Juan Francisco Corrales Rodríguez (born June 16, 1955), better known as Frank Corral, is a

Mexican-American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

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 ...

player who was a

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 ...

and punter 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) and

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). 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

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

. Selected by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

in the third round of the

1978 NFL draft The 1978 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 2–3, 1978, at the Roosevelt Hotel ...

, he was a part of their

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 ...

team. He later played in the USFL with the

Chicago Blitz The Chicago Blitz was a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League (USFL) in the mid-1980s. They played at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Team history The Blitz were one of the twelve charter ...

, the

Arizona Wranglers The Arizona Wranglers were a professional American football team in the United States Football League (USFL) that existed from late 1982 to mid-1985. They played at Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. ...

and the

Houston Gamblers The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducin ...

Early life

Corral was born on June 16, 1955, in

Delicias, Chihuahua Delicias (Spanish for ''Delights'') is a city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and serves as the seat of the municipality of the same name. The current president of this town is Jesus Valenciano. It is located southeast of the state capital ...

. His father, Alfonso Corrales Ruiz, hailed from

Ciudad Jiménez Jiménez (officially, José Mariano Jiménez) is a city and seat of the municipality of Jiménez, in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. As of 2010, the city had a population of 34,281, up from 33,567 as of 2005.Instituto Nacional de Est ...

while his mother, Soledad Rodríguez Natividad, was from Camargo. The family moved to

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...

before immigrating to the United States, where they lived in Colorado before settling in California. Corral was a six-sport athlete at Norte Vista High School in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

, playing football along with baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer, and track and field. He earned a football scholarship to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Career

Drafted in the third round of the

, Corral won the placekicking duties for the

in his rookie season. He added punting chores to his list of duties in 1980 and 1981 and remains the last NFL player to have been both the starting placekicker and punter for his team. In 1982, he was replaced by John Misko (punting) and Mike Lansford (placekicking). He would not return to the NFL. In 1983 Corral moved to the USFL. While playing for the

, Corral connected on 37 of 40 extra point attempts and 22 of 41 field goals for 105 points. He also was the punter for Chicago, punting 74 times for 2989 yards and 40.4 average. The next year, for the

, he was 63 of 65 on PATs and 11 of 21 in field goals for 96 points. He also punted 69 times for 2856 yards and a 41.4 average. In 1985 for the

he punted 24 times for 961 yards and a 40.0-yard average and handled the kickoff duties. Toni Fritsch handled the placekicking duties for the Gamblers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corral, Frank 1955 births Living people American football placekickers Arizona Wranglers players Chicago Blitz players Houston Gamblers players Los Angeles Rams players Mexican players of American football National Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Chihuahua (state) UCLA Bruins football players Players of American football from Riverside, California People from Delicias, Chihuahua