it, kick it like Olindo." Mare is a fan of the Italian soccer team

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

since his father was born in Rota Greca,

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. Mare has taken up Footgolf, a new sport that caters to his kicking ability. He aims to qualify in 2023 to represent Team USA in the sport’s 4th World Cup, being held in Orlando, Florida from May 26 through June 6, 2023.

References

External links

Seattle Seahawks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mare, Olindo 1973 births Living people American football placekickers Carolina Panthers players Chicago Bears players Miami Dolphins players New Orleans Saints players Seattle Seahawks players Syracuse Orange football players Valencia Matadors football players American Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Hollywood, Florida Players of American football from Florida American people of Italian descent