Richard Jon Camarillo (born November 29, 1959) is a former professional

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 wi ...

punter who played 16 seasons in the NFL for the New England Patriots (1981–1987), Los Angeles Rams (1988),

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(1989–1993),

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(1994–1995), and Oakland Raiders (1996). Camarillo attended

El Rancho High School El Rancho High School is a public high school located in the city of Pico Rivera, California, United States. It is a part of the El Rancho Unified School District. History El Rancho High School opened its doors in September 1952. Whittier High ...

in Pico Rivera, California, graduating in 1977. Before his NFL career, he earned All-America honors at Cerritos Junior College. He then transferred to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

(1979-1980), where he was selected as a member of the Huskies All-Century team. A consistently solid, dependable punter during his 16 NFL seasons, Camarillo led the league in punting yards twice (1985, 1994), net yard average three times (1983, 1991, & 1992), and gross yards per punt once (1989). He also led the league in 1994 with 35 balls inside the 20. With the Patriots, Camarillo made a championship appearance in Super Bowl XX, and ended up punting often as his team was blown out 46-10 by the Chicago Bears. Camarillo punted 6 times for 263 yards (43.8 avg), with 225 net yards (37.5 avg), 1 touchback, and 1 punt in the 20, including a then Super Bowl record 62-yard punt that planted the Bears back at their own 4-yard line, this record being broken by another Patriots punter, Ryan Allen, who kicked a 64-yard punt in

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. However, Chicago still managed to drive a Super Bowl-record 96 yards and score a touchdown anyway. Camarillo finished his career with 1,027 punts for 43,895 yards (42.7 avg) and 279 punts inside the 20. Upon his retirement, that mark stood as the most in NFL history. Camarillo also had a career net average of 36.0 yards per punt. He was named to the NFL's all-rookie team in 1981. He was also selected to five

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 ...

games after the 1983, 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993 seasons, with

Ray Guy William Ray Guy (December 22, 1949 – November 3, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a punter for the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Guy was a first-team All-American selecti ...

and Shane Lechler sharing the record with seven appearances each as of 2016. Camarillo had a punt returned for a touchdown in his first NFL game on October 25, 1981. Fourteen seasons and 876 punts later on October 30, 1994, would be the next time one of his punts was returned for a score. He also owns the NFL's record for highest net avg. in a season with a mark of 39.6 yards. Camarillo's 44.5 yards per punt still stands as the highest punting average in NFL playoff history. He was also selected seven times (first or second-team) All-Pro, in his career. He was also named to the team of the 1990s by CNNSI. Camarillo was a nominee for induction into the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame, class of 2009. Camarillo coached the Ahwatukee Little League All-stars from

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in the

2006 Little League World Series The Little League World Series, held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, took place between August 18 and August 28, one day later than originally scheduled. Inclement weather forced the cancellation of the third-place game on August 27 and the p ...

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. His son, Eric, was a member of that team. On 14 September 2009, Camarillo was selected to the 50 Greatest New England Patriots Team.

External links

Camarillo's stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Camarillo, Rich 1959 births Living people American football punters Cerritos Falcons football players Washington Huskies football players New England Patriots players Los Angeles Rams players Phoenix Cardinals players Houston Oilers players Oakland Raiders players American Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Whittier, California Players of American football from California