Reginald Henry Roby (July 30, 1961 – February 22, 2005) was an American professional football player who was a punter in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for 16 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. He played college football for the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

and was recognized as a consensus All-American. He played professionally for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

, Houston/Tennessee Oilers, and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-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 of the league's National ...

of the NFL. Roby died of a heart attack at his

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

home in 2005.

Early years

Roby was born in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Fall ...

. In addition to playing

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

, he was also a standout

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to e ...

on the Waterloo East High School baseball team, and was drafted by

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. Instead, he chose to attend college.

College career

Roby attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...

, where he played for the

Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

from 1979 to 1982. Despite the fact that he had experience at

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and possessed a strong arm, Hawkeyes head coach Hayden Fry made the 6'4", 250-pounder a punter and kick-off specialist, also using him for long range field goals. Before Roby arrived, the Hawkeyes had not had a winning season in 20 years. With Roby, the 1981 team earned its first Rose Bowl invitation in 23 years on the strength of a 6-2 conference record (8-4 overall) and co-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship with Ohio State. Roby set an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

season record with a 49.8-yard average. In 1982, he led the nation with a 48.1-yard average. His career average of 45.4 yards ranks among college football's best and is still a school record. Reggie was also given the kick off duties and routinely kicked the ball through the uprights at Iowa, a total of 26 times. He was 28-34 for PAT's and was 11–27 in FG attempts, mostly from long range.

Professional career

As a professional, his 38.7 net average led the league in 1986, and his 45.7 average yards led the NFL in 1991, and he set a Pro Bowl record with 10 punts in the 1985 game. His 58.5-yard single-game average on September 28, 1986, remains a Dolphin team record. At Rich Stadium, Roby punted the ball a team record 77 yards, but the punt was returned 70 yards. He completed the only pass attempt of his career, a 48-yarder to John Booty in 1995. Roby was selected as a punter for the NFL's 1980s All-Decade Team. In the Dolphins 1992 divisional round 31–0 win over the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, he planted 4 of his 8 punts inside the Chargers 20-yard line, including 3 inside the 7. Roby played in Super Bowl XIX with the Dolphins, though he had a below average day, averaging just 39.3 yards per kick and failing to put any of his 7 punts inside the 20. "I was trying to kill the ball, and I kicked it bad", said Roby after the game. "I didn't hit one well. I was scared -- scared to make a mistake. It was the worst game of my life, counting high school, college, counting everything." Dolphins coach Don Shula said following the game "We're supposed to have the best punter in the football, but today, he didn't punt like he was the best." However, it is notable that despite Miami's #1 ranked offense during the 1984 season, which set numerous NFL records, he still made the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

that year. Roby played sixteen seasons in the NFL and had 992 punts for 42,951 yards. His career yards per punt average was 43.3, with a net average of 34.0. He had 298 punts beyond the 20-yard line and 112 touchbacks. Roby helped popularize the now-standard two-step approach and often wore a watch to gauge his hangtime. He was one of a handful of

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

kickers in National Football League history. He was one of the only kickers, to this day, to punt the ball without jumping. In 1993, Roby's financial difficulties led to his filing for bankruptcy. The Miami Dolphins had cut him after the 1992 season largely because a corollary of this filing would have meant he could have become a free agent and left Miami at any point of the following season, but he continued to play professionally until 1998 and later became marketing and development director for Backfield in Motion, a non-profit group mixing athletics and academics to help inner city boys.

Career statistics

;Regular season , - ! style="text-align:center;", 1983 ! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 16 , , 74 , , 3,189 , , 43.1 , , 36.5 , , 26 , , 11 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast As ...

! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 16 , , 51 , , 2,281 , , 44.7 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 38.1 , , 15 , , 10 , - ! style="text-align:center;", 1985 ! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 16 , , 59 , , 2,576 , , 43.7 , , 34.7 , , 19 , , 8 , - ! style="text-align:center;", 1986 ! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 15 , , 56 , , 2,476 , , 44.2 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 37.4 , , 13 , , 9 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 10 , , 32 , , 1,371 , , 42.8 , , 38.2 , , 8 , , 3 , - ! style="text-align:center;", 1988 ! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 15 , , 64 , , 2,754 , , 43.0 , , 35.2 , , 18 , , 9 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 16 , , 58 , , 2,458 , , 42.4 , , 35.3 , , 18 , , 6 , - ! style="text-align:center;", 1990 ! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 16 , , 72 , , 3,022 , , 42.0 , , 35.6 , , 20 , , 3 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 16 , , 54 , , 2,466 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 45.7 , , 36.4 , , 17 , , 7 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

! style="text-align:center;", MIA , 9 , , 35 , , 1,443 , , 41.2 , , 34.3 , , 11 , , 3 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

! style="text-align:center;",

WAS Was or WAS may refer to: * ''Was'', a past-tense form of the English copular verb ''to be'' People * David Was (born c. 1952), the stage name of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter David Weiss * Don Was (born 1952), the stage name of bass gui ...

, 15 , , 78 , , 3,447 , , 44.2 , , 37.2 , , 25 , , 10 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

! style="text-align:center;",

, 16 , , 82 , , 3,639 , , 44.4 , , 36.1 , , 21 , , 12 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

! style="text-align:center;", TB , 16 , , 77 , , 3,296 , , 42.8 , , 36.2 , , 23 , , 7 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

! style="text-align:center;", HOU , 16 , , 67 , , 2,973 , , 44.4 , , 38.0 , , 25 , , 7 , - ! style="text-align:center;",

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

! style="text-align:center;",

TEN Ten, TEN or 10 may refer to: * 10, an even natural number following 9 and preceding 11 * one of the years 10 BC, AD 10, 1910 and 2010 * October, the tenth month of the year Places * Mount Ten, in Vietnam * Tongren Fenghuang Airport (IATA code ...

, 16 , , 73 , , 3,049 , , 41.8 , , 35.6 , , 25 , , 1 , - ! 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 frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

! style="text-align:center;", SF , 14 , , 60 , , 2,511 , , 41.9 , , 34.3 , , 14 , , 6 , - , - class="sortbottom" style="background:#eee;" ! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career ! 238 , , 992 , , 42,951 , , 43.3 , , 36.2 , , 298 , , 112

Death

On February 22, 2005, Roby's son, Julian, found him without a

pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the ...

in their Nashville home. The cause of death, although not officially reported, was believed to be a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

. He left behind four children and his wife Melissa. In the days after his death, former Miami Dolphins head coach

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his c ...

praised Reggie Roby, saying "his booming kicks often helped us win the field position battle."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roby, Reggie 1961 births 2005 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American players of American football All-American college football players American Conference Pro Bowl players American football punters Houston Oilers players Iowa Hawkeyes football players Miami Dolphins players Players of American football from Iowa San Francisco 49ers players Sportspeople from Waterloo, Iowa Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Tennessee Oilers players Washington Redskins players