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John Smith
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Height: 6'0
Weight: 185
Yrs/Pat: 9
Pro Bowl: 1 -1981
Acquired: FA, 1974
School: Southampton (Eng.) 10th year
Born: Dec 30, 1949
Leafield
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The first American football game that John Smith ever witnessed was the first one he ever kicked in.
John’s first introduction to the odd-shaped ball was when he was working at Camp America in Lennox, Mass., an eight-week camp for kids from mostly the Long Island, N.Y., and Cleveland Heights area of Ohio. One of the camper’s dads happened to be the Vice President of the Cleveland Browns at the time, Bob Griese (no, not the Miami Dolphin Griese). The kid, knowing John was an excellent soccer player who had actually turned down a pro contract in England at the age of 16 in order to pursue his education, wanted to see how John could kick a football.
The results were mixed, but to John, the experience served at least to expose that such a thing existed.
By 1972, John had graduated from Southampton University in England. His career plan was to become a teacher in the States. His reputation as a superb soccer player was well known and in 1973, Peter Hadhazey of the Patriots called John and told him there was a plane ticket waiting for him at the London Airport to take him to Boston where the team was holding a four-day tryout for free agents.
John stayed at the Dedham, Mass., Holiday Inn and met head coach Chuck Fairbanks. At the camp, it was the first time John had ever seen a snap and a hold but he did enough to impress Fairbanks that he was asked to stay another week.
Three weeks later, John got married and took a football with him on his honeymoon in Yugoslavia in anticipation of the Patriots training camp.
He stayed on the team through camp but was cut after the Patriots Hall of Fame preseason game. But in 1974, he was given another chance and this time he stuck, playing for New England for 10 years.
Taking advantage of his soccer background and his notoriety as a Patriot, Jon started a business around soccer camps during the 1976 offseason. In 1978, he started the region’s first six-on-six soccer tournament along with the Boston Globe – an event still in existence.
In 1982, England showed its first Super Bowl and John was asked by the BBC to come over and be the color analyst for the game. That led to him hosting a special football show for the UK audience – a highlight show that condensed the weekly action to 45 minutes put to music. The show was consistently one of Britain’s top 10 and lasted five years.
John retired from the Patriots after the 1983 season and took a job with Frito-Lay as a food broker. He was still running his soccer camps and that business continued to grow to the point that he now owns and operates the John Smith Sports Center in Milford, Mass. He is married with four children, Felicity, Nicola, Martin and Victoria.
From 1983 Patriots' Media Guide
While working out prior to the '82 training camp, John injured his right knee (non-kicking leg) and underwent arthroscopic surgery a short time later...as a result, he did not see any preseason kicking duty and was placed on injured reserve during the final roster reduction process...since Dan Miller and Rex Robinson were unable to maintain their kicking levels, the Patriots took a gamble and placed John on procedural waivers in the sixth week of the season...after he cleared, John was reactivated and three days later, kicked a much heralded 33-yard FG in the snow to help beat Miami 3-0...a week later, kicking in perfect conditions inside the Kingdone, John attempted a personal career single game high five FGs hitting on three as the Patriots won 16-0...with 671 career points, John is second in club history to the Patriots' all-time scoring king, Gino Cappelletti (1,130)...since not scoring in the Patriots' 7-0 loss to Houston in the 1975 season opener, John has scored in a club record 96 consecutive games...having made 125 of 185 career FG attempts, John is the NFL's third best FG accuracy leader of all-time with a 67.85% mark...the recently retired Toni Fritsch (67.96%) and Efren Herrara (67.85%), both veterans of indoor kicking are the only two kickers ahead of Smith...in nine indoor FG attempts during his career, he has made seven for a 77.9% accuracy mark...one of the game's most reliable short to mid-range kickers, he has made 97 of 118 kicks inside the 40 (82.2%) despite kicking in at least 11 games a year in such stadiums as Foxboro, Shea, Rich and Baltimore's Memorial, that give kicker's nightmares...connecting on all four FG attempts and all three PAT attempts, he set a personal career single game scoring high of 15 points at San Diego (11-9-75)...during the 1981 season, John made the longest FG of his career, 50 yards, against Kansas City (10-4)...three weeks later, at Washington (10-25), he tried the longest attempt of his career, 53 yards, but the ball fell just short in a driving rain...John had made 79 consecutive PATs since 11-18-79 until his final PAT attempt in the Patriots' 33-17 win over Kansas City on 10-4-81 sailed wide to the right...in eight seasons, John has socred ten or more points in 15 games, including eight games in 1980...John's 129 points in 1980 not only broke his own club record for points in a season (115 in 1979), but it is still the best individual season point total since O.J. Simpson ran up 138 points in 1975...in the process, he set several new club records in 1980...hitting on all 51 PAT attempts, he set the club marks for PATs made and attempted in a season...his 26 FGs (on 34 attempts) were also a new club mark while his 129 points were the most ever by a kicker in club history...in 1979, he topped Earl Campbell of Houston and Mark Moseley of Washington by just one point to win NFL scoring honors with 115 points...at the same time, he broke Cappelletti's record for points kicking by a Patriot in a season (114 in 1964)...his FGs spelled the margin of victory on back-to-back weeks during 1979 as the Patriots stopped Cincinnati 20-14 (9-16) and San Diego 27-21 (9-23)...despite making only one of his first eight attempts past the 40-yard mark in '79, he hit on five of his last six FG attempts from 40 yards or more...in Patriots' 56-3 victory over the NY Jets (9-9-79), he tied the new club record for most PATs made (8) in a game...a leg muscle tear early in '78 almost ended John's kicking career and he joined the injured reserve roll after three games...prior to '78, he led the Patriots in scoring four straight seasons (1974-77)...was the only NFL kicker who did not miss a PAT attempt in '75 (33/33) and matched that feat again in '77 (33/33)...John had an unusual start on the pro gridiron...as a visiting soccer camp instructor, he tried kicking a football and was given a tryout by the Patriots in 1973...after signing a free agent contact, he was traded to Pittsburgh , later waived, and subsequently returned to kick for the NE Colonials (ACFL)...was ACFL scoring champ of '73 while hitting 36 straight PAT conversions and 19 of 21 FGs (longest was 48 yards)...the left footed soccer style kicker then signed another free agent pact with the Patriots on 4-7-74...as a rookie, scored 90 points to finish as runnerup to AFC scoring champ Roy Gerela and fourth best in NFL...PPW and Football Digest All-Rookie Team selection in '74.
Games Played/Started: 1974 -14/0, 1975 -14/0, 1976 -14/0, 1977 -14/0, 1978 -3/0, (On injured reserve 9-19 through remainder of season), 1979 -16/0, 1980 -16/0, 1981 -16/0, 1982 -4/0, (Placed on injured reserve 9-6 reactivated 12-10), Total: 111/0.
Was the Patriots' Miller Man-of-the-Year Award winner in 1982.
Served as the color commentator for the first-ever live Super Bowl (XVII) broadcast throughout his native Great Britain. Based in a London Studio, he explained the basics of American Footbal to the English audience watching the Miami-Washington contest over the public owned Channel 4.
The first time he ever saw an American football game, he played in it at the age of 24.
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