Rohn Taylor Stark (born May 4, 1959) 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 ...

player who was a punter for 16 seasons 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), 13 of those with the

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

. Stark was selected to four

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

in his stay with the Colts and then played 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 ...

as a member of 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 ...

. Stark was one of the last players who played for the Colts prior to their relocation to Indianapolis to retire from the NFL. Stark is also the only Baltimore Colts player to ever play against 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 ...

High school

Pine River, Minnesota Pine River is a city in Cass County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 911 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Pine River was incorporated in 1901. Its post office began in 1877. ...

, Stark attended Pine River High, starring in football, basketball and track (while taking time out from track practice to pinch-hit for the baseball team). In football, he played both defense and offense and handled the punting and place kicking duties.

Air Force Academy

After high school graduation, Stark headed for the Air Force Academy Preparatory School in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

. He had always been interested in flying—his father, Bud Stark, is a TWA pilot—and had received a conditional appointment to the academy. Eventually, Air Force doctors discovered that Stark had a slight curvature of the spine and could not fly in the US Air Force; it would be too dangerous for him to use an ejection seat. So, he returned home in January 1978. What Stark didn't know was that his prep-school trigonometry professor and football coach, John Crowe, had sent game films of him to Florida State, where Crowe had been an All-America defensive back in 1958. Stark got a call from a Seminole coach in February. "I had barely heard of

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

", he says, "but I went down and liked what I saw." He enrolled for the spring semester and competed in the high jump for FSU.

College career

From the official Florida State Seminoles website: "One of the greatest all-around athletes ever to wear the garnet and gold of Florida State, Stark starred as a punter and decathlete for the Seminoles. After his four-year career as FSU's punter was over, Stark had virtually every record including most career punts, highest season average (46.0) and highest career average (42.7). He earned first-team All-America honors in 1980 and 1981 and was a team captain as a senior." At the end of his college football career, Stark was considered one of the best college punters since

Ray Guy William Ray Guy (December 22, 1949 – November 3, 2022) was an American professional football punter who played for the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Guy was a first-team All-American selection in 1972 ...

played for Southern Mississippi in the early 1970s. "The spring of his senior year, he cemented his spot as one of FSU's all-time greats, winning All-America honors as a decathlete as well. In 1986, he was inducted into the Florida State Hall of Fame, in Football and Track/Field." He seriously considered participation in the 1984 Olympics. Stark kicked left-footed. To returners, that means the ball is spinning the "wrong" way and is a little harder to handle; FSU opponents had fumbled about one of Stark's punts per game in his three-year career. The fact that Stark had never had a punt blocked also interested scouts. In his 16 seasons in the NFL, he only had 7 blocked punts.

Retirement

After retiring from the NFL, Stark and his family made their home in

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

, where he works in real estate.

NFL career statistics

;Regular season , - !

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

!! BAL , 9 , , 46 , , 2,044 , , 44.4 , , 34.3 , , 8 , , 12 , - !

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

!! BAL , 16 , , 91 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 4,124 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 45.3 , , 36.3 , , 19 , , 9 , - !

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 Southeas ...

IND Ind or IND may refer to: General * Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party * Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...

, 16 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 98 , , 4,383 , , 44.7 , , 37.2 , , 21 , , 7 , - !

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, 16 , , 78 , , 3,584 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 45.9 , , 34.2 , , 12 , , 14 , - !

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, 16 , , 76 , , 3,432 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 45.2 , , 37.2 , , 22 , , 5 , - !

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, 12 , , 61 , , 2,440 , , 40.0 , , 30.9 , , 12 , , 7 , - !

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, 16 , , 64 , , 2,784 , , 43.5 , , 34.5 , , 15 , , 8 , - !

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, 16 , , 79 , , 3,392 , , 42.9 , , 32.9 , , 14 , , 10 , - !

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 ...

, 16 , , 71 , , 3,084 , , 43.4 , , 37.4 , , 23 , , 3 , - !

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, 16 , , 82 , , 3,492 , , 42.6 , , 34.8 , , 14 , , 6 , - !

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 ...

, 16 , , 83 , , 3,716 , , 44.8 , , 39.3 , , 22 , , 7 , - !

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 ...

, 16 , , 83 , , 3,595 , , 43.3 , , 35.9 , , 18 , , 13 , - !

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 ...

, 16 , , 73 , , 3,092 , , 42.4 , , 34.1 , , 22 , , 10 , - !

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 ...

PIT Pit or PIT may refer to: Structure * Ball pit, a recreation structure * Casino pit, the part of a casino which holds gaming tables * Trapping pit, pits used for hunting * Pit (motor racing), an area of a racetrack where pit stops are conduc ...

, 16 , , 59 , , 2,368 , , 40.1 , , 33.3 , , 20 , , 11 , - !

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 ...

CAR A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

, 16 , , 77 , , 3,128 , , 40.6 , , 36.0 , , 21 , , 9 , - !

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 ...

SEA A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

, 4 , , 20 , , 813 , , 40.7 , , 26.9 , , 7 , , 2 , - , - class="sortbottom" style="background:#eee;" ! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career ! 233 , , 1,141 , , 49,471 , , 43.4 , , 35.2 , , 270 , , 133

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Rohn 1959 births Living people Players of American football from Minneapolis American football punters Florida State Seminoles football players All-American college football players Baltimore Colts players Indianapolis Colts players Pittsburgh Steelers players Carolina Panthers players Seattle Seahawks players American Conference Pro Bowl players