Ryszard "Rich" Szaro (March 7, 1948 – April 7, 2015) was a Polish-born 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 ...

player who played

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. S ...

for six seasons for the Philadelphia Bell of the WFL,

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 ...

and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

. Szaro moved with his family at age 14 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1962 settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and studying at

St. Francis Preparatory School , motto_translation = My God and My All , location = , streetaddress = 6100 Francis Lewis Boulevard , city = New York City (Fresh Meadows, Queens) , state = New York , ...

in Brooklyn, NY. A natural athlete, he ran track and played football, tennis, soccer and volleyball. As a senior. the 5'11" 185lb. running back and kicker broke the New York City single season scoring record with 164 points. Szaro was named a Parade All-American, and later was inducted in the school’s Inaugural Ring of Honor. After graduating from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in 1971 with a degree in economics Szaro participated in a track meet in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, and he decided to stay in Europe and work as an export manager for Colgate-Palmolive. However, he missed playing football and saw other foreign- born soccer-style kickers making NFL rosters including fellow Pole,

Chester Marcol Czesław Bolesław "Chester" Marcol (born October 24, 1949) is a former professional American football player. A placekicker for the Green Bay Packers from 1972 to 1980, he was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1987. Early year ...

of the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

. He returned to the USA in 1974 to pursue a career in Professional Football. After his playing career, Szaro returned to international trade with a clothing firm based in New York but traveling extensively throughout South America, Europe, and the Far East. He was very adept at fitting in with other cultures helped by the fact that he spoke six languages, and his English had barely a trace of an accent. Szaro worked as liaison between skilled Jewish professionals emigrating from Russia and American businesses, many emigrants whom he place through Harvard connections. Szaro returned to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

to live and work in the 1990s. He died in at his home in Warsaw at the age of 67.

College career

Szaro was recruited by numerous colleges, but after getting a pitch from Senator Robert F. Kennedy he chose

. As a freshman, Szaro broke the school record for season points (56), was second in rushing with 487 yards (averaging 6.3 yards a carry), and as the team's punter averaged 34.1 yards a kick. Szaro competed in outdoor track that spring breaking the school and New York javelin record with a toss of 246' 7". When a foot injury in his sophomore year hampered his running ability, he focused on place kicking setting two Harvard records for career points in place-kicking in the next three years. He led the team in scoring in 1969 and was selected All-Ivy League in his senior year.

Professional career

When Szaro returned to the

from working in Europe, he initially signed with the Philadelphia Bell of the WFL in 1974 before being signed by the

in 1975. His best year was 1976, when he led the NFL in field goal accuracy, making 78 percent of his attempts. Szaro was a left-footed kicker, but could kick almost as well with his right foot. He once made a right-footed field goal in a game when an injury prevented him from swinging his left foot. Szaro was cut by the Saints after the team selected

Russell Erxleben Russell Erxleben (born January 13, 1957) is a former American football player and currency investor. He shares the record for the longest successful field goal in NCAA history at 67 yards (with tee), which he set in 1977 while playing for the Uni ...

in the first round of the

1979 NFL Draft The 1979 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, 1979, at the Waldorf Astori ...

. Erxleben was a combination place-kicker and punter for

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and New Orleans hoped to free up a roster spot by having just one specialist. He ended his career in 1979 after a short stint with the

, bothered by persistent injuries with his foot and hamstring he retired from football to pursue business interests.

Professional statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szaro, Rich 1948 births 2015 deaths American football placekickers Philadelphia Bell players New York Jets players New Orleans Saints players Harvard Crimson football players Polish players of American football Sportspeople from Rzeszów Harvard University alumni