In my very first “Card Comment” about Washington kicker Curt Knight, who is tied for the career record of fewest Super Bowl points in a career (one, which was the extra point after Mike Bass returned Garo Yepremian’s botched pass in Super Bowl VII, in Knight’s only Super Bowl appearance), I mentioned he was tied with Baltimore’s Lou Michaels, who nailed one extra point in the notorious Super Bowl III loss to the New York Jets. Michaels shares his Super Bowl immortality because Knight also missed a field goal, but since Jake Scott didn’t return it for a touchdown in Super Bowl VII no one remembers or cares.
While Lou was nothing special as a defensive end, it was his kicking that made his career—he was the NFL’s All-Pro kicker while with the Steelers in both 1962 and 1963. And, Ogden Nash wrote a poem about him that was published in Life magazine. Nobody ever wrote poetry about George Blanda.
1969 was Lou’s only appearance in a Super Bowl—he missed out on Super Bowl V when he was beaten out by rookie Jim O’Brien (who was also a solid wide receiver) in the ’70 preseason and was released. Michaels, like most of the pre-Super Bowl kickers was also a lineman due to roster number limits, was by this time strictly a kicker because of age and the fact that he wasn’t more than an average defensive lineman at his “peak”. He kicked one season with the Packers before being released again, and retired.
For those who are interested (and who wouldn’t be), Lou, whose real last name was Majka, was inducted into the Polish American Sports Hall of Fame. Jim O’Brien’s Irish Mick ass can’t take that away from him.
In another post, I commented that Michaels looked more like a Bronx police officer than a kicker. Yeah, I think I nailed that one—even if my cards look like I’ve been sanding furniture with them.
