Inductees

Born: May 27, 1956

He came at us with a No. 8 Kansas City Chiefs jersey, old-school mustache and a leg. But not any ordinary leg. No, Nick Lowery had one for the ages as he boomed game-winning field goals, scored points and broke hearts.

To understand his success, however, think back to Lowery’s college and early pro years. Forgotten is that he was accepted into two Ivy League institutions known for academics and not football, Princeton and Dartmouth. He also kept knocking down doors after his college, never quitting on his dream. After his Dartmouth days, Lowery was cut 11 times by eight NFL teams.

“A lot of my story, to me, is how if you keep putting yourself out there, that is the only way to make it in the NFL,” Lowery once said. “Whether you are a No. 1 pick, or if you are somebody who didn’t even get drafted, like myself. It takes awhile to get used to that level of pressure. You have to learn a lot about yourself.”

The successor to legendary Jan Stenerud, Lowery lived up to the pressure as a pin-point kicker for the Chiefs from 1980 to 1993.

He became the Chiefs’ all-time leading scorer with 1,466 points, and his 329 field goals are most in team history. At the time of his retirement after the 1996 season, he was the most accurate kicker in NFL history in making 80 percent of his attempts. He also had the most field goals in NFL history and is 12th among the NFL’s all-time scoring leaders with 1,711 points.

Lowery earned seven NFL Pro Bowl selections and scored 100 or more points in 11 of his Kansas City seasons. He finished with 20 kicks of 50 or more yards, and his highlights included 15 game-winning field goals.

One of Lowery’s game-winners also remains the Chiefs’ last home playoff victory at Arrowhead Stadium, a 27-24 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 8, 1994.

Quarterback Joe Montana mounted a furious fourth-quarter rally with two touchdown drives. Lowery kicked a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter and also was perfect on the two fourth-quarter extra-point kicks, including the tying kick. His 32-yarder in overtime won the game.

In Lowery, the Chiefs not only had a winner on the field but a winner in life. Lowery in 1992 received the Byron ‘Whizzer’ White Humanitarian Award, given to one player each year for his charitable work.

Lowery, who was also inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Honor in 2009, these days runs the Nick Lowery Youth Foundation and enjoys time delivering inspirational speeches across the country.

Making a difference should come as no surprise.

When he was initially invited to try out for the Chiefs, Lowery politely turned down then-general manager Jim Schaaf and hung up, only to call him back an hour later.

Lowery was working for the U.S. Senate Committee in Washington, D.C., and the work in major government – where he could help people — had long piqued his interest.

Leadership became a central focus for Lowery, who switched from theater to a government major at Dartmouth and went on to intern for Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island.

However, upon the Chiefs calling for a tryout, his days in government ended as Lowery charted a 14-year course with the Chiefs.

Over the years, Lowery re-invented himself as the game and his body changed. He adjusted from the wider college goal posts to the NFL’s narrower version and quickly learned to get more lift on his kicks, ensuring few blocks against speedy special teams units.

Later in his career, he turned to wind sprints to strengthen his leg.

In 1990, 12 years after initially appearing in an NFL game, he led the league in both scoring (139) and field goal percentage (91.9 percent), plus connected successfully on 24 consecutive field goals going into the playoffs. He hit 21 in a row the next year and was 22-of-24 in 1992, when his field goal percentage of 91.7 again led the NFL.