Ben Agajanian was pro football’s first true kicking specialist. Across a 19-year career spanning three different leagues and 10 professional teams, he won two NFL championships, kicked in the historic 47-7 Giants rout of the Chicago Bears in the 1956 NFL Championship Game, and set the mold for the modern kicking specialist. He is a member of the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame. A pair of his shoes sits on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
He was born 107 years ago today, on August 28, 1919, in Santa Ana, California, to Armenian immigrants. His father, James T. Agajanian, had come to America and built a thriving trash collection company. His mother, Hamas Kardashian, was also an Armenian immigrant. His older brother, J. C. Agajanian, would go on to become one of the most prominent motorsport promoters in the country, owning racecars that twice won the Indianapolis 500.
Ben graduated from San Pedro High School in Los Angeles, then attended Compton Junior College before moving on to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
In 1939, while working a summer job at a Coca-Cola plant to pay his way through college, the four toes on his kicking foot were crushed in an elevator accident. All four had to be amputated. “Well if you’re going to have to amputate the toes then square ’em off,” Agajanian told the doctors. “Don’t let one stick up.” His right foot shrank from a size 10 to a size 7. Doctors told him he would struggle to walk normally again. He was 20 years old and a promising placekicker. His University of New Mexico coach Ted Shipkey sent him to a cobbler who fitted him with custom square-toed boots. Agajanian redesigned his approach around what remained of his foot, returned to the field, and quickly discovered he could kick farther and more accurately than before the accident. He would spend the rest of his career known as “The Toeless Wonder.”
He served in the US Army Air Forces during World War II as a physical training instructor. He signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1945, then the Pittsburgh Steelers the same year. He played for the Los Angeles Dons in the All-America Football Conference in 1947 and 1948. He signed with the New York Giants in 1949, played briefly for the Los Angeles Rams in 1953, then returned to the Giants from 1954 to 1957.
On December 30, 1956, at Yankee Stadium, Agajanian kicked two first-quarter field goals from 17 and 43 yards on frozen turf as the Giants routed the Chicago Bears 47-7 for the NFL Championship. It was his first championship ring. Five years later, in 1961, he joined the Green Bay Packers and won the second NFL championship of his career.
His career spanned every major American professional football league of the era: the National Football League, the All-America Football Conference, and the American Football League. Very few players in history played in all three. He played for 10 different professional teams. He kicked his last professional field goal at 45. His career included 104 made field goals on 204 attempts, and 343 extra points made on 351 attempts, a 98% conversion rate.
After retiring, Agajanian became the kicking coach for the Dallas Cowboys under Tom Landry for over two decades. He also advised several other NFL teams and coached the Chicago Bears kicker Mac Percival in 1968. He ran kicking camps and clinics in Southern California that trained thousands of young kickers, and helped introduce the soccer-style kicking technique that would come to dominate the modern game.
“When I saw these little fellows kick 50 and 60 yards, I decided that’s the way to do it,” he told the Boston Globe in 1989.
Reflecting on the accident that had defined and made his career, Agajanian told the San Francisco Examiner in 1975: “I have never believed there is any such thing as a handicapped person. That’s a phrase that defeats a lot of people before they even start to rehabilitate themselves. My so-called handicap was the best thing that ever happened to me. I hung in there and I’m proud of myself.”
Ben Agajanian was inducted into the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame in 2009. He passed away in Cathedral City, California, on February 8, 2018, at the age of 98. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving New York Giants player.
He was survived by his daughters Lynne and Lori, his son Lewis, 10 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
The son of Armenian immigrants who ran a trash collection company in Santa Ana lost four toes at 20 and spent the rest of his life in professional football. His shoes are in Canton. His technique reshaped the sport.
