re: Legendary Saints kicker, Tom Dempsey, passes away

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I'd love to hear any stories or memories that you might recall, like what the people around you were saying when Dempsey trotted on the field to try the kick, the reaction after he made it, etc. Do you remember hearing the sound of foot meeting ball? People have said it sounded like a cannon.

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My grandfather had season tickets. He didn't have enough for all of the grand kids, so we took turns going to different games. Sadly, this was one of the games that I missed. One of my younger brothers went and he wanted to leave after Detroit kicked the go ahead FG. My grandfather had a hard and fast rule...if you went to the game with him, you were there to the end, NO MATTER WHAT. Needless to say, they were grateful that he stayed THAT day.

We listened to the end on WWL. The station cut out just as Dempsey kicked the ball and came back on a few seconds after he'd made it and the mayhem started.

Matt Prater broke Dempsey's record on December 8, 2013. Until that point, Dempsey held / shared his record for 43 years.

One thing I remember is that a lot of people left before the kick.I have several groups of friends who heard the roar of the crowd while walking to the car. I was in the south end zone. The kick was to the north goal post. What stands out to me is watching the referee peeking under the goal post like he was surprised the ball was going to make it over. When it did, there was bedlam in the stadium. I will not compare it to Tracey Porter running the interception back (I was there too) but you would have thought we had just won the Super Bowl instead of the first game for J.D. Roberts. It was not quite an omen of things to come.