Rob Hart (born 4 November 1974) is an English 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 ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

. He played for the England Monarchs in 1998 and Scottish Claymores from 1999–2004. 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 ...

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. He also was a member of 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Hart is well known because he kicked barefoot.

Early life

Hart initially 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 was a member of

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play i ...

's Under-16 team, but quit due to believing he could not receive a professional contract. Hart first became interested in American football after watching the Dolphins reach

Super Bowl XIX Super Bowl XIX was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1984 Miami Dolphins season, Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1984 San Francisco 49ers season, San Francisco 49 ...

. He played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

College career

Hart attended

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

for a year before transferring to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

' Murray State University. After redshirting his first year, he spent three years as a kicker for the

Murray State Racers football The Murray State Racers football team represents Murray State University in the sport of American football. The Racers competes in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I and ...

team, and received all-

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

and preseason All-American honors in 1997. Hart graduated with a degree in American history.

Professional career

NFL Europe

Upon receiving his degree, Hart joined the England Monarchs. In 1999, he was signed by the Scottish Claymores. Hart missed a game-tying 42-yard field goal in

World Bowl 2000 World Bowl 2000 (also referred to as World Bowl VIII) was the eighth championship game of the NFL Europe League. It was held at Waldstadion in Frankfurt, Germany on June 25, 2000. The match-up was between the 6–4 Scottish Claymores and the 7–3 ...

with eight seconds left. Two years later, Hart converted all ten field goals and twenty points after touchdowns, and the year after, was NFL Europe's leading scorer with 64 points. After tryouts in the NFL, Hart returned to the Claymores in 2004. Hart finished his NFL Europe career as one of the league's top kickers, being a two-time All-League member. During the 2004 season, Hart became the league's all-time leading scorer with 333 points.

NFL

In 2002, Hart tried out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but was cut after two preseason games. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins on 24 July 2003, and intended to compete with

Olindo Mare Olindo Franco Mare (born June 6, 1973) is a former American football placekicker. He was originally signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent in 1996. He played college football at MacMurray College and Syracuse. Mare, who was se ...

, but suffered a hamstring injury. He was waived on 27 August 2003. On 14 July 2004, Hart returned to the NFL after being signed by the Saints, but was released on 5 September.

Personal life

During his career, Hart worked as a recruiting consultant for

Randstad The Randstad (; "Rim" or "Edge" City) is a roughly crescent-shaped conurbation in the central-western Netherlands, consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht); their suburbs, and many tow ...

, retail at

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

and as a substitute teacher.

References

External links

Football Database profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Rob 1976 births Living people People from Camberley English players of American football American football placekickers London Monarchs players Scottish Claymores players Murray State Racers football players