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Rohn Taylor Stark (born May 4, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a punter for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), 13 of those with the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts. Stark was selected to four Pro Bowls in his stay with the Colts and then played in Super Bowl XXX as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
| No. 3 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Punter | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | May 4, 1959 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 203 lb (92 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Pine River (Pine River, Minnesota) | ||||||||
| College: | Florida State | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1982 / round: 2 / pick: 34 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Stark was one of the last players who played for the Colts prior to their relocation to Indianapolis to retire from the NFL.[2] Stark is also the only Baltimore Colts player to ever play against the Baltimore Ravens.[citation needed]
High school
editIn Pine River, Minnesota, Stark attended Mr. Pine River High, starring in football, basketball and track (while taking time out from track practice to pinch-hit for the baseball team).[3] In football, he played both defense and offense and handled the punting and place kicking duties.
Air Force Academy
editAfter high school graduation, Stark headed for the Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs. He had always been interested in flying—his father, Bud Stark, is a TWA pilot—and had received a conditional appointment to the academy. Eventually, Air Force doctors discovered that Stark had a slight curvature of the spine and could not fly in the US Air Force; it would be too dangerous for him to use an ejection seat. So, he returned home in January 1978. What Stark didn't know was that his prep-school trigonometry professor and football coach, John Crowe, had sent game films of him to Florida State, where Crowe had been an All-America defensive back in 1958. Stark got a call from a Seminole coach in February. "I had barely heard of Florida State", he says, "but I went down and liked what I saw." He enrolled for the spring semester and competed in the high jump for FSU.[3]
College career
editFrom the official Florida State Seminoles website: "One of the greatest all-around athletes ever to wear the garnet and gold of Florida State, Stark starred as a punter and decathlete for the Seminoles. After his four-year career as FSU's punter was over, Stark had virtually every record including most career punts, highest season average (46.0) and highest career average (42.7). He earned first-team All-America honors in 1980 and 1981 and was a team captain as a senior."[4] At the end of his college football career, Stark was considered one of the best college punters since Ray Guy played for Southern Mississippi in the early 1970s.[3] "The spring of his senior year, he cemented his spot as one of FSU's all-time greats, winning All-America honors as a decathlete as well. In 1986, he was inducted into the Florida State Hall of Fame, in Football and Track/Field."[4] He seriously considered participation in the 1984 Olympics.[3]
Stark kicked left-footed. To returners, that means the ball is spinning the "wrong" way and is a little harder to handle; FSU opponents had fumbled about one of Stark's punts per game in his three-year career. The fact that Stark had never had a punt blocked also interested scouts.[3] In his 16 seasons in the NFL, he only had 7 blocked punts.[5]
Retirement
editAfter retiring from the NFL, Stark and his family made their home in Maui, where he works in real estate.[6]
NFL career statistics
edit| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
- Regular season
| General | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GP | Punts | Yards | Y/P | Net | In20 | TB | ||
| 1982 | BAL | 9 | 46 | 2,044 | 44.4 | 34.3 | 8 | 12 | ||
| 1983 | BAL | 16 | 91 | 4,124 | 45.3 | 36.3 | 19 | 9 | ||
| 1984 | IND | 16 | 98 | 4,383 | 44.7 | 37.2 | 21 | 7 | ||
| 1985 | IND | 16 | 78 | 3,584 | 45.9 | 34.2 | 12 | 14 | ||
| 1986 | IND | 16 | 76 | 3,432 | 45.2 | 37.2 | 22 | 5 | ||
| 1987 | IND | 12 | 61 | 2,440 | 40.0 | 30.9 | 12 | 7 | ||
| 1988 | IND | 16 | 64 | 2,784 | 43.5 | 34.5 | 15 | 8 | ||
| 1989 | IND | 16 | 79 | 3,392 | 42.9 | 32.9 | 14 | 10 | ||
| 1990 | IND | 16 | 71 | 3,084 | 43.4 | 37.4 | 23 | 3 | ||
| 1991 | IND | 16 | 82 | 3,492 | 42.6 | 34.8 | 14 | 6 | ||
| 1992 | IND | 16 | 83 | 3,716 | 44.8 | 39.3 | 22 | 7 | ||
| 1993 | IND | 16 | 83 | 3,595 | 43.3 | 35.9 | 18 | 13 | ||
| 1994 | IND | 16 | 73 | 3,092 | 42.4 | 34.1 | 22 | 10 | ||
| 1995 | PIT | 16 | 59 | 2,368 | 40.1 | 33.3 | 20 | 11 | ||
| 1996 | CAR | 16 | 77 | 3,128 | 40.6 | 36.0 | 21 | 9 | ||
| 1997 | SEA | 4 | 20 | 813 | 40.7 | 26.9 | 7 | 2 | ||
| Career | 233 | 1,141 | 49,471 | 43.4 | 35.2 | 270 | 133 | |||
References
edit- ^ Minimum 4 punts
- ^ "Former Colt Stark faces team he fled Familiar foe: Punter Rohn Stark, the last active Baltimore Colt, left the team after 13 years to play with a winner in Pittsburgh. Now those teams meet Sunday for the AFC championship". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e N. Brooks Clark (September 14, 1981). "FSU Punter Rohn Stark has set his-sights on the NFL and – 09.14.81 – SI Vault". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
- ^ a b "Rohn Stark Bio – Florida State University Official Athletic Site". Seminoles.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
- ^ "Rohn Stark". Nolefan.org. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
- ^ "Broker Information for Rohn Stark". Luxury Homes. Retrieved February 7, 2014.