Uwe Detlef Walter von Schamann (born 23 April 1956) is a former 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 ...

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 ...

. He played for the

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

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), from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

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 ...

Early life

Von Schamann was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He moved to

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

at the age of 16. After graduating from Eastern Hills High School in 1975, he received a football scholarship to the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

College career

During his

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 ...

career, he was a member of the 1975 National Championship team, and was later voted the all-time, All-Big 8 kicker. He was most noted for making a clutch game-winning kick in the final seconds of the 1977 game at Ohio State, after leading the crowd in a "block that kick" chant. In Sooner lore, this play came to be known simply as "The Kick. In 1999, von Schamann was named the All-Century Oklahoma kicker.

Professional career

The

drafted von Schamann with the 189th overall pick in the seventh round of the 1979 NFL Draft. He played for Miami for six seasons. As a rookie, von Schamann converted 36 of 40 extra point attempts and 21 of 29 field goal attempts in the 1979 season. In the 1980 season, he converted all 32 extra point attempts and 14 of 23 field goal attempts. In the 1981 season, he converted 37 of 38 extra point attempts and 24 of 31 field goal attempts. In the 1982 season, he converted 21 of 22 extra point attempts and 15 of 20 field goal attempts in nine games. The Dolphins made

Super Bowl XVII Super Bowl XVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Miami Dolphins and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

against Washington that year. Von Schamann converted both extra point attempts and one field goal attempt in the 27–17 loss. In the 1983 season, he converted 45 of 48 extra point attempts and 18 of 27 field goal attempts. In the 1984 season, he set an NFL record with 70

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, converting 66 of them, records that stood until they were broken by Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski in 2007. The Dolphins made Super Bowl XIX against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the 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 ...

that year. In the 38–16 loss, von Schamann converted one extra point attempt and all three field goal attempts. In the 1985 offseason, the Dolphins cut von Schamann. He joined the Cleveland Browns in the 1986 offseason but did not make the final roster. Von Schamann finished his NFL career with 101 of 149 field goal attempts (67%) and 237 of 250 extra points (94%), for 540 total points.

After football

After his retirement from the NFL, he worked in the securities and insurance business. In 2001, von Schamann was named Director of Development and Fundraising for the J.D. McCarty Center, a treatment facility for children with

developmental disabilities Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

Career regular season statistics

''Career high/best bold''

Personal life

Von Schamann has a son, Duke, who has played professional baseball and represented

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in international competitions.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Von Schamann, Uwe Miami Dolphins players Oklahoma Sooners football players 1956 births Living people Emigrants from West Germany to the United States Sportspeople from Berlin Players of American football from Fort Worth, Texas American football placekickers German players of American football German expatriate sportspeople in the United States