Garo Yepremian Garabed Sarkis " Garo " Yepremian ( born June 2 , 1944 ) is an Armenian - American former football placekicker in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions , Miami Dolphins , New Orleans Saints , and Tampa Bay Buccaneers during a career that spanned from 1966 to 1981 . Career . Yepremian was born in Larnaca , Cyprus to Armenian parents . On the island of Cyprus , his family did not have indoor plumbing and kept warm in winter by burning olive pits . Yepremian and his brother Krikor emigrated to the U . S . to set a foundation for their parents ' arrival . At a loss for a viable life plan , Yepremian happened to watch a few minutes of a football game on television . Yepremian told Krikor he knew the key to success in America : He believed he could kick field goals for a living . NFL . After much practice in which Yepremian finally proved that he , indeed , might have the ability to kick , the brothers set off on a mission to convince NFL teams that Yepremian could be an American football star . The NFL didn ' t know what to make of the brothers and they were denied access to many practice facilities . Krikor acted as Yepremian ' s agent and finally managed to convince the Detroit Lions to give the small Yepremian ( 5 ' 7 " , 160 pounds ) a tryout . Yepremian ' s surprising talent earned him a contract . In his rookie year , he broke a record by kicking six field goals in a single game against the Minnesota Vikings . His talent aside , Yepremian was , nonetheless , at a loss regarding football vernacular and custom . In his first game his coach told him that their team had lost the coin toss , at which point Yepremian ran to midfield and dropped to his knees looking for the coin . Yepremian was an immediate target to NFL players who considered American football the exclusive realm of Americans . Players were looking to take Yepremian ' s head off , and before his first kickoff his coach told him to run to the bench as soon as he kicked before his opponents could lay into him . Yepremian kicked off , then in a harried state ran to the wrong bench , finding himself sitting with the opposing team . Yepremian had never worn a helmet and at first decided not to use one with a face mask , but that changed during Week 4 of the 1966 season , when he was knocked to the ground and badly injured by Green Bay Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke . Afterwards , he started using a single - bar mask . During one of his early games with the Lions , they were losing but scored a touchdown in the last 10 seconds of the game . Yepremian was sent in to kick the extra point , and he was so excited after converting the point that he went running off the field with his arms raised in celebration . Teammate Alex Karras asked Yepremian , " What the hell are you celebrating ? " Yepremian replied with a phrase made famous on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson : " I keek a touchdown " . After the 1967 season , Yepremian left football to enlist in the U . S . Army . When he returned to the Detroit area in 1968 , however , the Lions chose not to re - sign him , so Yepremian signed a contract to be a kicker / punter for the Michigan Arrows of the Continental Football League . The Arrows , however , were a disaster on the field ( 1 - 11 ) and at the gate ( drawing barely 4 , 000 fans a game in Detroit ) and folded at season ' s end . After sitting out the 1969 season , Yepremian earned a spot on the Dolphins roster in 1970 . After leading the NFL with 117 points in 1971 , he was a key member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins " Perfect Season " team - he was the leading scorer and converted on many clutch field goals to help the Dolphins stay unbeaten . Yepremian appeared in three Super Bowls ( VI , VII and VIII ) . Over his career , Yepremian was successful on 210 of 313 field goals and 444 of 464 extra points for a total of 1 , 074 points . He led the league in field - goal accuracy three times . Highlights : Super Bowl VII . Yepremian is best known for two feats — one famous , one infamous . In a divisional playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas 1971 , he kicked a 37 - yard field goal 7 minutes and 40 seconds into double overtime , ending the longest game in NFL history and sending the Dolphins to the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Colts ( which the Dolphins won to go on to Super Bowl VI ) . Despite all of Yepremian ' s success , many people remember him for an incident in Super Bowl VII in 1973 . With his team leading the Washington Redskins 14 - 0 , Yepremian was sent on to the field to kick a field goal with slightly more than two minutes left , which would have put the game out of reach . The field goal attempt was blocked by Bill Brundige , and Yepremian managed to get to the ball before any other player did . Instead of just falling on the ball to preserve the Dolphins ' 14 - 0 lead , he picked it up and frantically attempted to throw a pass . The ball slipped from his hands and went straight up in the air . Yepremian then batted it back up in the air , and it went right into the arms of his former Lions teammate , Redskins cornerback Mike Bass , who returned it for a touchdown . The Dolphins managed to hold on to win , 14 - 7 . Yepremian later joked to reporters after the game , " This is the first time the goat of the game is in the winner ' s locker room . " In the 1973 Pro Bowl Yepremian kicked five field goals to lead the AFC to a win , and was voted Most Valuable Player in that game . He was elected to another Pro Bowl after he kicked twenty consecutive field goals without a miss in 1979 . Post - athletic career . Yepremian is a motivational speaker and is the Founder / CEO of the Garo Yepremian Foundation for Brain Tumor Research . Reebok featured Yepremian and his teammates from the 1972 Dolphins team in a commercial which aired during Super Bowl XLII .