Don Chandler

Donald Gene "Babe" Chandler (September 5, 1934 – August 11, 2011) was an American professional football player who was a punter and placekicker for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) in the 1950s and 1960s. Chandler played college football for the Florida Gators, and thereafter, he played professionally for the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers of the NFL.

Early life

Chandler was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he played for the Will Rogers Ropers high school football team.

College career

After graduating from high school, Chandler first attended Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and then transferred to the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played halfback, punter and placekicker for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football team in 1954 and 1955. As a senior in 1955, Chandler led all major college punters with an average kick of 44.3 yards, narrowly beating out Earl Morrall of the Michigan State Spartans. Memorably, Chandler also kicked a 76-yard punt against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 1955, which remains tied for the second longest punt in Gators history.

Chandler graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in 1956, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."

Professional career

After college, he was selected in the fifth round (57th pick overall) of the 1956 NFL draft, and played with the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers. He played in the first two overtime games ever in the NFL, in 1958 with the Giants against the Baltimore Colts and again in 1965 when he kicked the winning field goal for the Packers against the same Colts in a Western Conference playoff game at Green Bay. Chandler's fourth-quarter field goal that tied the game at 10–10 stirred controversy, as many Baltimore players and fans (and even Chandler himself) thought he missed the kick to the right. Footage of the kick shows a disgusted Chandler flip his head back in anger after he supposedly missed his kick. Chandler was named the punter on the NFL 1960s All-Decade Team. He was selected as the premier punter for the decade in the 1960s. In 2002, he was named to the Oklahoma Team of the Century by The Oklahoman. In 2003, he was added to the list of Oklahoma's Greatest Athletes by the Tulsa World. Chandler is also a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and the New York Giants Wall of Fame.

Chandler died at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 11, 2011; he was 76 years old.