Greg Montgomery

Gregory Hugh Montgomery Jr. (October 29, 1964 – August 23, 2020) was an American professional football player who was an All-Pro punter for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL).

Born in Morristown, New Jersey, and raised in Shrewsbury, Montgomery played football at Red Bank Regional High School, where he had hoped to be a linebacker rather than a punter.

Montgomery spent his freshman collegiate year at Penn State, but then transferred to Michigan State, where his father had played quarterback thirty years earlier.

As a junior, he was honored by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) as a first-team All-American, and as a senior he was selected to the second-team by United Press International. In 1996, Montgomery was chosen for the MSU Centennial Super Squad.

Montgomery was selected in the third round of the 1988 NFL draft by the Houston Oilers.

From 1988 to 1997 he spent time with the Houston Oilers, Detroit Lions, and Baltimore Ravens. In his nine NFL seasons, Montgomery led the NFL in yards per punt average three times (1990, 1992, 1993), was selected to one Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro (1993), and finished his career with 22,831 punting yards and 120 punts inside the opponents 20 yard line. His longest punt of 77 yards was with the Houston Oilers.

NFL career statistics Legend Led the league Bold Career high

Regular season Year Team Punting Punts 1988 HOU 16 65 2,523 2,217 61 38.8 34.1 0 12 5 1989 HOU 16 56 2,422 2,091 63 43.3 36.1 2 15 7 1990 HOU 16 34 1,530 1,244 60 45.0 36.6 0 7 5 1991 HOU 15 48 2,105 1,842 60 43.9 36.8 2 13 4 1992 HOU 16 53 2,487 2,052 66 46.9 37.3 2 14 9 1993 HOU 15 54 2,462 2,113 77 45.6 39.1 0 13 5 1994 DET 16 63 2,782 2,191 64 44.2 34.2 1 19 8 1996 BAL 16 68 2,980 2,607 67 43.8 37.8 1 23 5 1997 BAL 16 83 3,540 3,040 60 42.7 36.6 0 24 2 Career 142 524 22,831 19,397 77 43.6 36.5 8 140 50

Playoffs Year Team Punting Punts 1988 HOU 2 8 336 253 51 42.0 28.1 1 0 0 1989 HOU 1 3 132 112 48 44.0 28.0 1 0 0 1990 HOU 1 6 256 194 47 42.7 32.3 0 2 1 1991 HOU 2 3 133 113 50 44.3 37.7 0 1 1 1992 HOU 1 2 49 49 25 24.5 24.5 0 0 0 1993 HOU 1 5 243 179 59 48.6 35.8 0 1 1 1994 DET 1 8 292 257 45 36.5 32.1 0 0 1 Career 9 35 1,441 1,157 59 41.2 31.3 2 4 4

Post-playing career

In 2003, Montgomery started ZenPunt 5.0, and was the company's president/CEO.

Montgomery died on August 23, 2020, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after succumbing to a long-term illness.