Curt Knight

Luther Curtis Knight Jr. (April 14, 1943 – March 23, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a placekicker for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1969 to 1973. He played college football for the Coast Guard Bears and is their only player to ever play in the NFL. Knight was an early adopter of the soccer style kick, having played soccer in high school and college, but switched to straight-on kicking in the NFL.

Early life Curt Knight was born in Gulf Port, MS to Luther Curtis Knight, Sr. and Dolores Juanita Miller Knight on April 14, 1943. His father was in the Coast Guard. He went to Mineral Wells High School for one year in 1960-61 where he played football and ran track.

Knight went to college at the United States Coast Guard Academy, where was played both soccer and football, but after his second year he was convinced to focus on football, despite having been an All-New England player in soccer.

From 1966-67 he was in the Army, where he also played football. He switched to straight-on kicking when, as an undrafted free agent, he was offered a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys. They passed on him and he was brought to the Redskins by his former Coast Guard coach Otto Graham who was the Redskins head coach at the time. He signed with the Redskins later in 1968 but was cut during camp and then signed to the taxi squad. He spent the 1968 season on the taxi squad while also playing for the Virginia Sailors of the Atlantic Coast Football League during a season when they made it to the Championship game. and he led the NFC in scoring with 114 points (setting the then team record). Against Chicago he set a team record by kicking 5 field goals in a 15-16 loss where he also missed a 6th field goal. That season he was named All-NFL by the Newspaper Enterprise Association, made the Pro Bowl and was named All-NFC by the Sporting News.

During the off-season he worked toward a BBA at the University of Texas. He quit the team before the 1974 season and did not report to training camp because he "was not satisfied with [his] working relationship there". In October the club put him on waivers and he became a free agent, able to be signed by any team except the Redskins.

In 2006, Knight was inducted into the Mineral Wells High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

Knight died on March 23, 2022.

Curt Knight is frequently cited as a former player for the Texas Longhorn and North Texas Mean Green football teams, but he was just a student at those schools.