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**Tony Franklin**
	No. 1
	Kicker
Personal information
	Date of birth: November 18, 1956 (age 53)
	Place of birth: Big Spring, Texas
Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)	Weight: 182 lb (83 kg)
Career information
	College: Texas A&M
	NFL Draft: 1979 / Round: 3 / Pick: 74
	Debuted in 1979 for the Philadelphia Eagles
	Last played in 1988 for the Miami Dolphins
Career history
	As player:; Philadelphia Eagles (1979-1983); New England Patriots (1984-1987); Miami Dolphins (1988);
Career highlights and awards
	1× Pro Bowl selection (1985);
Stats at NFL.com
Stats at pro-football-reference.com

This article is about the American football kicker. For the bass player, see Tony Franklin (musician).

Anthony Ray Franklin (born November 18, 1956 in Big Spring, Texas) is a former National Football League football kicker in the National Football League between 1979 to 1988 for the Philadelphia Eagles, the New England Patriots, and the Miami Dolphins. Franklin was best known for his barefoot kicking style. He played college football at Texas A&M.

[edit] College career

Franklin played college football at Texas A&M University where he set the record for the longest collegiate field goal of 65 yards on October 16, 1976 against Baylor University. This record was short-lived when Ove Johansson—on the same day—kicked a 69-yard field goal.^[1] However, Franklin also kicked a 64-yard field goal in the same game and remains the only college player to kick two 60+ yard field goals in one game.

Franklin finished his collegiate career with 18 NCAA records, including most career field goals (56), career kick scoring (291 points), most field goals of 50 yards or longer in a career (16), most field goals made in a three year career (45) and longest average for field goals made in a career (39.5 yards). He was a consensus All-American pick as a sophomore in 1976 and earned All-American honors again as a senior in 1978.^[2] He was a Second-team All-America selection as a junior, in 1977.

He is listed as a "Legend of the Sun Bowl" by the Sun Bowl Association. He is also a member of the Sun Bowl's 75th Anniversary All-Sun Bowl Team.^[3]

[edit] Professional career

Franklin was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the third round of the 1979 NFL Draft. He was credited with the fourth longest field goal (at the time) in NFL history during his rookie year with the Eagles, a 59-yarder at Dallas on November 12, 1979. Franklin played in Super Bowl XV and kicked a 30-yard field goal.

On February 21, 1984, Franklin was traded to the New England Patriots for a sixth round draft choice in the 1985 NFL Draft. He led the NFL in scoring (140 points) and field goals made (32) in 1986 and was selected to represent the AFC in the Pro Bowl. He played in Super Bowl XX and kicked a 36-yard field goal. The 32 field goals he made in 1986 was a Patriots single-season franchise record until Stephen Gostkowski broke the record in 2008.

[edit] References

This biographical article relating to an American football kicker is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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[0] "How Swede it was". http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/17/SP2O13IOBS.DTL.

[1] "FWAA All-time All-Americans". http://www.sportswriters.net/fwaa/awards/allamerica/alltime.pdf.

[2] "Sun Bowl Association Honors 75 Players On 75th Anniversary Team". http://www.ncaafootball.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=34&url_article_id=12337&change_well_id=2.

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