Matthew David Bahr (born July 6, 1956) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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in the

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(NFL), and professional soccer player in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. He attended Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, where he excelled in both football and soccer. He is the son of

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

inductee Walter Bahr, and is the brother of NFL kicker Chris Bahr; he and Chris are two of six players to have played in both pro soccer and the NFL.

College and soccer career

As a senior at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

, in 1978, Bahr was a consensus

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selection. In 1978, he signed with the Colorado Caribous of the

, for whom he made 24 appearances and made three assists. The Caribous traded him to the Tulsa Roughnecks during the season, and he made two appearances. On March 27, 1979, he signed with the Pennsylvania Stoners of the second division American Soccer League.

Professional football career

In 1979, he was selected by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

in the sixth round of the

1979 NFL draft The 1979 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria ...

.The Smallest Steeler of All
/ref> His brother Chris Bahr followed a similar career path. Over his career, which spanned from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, he played for the

, the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

, the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

, the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

, the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

and the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

. As a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

, he won a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers in

Super Bowl XIV Super Bowl XIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1979 Los Angeles Rams season, Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...

. In 1981, Bahr signed with the 49ers, but was traded to the

midway through the season, thus missing out on a second Super Bowl ring (the 49ers went on the win the Super Bowl that year). After discovering he had been traded, Bahr left a note on his San Francisco locker stating, "See you in the Super Bowl." While this did not happen (the Browns went 5–11 in 1981), Bahr did get some retribution against his former team when he kicked a game winning field goal to give the Browns a 15–12 victory over San Francisco in week 11. His longest tenure was with the Browns where he played for nine years and was cut during the 1990 preseason.Giants Put Allegre on Injured Reserve
/ref> In late September of that season he was picked up by the New York Giants after a repetitious injury to

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. He is best remembered for his performance in the

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

NFC Championship Game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semifinal National Football League playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional Ame ...

on January 20, 1991, as he set an NFC Championship Game record with five field goals (including a 42-yarder as time expired) to lift the Giants past the 49ers 15–13. He also kicked what would prove to be the decisive field goal in

Super Bowl XXV Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

on January 27, 1991, as the Giants beat the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

20–19, also recording a tackle on the opening kickoff. Bahr played the final seasons of his career with the

. In 1996, rookie kicker Adam Vinatieri beat him out for the starting kicker spot on the team, and he decided to retire after being cut by Patriots during the preseason. Bahr held the record for longest span for a player between Super Bowl victories at 11 years, until Ray Lewis of the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

went 12 years from

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2000 Baltimore Ravens season, Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2000 New York Giants season, New York Giant ...

in 2001 to

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

in 2013. Bahr finished his 17 seasons with 300 of 415 field goals and 522 of 534

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s. Overall, he scored a total of 1,422 points. At the time of his retirement, Bahr was the last active NFL player that played for the Steelers in at least one of their four Super Bowl wins in the 1970s. Coincidentally, his last year in the NFL saw the Steelers return to the Super Bowl that season in

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

, their first Super Bowl appearance since his rookie season.

Career regular season statistics

''Career high/best bolded''

Personal life

He appeared in the 1980

television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

, '' Fighting Back: The Rocky Bleier Story.'' He is now an electrical engineer in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

References

External links

NFL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahr, Matt 1956 births Living people Soccer players from Philadelphia North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players American men's soccer players Players of American football from Philadelphia Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer players American football placekickers Cleveland Browns players Caribous of Colorado players New England Patriots players New York Giants players Penn State Nittany Lions football players Pennsylvania Stoners players Philadelphia Eagles players Pittsburgh Steelers players San Francisco 49ers players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Footballers who switched code Men's association football defenders Men's association football players that played in the NFL 20th-century American sportsmen