Tom Dempsey, at Lambeth House, has contracted the Coronavirus

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Former NFL kicker Tom Dempsey has recovered after testing positive for COVID-19, WDSU-6 reports.

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Dempsey, 73, has battled Alzheimer’s disease and dementia since 2013. He was one of several residents of a senior living facility in New Orleans to contract COVID-19.

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Dempsey, who was born without toes on his right foot and fingers on his right hand, signed with the Saints as an undrafted free agent in 1969. He is best remembered for his record-setting 63-yard field goal in 1969.

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The small flat shoe he kicked with is on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Although Dempsey played for the Eagles, Rams, Oilers and Bills after leaving the Saints, he retired to New Orleans and has lived there since.

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after receiving a regimen of medications at his apartment in Lambeth House’s nursing care section, he woke up without the fever Tuesday morning, which was an encouraging sign, according to Ashley Dempsey.


However, Tom Dempsey’s oxygen levels dropped Wednesday morning, and — in an equally worrying sign for a man who played defensive end in junior college before switching to kicker — his appetite had vanished, Ashley Dempsey said.

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Ashley Dempsey said her family decided to hire a hospice care agency to go into Lambeth House and tend to her father in part because it could offer oxygen equipment that would help him fight the potentially deadly respiratory disease.

“We thought we were out of the woods with the no fever,” Ashley Dempsey said. “It was wishful thinking.”

While hospice care is generally for the dying, Ashley Dempsey said she hopes her father’s health will rebound and her family can ultimately cancel the agency’s services. Ashley Dempsey said her father’s oxygen levels had improved later Wednesday, and she planned to drop off some of his favorite foods to see if that re-sparks his appetite.

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