Leonidas E. "Lonie" Paxton III (born March 13, 1978) 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 ...

long snapper. 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 ...

Sacramento State California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

and was signed by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

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 ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Paxton also played 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 ...

Early years

When Paxton was a child growing up in southern

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 ...

, he and his father would attend

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

games, where his father, a retired construction worker and football fan, had season tickets in seats right next to where the long snappers would practice during the game. At Centennial High School in

Corona, California Corona (Spanish for "Crown") is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 157,136, up from 152,374 at the 2010 census. The cities of Norco and Riverside lie to the north and north ...

, Paxton was a three-year starter as a two-way lineman and long snapper. As a senior, he was selected as the team's Lineman of the Year.

College career

At Sacramento State, Paxton was a four-year starter as a long snapper and an offensive lineman. As a junior, he was part of an offensive line that blocked for the NCAA Division I-AA rushing leader. As a senior, he helped his team lead the Big Sky Conference in rushing yards per game with 234.2 rushing yards per game. He majored in communications at Sacramento State. He earned Rookie of the Year honors as a freshman, junior of the year and co-lineman of the year as a senior.

Professional career

New England Patriots

Paxton snapped on nine of

Adam Vinatieri Adam Matthew Vinatieri (born December 28, 1972) is an American former football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 24 seasons with the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Considered one of the greatest kick ...

's game-winning field goals over four seasons, including his game-winning 48-yarder at the end of Super Bowl XXXVI. He famously made a snow angel in the end zone after Vinatieri kicked a 23-yard field goal in overtime to give the Patriots a 16-13 victory over the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

which put them in the 2001 AFC championship game. He repeated his victory snow angel on the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

turf after Vinatieri's kick beat the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

in Super Bowl XXXVI. In 2003, Paxton established the Active Force Foundation, a non-profit organization that designs and donates special sports equipment to physically challenged athletes.

Denver Broncos

On February 27, 2009, Paxton signed a five-year, $5.3 million contract with the Denver Broncos. The deal included a $1 million signing bonus. This made Paxton the second-highest paid long snapper in the NFL, slightly behind

Ryan Pontbriand Ryan David Pontbriand (born October 1, 1979) is a former American football long snapper and center. He played college football at Rice University and was drafted in the fifth round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. He has the distinct ...

of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. He was released by Denver on February 15, 2013.

Retirement

On August 1, 2017, Paxton signed a one-day contract with the Patriots to officially retire in New England.

Personal life

Paxton is the oldest of 6 siblings with 2 brothers and 3 foster brothers and sisters. He has worked with the Shriners Hospitals for Children in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. He is half Greek on his father's side; his father's lineage is from

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

, Greece. He married Meghan Vasconcellos, a former New England Patriots Cheerleader, on February 26, 2011.

Notes and references

External links

Lonie Paxton Fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paxton, Lonie American football long snappers Sacramento State Hornets football players New England Patriots players Denver Broncos players American people of Greek descent Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Orange, California 1978 births Living people