Alan Keith Pringle (born January 20, 1952) is a Venezuelan-born former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

who played one game in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

. Born in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, he played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Rice Owls The Rice Owls are the sports teams representing Houston's Rice University in college sports. The name comes from the owls in Rice's crest. Rice participates in NCAA Division I athletics. A member of the American Athletic Conference, Rice sponsors ...

and was also a member of the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

and

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 ...

Early and personal life

Pringle was born on January 20, 1952, in Los Taques, Venezuela, and spent his early years in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. His parents were from England. He later moved to England, where he attended

Rugby High School Rugby High School is a public high school located in Rugby, North Dakota. It is a part of Rugby Public Schools. The athletic teams are known as the Panthers. Rugby High serves Rugby, Balta, Barton, and Orrin in Pierce County, and Knox in ...

. He grew up playing

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

. Pringle is, along with fellow

Pat Ragusa, one of only two Venezuelan-born

(NFL) players. Pringle married Ann Dillard in 1974.

College career

Pringle later moved to the United States to attend

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

. As a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

at Rice in 1970, he was noticed by an assistant coach for the

Rice Owls football The Rice Owls football program represents Rice University in the sport of American football. The team competes at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, NCAA Division I FBS level and compete in the American Athletic Conference. Rice Stad ...

team, who saw him kicking a soccer ball at a P.E. class. He was invited to tryout for the team and "was shown a

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 ...

and told to kick it through the uprights." He recalled "That was on a Tuesday. On Thursday I kicked for some more coaches and on Friday I was playing against Wharton Junior College in a JV game." Pringle's first appearance was the first American football game he had ever seen. "They told me when someone yelled '

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

' I was supposed to go in and kick," he said. He showed inexperience in his first game, however, mistiming his kickoffs and wearing backwards hip pads. He later improved and set a school record for the freshman team that year with a 48-yard

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

. Pringle made the varsity team for the 1971 season but was dismissed from the team early on for disciplinary reasons. By that point, he had made all five

extra point Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

attempts and tied the school record with a 48-yard field goal. Afterwards, Pringle dropped out of school for a year. During this time, he said that he just "piddled around" and "was living on crackers and peanut butter." In 1973, he returned to Rice and was given another chance on the football team. He was the team's top kicker for the 1973 and 1974 seasons, setting a school-record with a 50-yard field goal in the latter year. Pringle concluded his career at Rice having made 27 of 28 extra point attempts and 20 of 29 field goal attempts. He was invited to the Coaches All-America Game where he set the all-star game's record with a 54-yard field goal.

Professional career

Pringle was selected by the

in the 10th round (246th overall) of the

1975 NFL draft The 1975 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1975, at the New York Hilton at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Steve Bartkowski. Player selectio ...

. He made two field goals in a preseason game against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

and finished the preseason having made three of five field goal attempts. He was released by the Oilers prior to the regular season, on September 2, 1975. He then tried out with the

and was signed by them on September 11. The Lions signed him to be a

kickoff specialist A kickoff specialist is a special teams position in gridiron football. They are responsible for kicking the ball in the kickoff. These players tend to have a strong leg, often capable of making touchbacks, and capable of keeping a ball in the bou ...

, as they already had Errol Mann for field goals and extra points. Pringle appeared for the Lions in the season opener, against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

, but was unable to consistently kick to the

end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on the opposite side of the field ...

and was released following the game on September 22. Pringle later signed with the

on April 12, 1976, but was released on July 30, ending his professional career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Alan 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Falcón English players of American football Venezuelan players of American football American football placekickers Rice Owls football players Houston Oilers players Detroit Lions players New England Patriots players