Rich Karlis

Richard John Karlis (born May 23, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for nine seasons for the Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions in the National Football League (NFL) from 1982 to 1990. He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats and is known as the last of the field goal kickers who kicked barefoot full-time in the NFL.

Karlis is best known for kicking the game-winning field goal in overtime for Denver against the Cleveland Browns in the 1986 AFC Championship Game to reach Super Bowl XXI. He had an uneven performance in Super Bowl XXI, tying a Super Bowl record with a 48-yard field goal, while missing a 23-yard attempt, the shortest missed field goal in Super Bowl history at that time.

In 1989, as a member of the Vikings, he tied a then NFL record by kicking seven field goals in a 23–21 win against the Los Angeles Rams, a record which stood until 2007 when Rob Bironas of the Tennessee Titans broke the record with eight field goals in a game against the Houston Texans.

Karlis made 172 field goals and 283 extra point attempts for 799 points in his career and also holds Super Bowl records for most field goal attempts with six, making three of them and other records including most consecutive field goals made as a rookie with thirteen in 1982.

Karlis is the creator of an instructional video for kickers.

Career regular season statistics Career high/best bold SeasonTeam 1982 DEN 9 11 13 84.6 47 15 16 93.8 48 1983 DEN 16 21 25 84.0 50 33 34 97.1 96 1984 DEN 16 21 28 75.0 50 38 41 92.7 101 1985 DEN 16 23 38 60.5 48 41 44 93.2 110 1986 DEN 16 20 28 71.4 51 44 45 97.8 104 1987 DEN 12 18 25 72.0 51 37 37 100.0 91 1988 DEN 16 23 36 63.9 51 36 37 97.3 105 1989 MIN 13 31 39 79.5 51 27 28 96.4 120 1990 DET 6 4 7 57.1 39 12 12 100.0 24Career 120 172 239 72.0 51 283 294 96.3 799