Ove Claes Johansson (born March 31, 1948) 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 ...

and the current holder of the record for the longest

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 ...

ever kicked during an American football game, at , for

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...

in their October 16, 1976 victory over East Texas State. Johansson is the oldest player to be drafted in the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

, being 28 years, 281 days old when he was selected in the 12th round of the

1977 NFL Draft The 1977 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1977, at the Roosevelt Hotel ...

by the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

. Johansson was a junior at

after being an all American soccer player at national power

Davis and Elkins College Davis & Elkins College (D&E) is a private college in Elkins, West Virginia. History The school was founded in 1904 and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It was named for Henry G. Davis and his son-in-law Stephen B. Elkins, who were b ...

, and performed this kick during ACU's 1976

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

game against

East Texas State University East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

Shotwell Stadium Shotwell Stadium is a stadium in Abilene, Texas. It was built in 1959, using Rice Stadium as a model. It was initially named the Public Schools Stadium. The first game played in the Stadium was in the fall of 1959. Shortly after the first season, ...

, in

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...

. This record kick is longer than any other field goal kicked in organized football, one yard longer than the current

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

record set by

Dirk Borgognone Dirk Borgognone (born January 9, 1968) is a former National Football League placekicker who currently holds the record for the longest field goal ever kicked in the history of high school football, 68 yards. High school career Borgognone attende ...

in 1985, two yards longer than the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

record (Abilene Christian was playing in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

at the time), and three yards longer than the current

NFL 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 ...

record of 66 yards set by

Justin Tucker Justin Paul Tucker (born November 21, 1989) is an American football placekicker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Texas and was signed by the Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2012. ...

in the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

vs.

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 ...

game of September 26, 2021.

Professional career

Johansson had previously played

association football 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 ...

, and the 1976 season was his first and only season to play

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 ...

. He hurt his knee in a season-ending bowl game and played in just two regular season games 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 ...

. Kicking for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

in 1977, he was successful in only one of his four field goal attempts and one of three

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

s.ACU Today – Fall 2001 Second Glance
Johansson was the first Swedish-born player to play in the NFL, twelve years before

Björn Nittmo Björn Arne Nittmo (born July 26, 1966) is a former Swedish born American football placekicker, being the only Swedish-born player ever to complete as much as a full season in the National Football League. Football career The left-footed Nittmo, ...

. He is currently a businessman in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

. He is married to April (Bankes) Johansson, and they have a daughter, Annika Johansson, and a son, Stefan Johansson. The family is

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

References

External links

Video of record breaking kick
!--Note: This video was uploaded by ACU, the university that Ove played for, so copyright is not a problem --> {{DEFAULTSORT:Johansson, Ove 1948 births Living people Abilene Christian Wildcats football players American football placekickers American management consultants American members of the Churches of Christ Businesspeople from Texas Davis & Elkins Senators men's soccer players Sportspeople from Abilene, Texas Sportspeople from Amarillo, Texas Sportspeople from Gothenburg Philadelphia Eagles players Swedish emigrants to the United States Swedish players of American football Texas Republicans Association footballers not categorized by position Association football players not categorized by nationality