Mike Lantry Mike Lantry ( born c . 1948 ) is a former All - American football player . He was a left - footed place - kicker who played for Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan from 1972 through 1974 . He was selected as a first - team All - American in 1973 and set Michigan records for the longest field goal , most field goals , and most point after touchdown kicks . However , he also missed three key field goals in the last minutes of the 1973 and 1974 Michigan – Ohio State game s . Early years and military service . A native of Oxford , Michigan , Lantry enlisted in the U . S . Army after graduating from high school . He spent three years in the Army , including service in the Vietnam War . Lantry ' s experiences in Vietnam and Michigan were the subject of Michael Rosenberg ' s 2008 book , " War As They Knew It : Woody Hayes , Bo Schembechler , and America in a Time of Unrest " . Lantry later recalled , " For a full year , my parents agonized , hoping they wouldn ' t get the call that so many other parents received . " In 2007 , Lantry described himself as " a proud Vietnam veteran " . University of Michigan . After his discharge from the Army , Lantry enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1971 . Unlike most college athletes , Lantry was a 23 - year old freshman who was married , had a young child , and had seen combat action in Vietnam . And he had no scholarship . He made the Michigan football team as a walk - on . Lantry earned a spot on the team in 1971 and was Michigan ' s first - string place - kicker for all 33 games of the 1972 , 1973 and 1974 seasons . In addition to football , Lantry was also a shot putter who earned three varsity letter s at Michigan . Lantry graduated from Michigan ' s School of Education in 1975 . 1973 season . In September 1973 , Lantry broke the Michigan record for longest field goal twice in the same quarter of a single football game . Nine seconds into the second quarter of a 47 – 10 win over Stanford , Lantry kicked a 50 - yard field goal to break the school record . In the waning moments of the quarter , Lantry broke his own record by kicking a 51 - yard field goal . After the record was broken twice in the span of a 15 - minute quarter , Lantry ' s record stood for 11 years until 1984 when Bob Bergeron kicked a 52 - yard field goal for Michigan . In the 1973 Michigan – Ohio State game , Lantry missed two key fourth - quarter field goal attempts . With the game tied 10 – 10 , and 1 : 01 remaining in the game , Lantry attempted a 58 - yard field goal but the kick was wide to the left , missing by inches . Michigan intercepted an Ohio State pass on the first play of the ensuing drive , and Lantry got another shot at a game - winning field goal with 24 seconds left to play . His attempt at a 44 - yard field goal went wide by about three inches , and the game ended in a 10 – 10 tie . Both teams finished the 1973 season with identical 10 – 0 – 1 records , and the Big Ten Conference athletic directors voted to send Ohio State to the 1974 Rose Bowl . Because Big Ten rules at that time allowed only one team to play in a post - season bowl game , Michigan did not play in a bowl game despite having an undefeated season . Lantry was selected by " Football News " as a first - team All - American in 1973 . 1974 season . In his senior season in 1974 , Lantry broke the Michigan school record for most field goals and point after touchdown kicks . The prior record of 107 point after touchdown kicks had stood since 1947 . Lantry was again called on to attempt a critical field goal in the 1974 Michigan - Ohio State game . Ohio State led 12 – 10 nearing the end of the fourth quarter . Lantry was brought in to attempt a game - winning field goal and a chance for redemption . One newspaper described the scene as follows : " There were 16 seconds to play when Mike Lantry ' s left leg boomed the ball . The distance was 33 yards . The angle was very bad and very tough and from a wide side of the field . Mike Lantry ' s kick was very high . The officials looked for an agonizingly long , long time . They finally made their signal No good . Wide . Not by much . Inches again . But still no good . Close . There was that word again , that awful word that had tormented Mike Lantry for a whole year . Close . " The game was broadcast on national television , and as Ohio State fans came flooding onto the field to celebrate , the camera followed Lantry as he picked up his tee , and in the words of game announcer Keith Jackson " walked disconsolately toward the sideline . " The image of Lantry walking slowly to the sideline became one of the iconic images of the Michigan – Ohio State rivalry . The " Chicago Tribune " opened its coverage of the game with the line , " Mike Lantry served in the Viet Nam War and he had reason to believe the worst was over — until Saturday . " After consecutive years with disappointments on last - minute field goal attempts , one sports writer joked that " perhaps the state of Michigan was going to form a lynch mob for Mike Lantry . " Instead , Lantry received thousands of letters from fans expressing compassion , sympathy and encouragement . Even Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes expressed his sympathy for Lantry : " I hate to see that happen to a kid like that because he served his country in Vietnam , but if it had to happen , I ' m glad it happened against us . " Lantry told reporters at the time , " I guess the biggest surprise is the way people have acted . They ' re suffering with me . They ' ve been more than kind . I wish there was a way I could thank them all . " Interviewed in 2004 about the missed kick in the 1974 Ohio State game , Lantry recalled : " I was numb . That was the final play of my college career right there . Everything you worked for , those glorious years of competition , my teammates . . . . If we had won that game , we would have played in the Rose Bowl . We could have shot to the top of the AP and UPI rankings . Who knows ? That was like the World Series : bases loaded , bottom of the ninth , two outs , a 3 – 2 count . It was on my foot , but it didn ' t happen . "