Benjamin James Graham (born 2 November 1973) is a former professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er turned professional

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 ...

punter of 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). Graham's 219 game Australian rules career was played exclusively at the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Kardinia Park in South Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL) between 1993 and 2004. As an Aussie rules player, Graham was long noted for his ability to kick extraordinarily long distances with accuracy (in particular his expertise at the

torpedo punt The torpedo punt (also known as screw punt, spiral punt, barrel, torp or bomb) is a type of punt kick implemented in Australian rules football, Rugby union & Rugby league, and more generally with an ellipsoidal football. The torpedo punt is the lo ...

). This is one of the key reasons that he was believed to have potential as a professional NFL punter. The left-footer played for the

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

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

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

of the NFL. He is the only player to be named a captain of both an AFL and NFL side. During his career, he played in the biggest game of both codes, the

AFL Grand Final The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. Prior to 1990 it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league was then known as the Victorian Football Leag ...

( 1995 AFL Grand Final) and the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

(

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

). He was the first Australian to have played in a Super Bowl.

Early life

Graham was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

to mother, Helen, and father, Tony. He grew up in

Leopold, Victoria Leopold is a residential eastern suburb of Geelong and is a gateway to the Bellarine Peninsula in the Australian state of Victoria. At the 2016 census, Leopold had a population of 12,814. History The area was formerly known as Kensington, but ...

, and began playing Aussie rules at a young age for the local Leopold Football Club in the Bellarine Football League, where his father was a former premiership player and coach. Graham's football ability was obvious from an early age, and he was selected by the Geelong U19s (now

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition in Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warr ...

), where he was first identified by AFL talent scouts.

Australian rules football career

Graham was recruited by Geelong at pick 40 in the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

(AFL) pre-season draft. He was Geelong's "Best First-Year Player" in the reserves team of 1992, and made his debut with the Geelong seniors late in 1993. Graham was noted for his long kicking (in particular his expertise at the

), and could play at both ends of the ground as a key-position player. He played at centre half-forward and could convert goals from distances of 60 metres, as well as playing at

centre half-back In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-bac ...

, where his booming kicks cleared the ball from defence, particularly during kickouts. Against

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

in Round 19, 1999, when Graham was bringing the ball back in from play, he booted the ball just over 85 metres, which was past the centre circle of Simonds Stadium. Graham played in Geelong's 1995 AFL Grand Final loss to Carlton. For the year, he was named most improved player at Geelong. Graham won the club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award (the

Carji Greeves Medal The Carji Greeves Medal is a name given in recent decades to an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Geelong Football Club for the season. The voting system has changed a number of times. Fo ...

) in 1999. He followed his 1999 season with another solid season in 2000, finishing runner-up in the best & fairest in a year in which he was also bestowed the honour of the club captaincy. In 2001, he was inducted into the Geelong Football Club Hall of Fame and granted life membership. Graham retained the club captaincy until the end of 2002.

Statistics

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1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 36 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 7 , , 5 , , 12 , , 1 , , 4 , , 0.00 , , 0.00 , , 7.00 , , 5.00 , , 12.00 , , 1.00 , , 4.00 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 36 , , 7 , , 3 , , 3 , , 17 , , 14 , , 31 , , 10 , , 2 , , 0.43 , , 0.43 , , 2.43 , , 2.00 , , 4.43 , , 1.43 , , 0.29 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 36 , , 24 , , 0 , , 0 , , 163 , , 82 , , 245 , , 63 , , 27 , , 0.00 , , 0.00 , , 6.79 , , 3.42 , , 10.21 , , 2.63 , , 1.13 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 36 , , 17 , , 2 , , 4 , , 112 , , 60 , , 172 , , 50 , , 12 , , 0.12 , , 0.24 , , 6.59 , , 3.53 , , 10.12 , , 2.94 , , 0.71 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 36 , , 24 , , 1 , , 0 , , 226 , , 81 , , 307 , , 85 , , 24 , , 0.04 , , 0.00 , , 9.42 , , 3.38 , , 12.79 , , 3.54 , , 1.00 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 12 , , 0 , , 1 , , 91 , , 38 , , 129 , , 37 , , 19 , , 0.00 , , 0.08 , , 7.58 , , 3.17 , , 10.75 , , 3.08 , , 1.58 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 18 , , 11 , , 223 , , 79 , , 302 , , 101 , , 29 , , 0.82 , , 0.50 , , 10.14 , , 3.59 , , 13.73 , , 4.59 , , 1.32 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 23 , , 14 , , 7 , , 279 , , 104 , , 383 , , 148 , , 40 , , 0.61 , , 0.30 , , 12.13 , , 4.52 , , 16.65 , , 6.43 , , 1.74 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 33 , , 16 , , 216 , , 97 , , 313 , , 152 , , 44 , , 1.50 , , 0.73 , , 9.82 , , 4.41 , , 14.23 , , 6.91 , , 2.00 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 15 , , 16 , , 173 , , 89 , , 262 , , 97 , , 38 , , 0.68 , , 0.73 , , 7.86 , , 4.05 , , 11.91 , , 4.41 , , 1.73 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 22 , , 20 , , 24 , , 181 , , 85 , , 266 , , 110 , , 42 , , 0.91 , , 1.09 , , 8.23 , , 3.86 , , 12.09 , , 5.00 , , 1.91 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 7 , , 23 , , 39 , , 31 , , 202 , , 69 , , 271 , , 131 , , 40 , , 1.70 , , 1.35 , , 8.78 , , 3.00 , , 11.78 , , 5.70 , , 1.74 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 219 ! 145 ! 113 ! 1890 ! 803 ! 2693 ! 985 ! 321 ! 0.66 ! 0.52 ! 8.63 ! 3.67 ! 12.30 ! 4.50 ! 1.47

Honours and achievements

Individual * Geelong captain: 2000–2002 *

: 1999 * Australian team representative honours in the 1999 International Rules Series

American football career

Graham was first approached by the

to try out as a punter in 1997; however, he decided to stay in the AFL. In 2004, he surprised many in Australia when he quit Australian rules football and left for the United States to pursue a career as a punter in the

, where he would ultimately be paid many times more than he would have earned in Australia and extended his playing career by many years.

New York Jets

Graham was signed to a short-term contract by the New York Jets in January 2005. He moved to New York City and attended Jets

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

, before being confirmed as the team's starting punter for the

2005 NFL season The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). Regular season play was held from September 8, 2005, to January 1, 2006. The regular season also saw the first ever regular season game played outside the ...

when his predecessor Micah Knorr was released. When Graham played his first NFL regular season game (against the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

Arrowhead Stadium Arrowhead Stadium is an American football stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). It was built at the same time as neighboring Kauff ...

on 11 September 2005), he became the second person after Darren Bennett to play in both the AFL and the NFL ( Colin Ridgeway played at AFL reserves level for Carlton), and fourth Australian NFL player. He also became the oldest rookie ever to be part of an NFL opening day roster at age 31. On 22 May 2006, the Jets signed Graham to a six-year contract worth US$5.17 million. In late 2006, Graham made history becoming the first Australian to captain an American pro sports team when he joined the leadership group of the New York Jets. He also became the only player to captain a team in two different professional sports leagues. Graham also used the Australian

drop punt The punt kick is a common style of kicking (Australian rules football), kicking in Australian rules football. It is a kick where the ball is dropped from the players' hands and kicked slightly off the longer centre line of the ball before it h ...

—a style of kicking prevalent in Australian rules football first introduced in 1997 to the NFL by fellow Australian Darren Bennett—which improves kicking efficiency and is said to be an innovation to the game of American football. The Jets waived Graham on 16 September 2008, but he did not miss a game: they quickly re-signed him on 22 September due to a minor injury to his replacement Reggie Hodges. Graham was released again on 29 September after Hodges recovered.

New Orleans Saints

On 20 October 2008, Graham signed with the

to play a game in London. The team had released incumbent punter

Steve Weatherford Steven Thomas Weatherford (born December 17, 1982) is an American former professional American football, football Punter (American football), punter. He played college football at Illinois Fighting Illini football, Illinois and was signed by the ...

earlier in the week due to travel arrangement issues. He played just the one game, punting three times with an average of 42 yards, before being released on 29 October. He was replaced by Glenn Pakulak.

Arizona Cardinals

Graham was signed by the

on 1 December 2008 after the team released punter Dirk Johnson; this was the second time that Johnson had been replaced by an Australian punter. In the NFC Championship game that year, Graham's Cardinals played 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 ...

, whose punter, Sav Rocca, also was an ex-AFL player from Collingwood and

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

. This guaranteed that one of the two would be the first Australian to play in a

. The Cardinals' victory presented that honour to Graham. The Cardinals released Graham on 2 September 2011, before the start of the season. But they re-signed him on 5 October; he was released again on 11 October, after one game covering for the injured

Dave Zastudil David Michael Zastudil (born October 26, 1978) is an American former professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio Bobcats, and was selected in the fourth round o ...

Detroit Lions

On 15 November 2011, Graham signed with 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 ...

, replacing Robert Malone. Malone had played only one game after replacing the injured Ryan Donahue. During the 2012 preseason, Graham beat out Donahue for the starting job. On 25 September 2012, Graham was placed on the season-ending injured reserve list. Nick Harris was signed to replace Graham for the remainder of the season. He was released with an injury settlement later that season.

International career

In 2011 with the NFL lockout looming, Graham announced his intention to play for the Australian National team in the 2011 IFAF World Cup, the official international American Football championship tournament. Later, he officially was added to the roster as the country's starting punter.

Post-playing career

In 2012, Graham joined the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

as a strategic football operations manager.

Personal life

Graham and his wife, Katie, have two daughters, Sophie and Rosie, and one son, Jack. While playing for the Cats, Graham attended

Deakin University Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...

in Geelong. Graham's father and his younger brother, Sam, attended Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida, to watch him when he played for the Arizona Cardinals. Graham's mother, Helen, died from cancer on 21 April 2009.

References

External links

American football

Arizona Cardinals bio

New York Jets bio

Australian rules

Ben Graham's profile
on the Official AFL Website of the Geelong Football Club *
A video of Graham teaching how to torpedo punt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Ben 1973 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Geelong Deakin University alumni Geelong Football Club players Geelong Football Club captains Carji Greeves Medal winners Leopold Football Club (Geelong) players Footballers who switched code Australian players of American football American football punters New York Jets players New Orleans Saints players Arizona Cardinals players Detroit Lions players Australia international rules football team players Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Australian rules footballers that played in the NFL Western Bulldogs administrators