World Record Holder In Amarillo? Yup, And He Kicked It Big…Literally
It's one of the most interesting books to read each year it comes out.
I'm talking about the Guinness Book of World Records of course. You find some REALLY strange things in there.
How often is it though that someone from the city you live in holds a world record? Exactly.
Current Amarillo resident Ove Johannson holds a record that has yet to be broken, and it may be awhile before it is.
Johannson was a kicker for the Abilene Christian football team, and on October 16, 1976 he would literally make history.
They were battling East Texas State when Ove trotted on to the field. The task in front of him daunting for sure. A 69 yard field goal staring him in the face. The NFL record at the time was a 63 yarder hit by Tom Dempsey in 1970. This would be 6 yards further than any field goal in history.
THE SETUP
So Ove gets himself setup on the field. The line down and ready to block, the holder Dean Low ready to receive the ball.
THE HOLD
The ball is snapped, Low puts it on the ground perfectly with laces out.
THE APPROACH
Johannson begins his approach, a defender barreling down on him from his right side to add some pressure to the attempt.
THE KICK
Ove gets his foot on the ball and connects with it before the defender can get to him. The kick is officially on the way.
THE ARRIVAL
As the kick is descending from the sky, the kick appears to be well long enough...but did it make it through the uprights?
THE VERDICT
There's the signal we wanted to see. The referee puts his arms up toward the sky to signal it's good! The ref knowing what had just happened begins running towards the field excitedly with his arms still up in the air.
THE CELEBRATION
Johannson's teammates rush the field and mob their teammate. History has officially been made in the form of a 69 yard field goal, the longest on record to this day.
Now a couple notes about the kick. He did have a little help as there was a 16 mph wind blowing at his back, so he was able to keep it in the air a bit longer than he would've without it. However, did he actually NEED the wind?
If you ask the holder on the kick, Dean Low would say no. He told the Associated Press, "It sounded like a rifle when he hit it," and he believes the kick could've been good from 75 yards. The 69 yard field goal is still the longest one ever recorded, but Dempsey's NFL record fell when Texas native Justin Tucker bombed a 66 yarder against the Detroit Lions on September 26, 2021.
Check out the video footage of the world record kick below!