Raimund "Ray" Wersching (born August 21, 1950) is an Austrian former

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 NFL. He played in the NFL for a span of 15 years, from 1973 through 1987.

Early career

He attended Warren High School in

Downey Downey may refer to: People *Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places *Downey, California, US *Downey, Idaho, US *Downey, Iowa, US Businesses *W. & D. Downey, photographic studio *Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Schools * ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

NFL career

Undrafted 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 ...

after his career at

Cerritos College Cerritos College is a public community college in Norwalk, California. It offers degrees and certificates in 87 areas of study in nine divisions. History The college was founded in 1955. It was named after Rancho Los Cerritos, a local r ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, Wersching was signed by the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, where he played for four years. In 1977, Wersching joined the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

. In Super Bowl XVI, Wersching tied a

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 ...

record by kicking four field goals, and his field position kick-offs also helped his team win, 26–21. He won another

Super Bowl ring The Super Bowl ring is an award in the National Football League given to the team members of the winning team of the league's annual championship game, the Super Bowl. Since only one Vince Lombardi Trophy is awarded to the team (ownership) itsel ...

with the 49ers in Super Bowl XIX, defeating 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 ...

38–16. When he retired, Wersching held 49ers records for points,

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 ...

s and

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. He was the 12th player in NFL history to score 1,000 points in a career, and is the most recent player to have scored from a

fair catch kick The fair catch kick is a rule at the professional and high school levels of American football that allows a team that has just made a fair catch to attempt a free kick from the spot of the catch. The kick must be either a place kick or a drop ki ...

. Wersching had a unique kicking style. Upon crossing the out of bound line onto the field to kick a field goal or extra point, he always looked down, never raising his head until ''after'' he kicked.

Other

Wersching holds an inactive public accountant's license. He was a contestant on the original version of the game show ''

High Rollers ''High Rollers'' is an American television game show that involved contestants trying to win prizes by rolling dice. The format was based on the dice game shut the box. ''High Rollers'' debuted on July 1, 1974, as part of NBC's daytime lineup. ...

'' in 1975. In 2006; Wersching along with business partner Mary Ann Locke were indicted on

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

charges of $8 million in insurance premiums. Wersching served six months in home confinement and was placed on probation for two years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. When he pleaded guilty in December 2007 to failing to file a corporate tax return, federal prosecutors dropped charges that he had been involved in an $8 million embezzlement (while Locke served time in prison) but would lose his business as a result.

References

1950 births Living people Austrian players of American football American football placekickers California Golden Bears football players San Diego Chargers players San Francisco 49ers players Sportspeople from Downey, California People from Vöcklabruck District Players of American football from California Austrian emigrants to the United States Cerritos Falcons football players Sportspeople from Upper Austria {{Amfoot-kicker-stub