Rolf Benirschke

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Rolf Benirschke
San Diego, California)
College:UC Davis
NFL draft:1977 / Round: 12 / Pick: 334
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games played:121
Field goals attempted:208
Field goals made:146
Field goal %:70.2
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

Rolf Joachim Benirschke (born February 7, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the San Diego Chargers from 1977 until 1986. He is probably most known for missing a potential 27-yard game-winning field goal in overtime of the playoff game known as the "Epic in Miami” but then getting a second chance and connecting from 29 yards fourteen minutes into overtime to win the game on January 2, 1982.

Following his retirement from football Benirschke was hired by

Wheel of Fortune
in 1989 after seeing him on a talk show.

Early career

Benirschke grew up in

pathologist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the founder/director of the Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species at the San Diego Zoo
, where Rolf worked summers in high school and college.

Rolf Benirschke majored in zoology at the

1977 NFL Draft, and was then traded to the San Diego Chargers for his rookie year in the National Football League
.

In the off-season before the 1978 season (his second season) he developed chronic fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. He learned that he had ulcerative colitis- a form of inflammatory bowel disease.

Living with ulcerative colitis

His health problems got worse in the 1979 season, when, on the team plane coming home from a road trip, Benirschke collapsed. He underwent two surgeries to remove his large intestine and he was in the intensive care unit for weeks. When released from the hospital, he weighed only 123 pounds and had to adjust to life with two ostomy appliances. His ileostomy was eventually reversed in a Kock pouch procedure.

On Sunday, November 18, 1979, Benirschke made his dramatic return to the Chargers in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. While he did not play, he participated in the opening coin toss and was named honorary team captain for the game, which was a sellout. Louie Kelcher, a Chargers' defensive tackle, assisted him and held his hand out onto the field. The Chargers won the game 35-7.

From 1980 to 1982, Benirschke was also a broadcaster for the

North American Soccer League.[1]

In 1980 Benirschke returned to kicking and played seven more seasons with the team before retiring in 1987 as the team's all-time leader in points scored (766).[2]

He was named the

1985 NFL Draft to provide competition.[3]

On August 31, 1987, Benirschke was traded to the Dallas Cowboys for a draft pick after he lost his job to rookie Vince Abbott. He was released by Dallas on September 7, and formally announced his retirement in December. After 10 years with San Diego, he retired as the team's all-time scoring leader with 766 points and held 15 club records. He made 146 field goals in 208 tries for a .702 field goal percentage- at the time the third most-accurate in league history behind Eddie Murray and Nick Lowery.[4]

In 1997, he was the twentieth player inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame.

Life after football

Benirschke hosted the daytime version of the TV

True Hollywood Story
episode on Wheel.

He founded and later sold a financial services company, and has been involved in venture capital and development groups.[5] He is the national spokesman for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and for Hepatitis C awareness.

In November 1996, he published his book, Alive and Kicking![6]

During and after his football tenure he was also an endangered-animal activist who created a well-known, endangered-animal charity, "Kicks for Critters."[7]

He currently devotes much of his time to Legacy Health Strategies, a strategic planning and marketing company servicing selected medical device and pharma companies by developing patient-support and awareness programs that service different disease states.

Rolf routinely speaks at national sales meetings, for major corporations, and at health-related events across the country. Some of his clients include

National Center for Disease Control, Emdeon, Pacific Life, The Hartford, Nanogen, WOC Nurses, YPO groups, and many others. Rolf Benirschke

He is married to the former Mary Michaletz; the couple has four children. He is active in the

United Way, the Chargers, the Boys & Girls Clubs of East County and the San Diego Blood Bank. Every year, he is in charge of the Rolf Benirschke Legacy Golf Invitational,[8] held at the Rancho Santa Fe Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, California
. Some of the money is donated to charities such as the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Career regular season statistics

Career high/best bold

Season Team G FGM FGA % LNG XPM XPA % PTS
1977 SD 14 17 23 73.9 47 21 24 87.5 72
1978 SD 15 18 22 81.8 44 37 43 86.0 91
1979 SD 4 4 4 100.0 42 12 13 92.3 24
1980 SD 16 24 36 66.7 53 46 48 95.8 118
1981 SD 16 19 26 73.1 52 55 61 90.2 112
1982 SD 9 16 22 72.7 50 32 34 94.1 80
1983 SD 16 15 24 62.5 51 43 45 95.6 88
1984 SD 14 17 26 65.4 51 41 41 100.0 92
1985 SD 1 2 2 100.0 2
1986 SD 16 16 25 64.0 50 39 41 95.1 87
Career 121 146 208 70.2 53 328 352 93.2 766

See also

References

  1. ^ Benirschke, Rolf with Mike Yorkey. Alive & Kicking: The true life story of an NFL star's battle with ulcerative colitis, ostomy surgery and hepatitis C. San Diego: Rolf Benirschke Enterprises, Inc., 1996, p. 174.
  2. ^ San Diego Magazine
  3. ^ Cobbs, Chris (June 20, 1985). "For Once, Chargers' Benirschke Has a Challenge". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014.
  4. ^ Wolf, Bob (December 19, 1987). "No Kicks : It Was a Grand Party, but Rolf Benirschke Decides It Is Over". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022.
  5. ^ 2006 interview in San Diego Magazine
  6. ^ "Celebration for the Critters 2005 at the San Diego Zoo". www.sandiegozoo.org. Archived from the original on December 15, 2005.
  7. ^ Golf tournament website

External links

Media offices
Preceded by Host of
Wheel of Fortune
(daytime)

January 10, 1989 – June 30, 1989
Succeeded by
Bob Goen (1989)