Ex-Ram Lansford Still Gets Kick Out of Life

Every Ram fan remembers bare-footed Mike Lansford for his wobbly 42-yard field goal that sneaked inside the Louisiana Superdome’s right goal post and put the Rams into the 1983 playoffs. But former Ram public relations director Pete Donovan prefers to remember his friend for a not-so-famous Superdome kick during the 1986 season.

Lansford had given the Rams a last-minute victory on a Monday night with a 50-yarder in miserable Chicago weather. But now the Rams were practicing in the Superdome during a short week, and Coach John Robinson was asking Lansford to duplicate his 50-yard effort.

“Lansford lined up and the kick barely went 20 yards,” Donovan said. “I mean, it was the worst kick you’ve ever seen. Then Robinson says, ‘I’ll bet you $20 you can’t make that kick.’ Lansford steps up and boots it right through. So while Robinson goes back to the locker room and gets the $20, Lansford is trying the kick again and he doesn’t come close.

“He couldn’t make anything else all day. But that’s the kind of kicker Mike was. I don’t think he ever missed a kick that meant anything in all his years with the Rams.”

Lansford kicked for the Rams from 1982-90, and Thursday night he will be honored by the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame for his clutch kicks and his work in the community.

“There’s a lot of Rams who deserve to make the hall of fame,” Lansford said. “I’m just honored to be considered among the best Rams and among the best in Orange County.”

Lansford, 37, has been retired from the NFL six years, but he’s still kicking. Recently, he showed the Piranhas of the Arena Football League what he could do, and they offered him a contract. He said the money wasn’t close to what he now makes working as director of benefits for the Lasorda Group, owned by Dodger manager Tom Lasorda.

“If the Seahawks came down and said, ‘Hey Mike, what would you think of kicking for us?’ I’d be interested,” Lansford said. “Business is going great, but I do miss game day. You can’t replace it. The fact that the whole world stops and watches the NFL on that day is an incredible feeling.”

If not for developing a blister on his heel because he wore a pair of old rain-soaked cleats, Lansford might have never had that incredible feeling. Although he had a successful college career at Washington, Lansford was having no luck kicking for NFL teams. The trajectory and power he had off a tee in college was gone in the tee-less NFL.

“I knew I was a good kicker,” Lansford said. “But mechanically something wasn’t right. I wasn’t getting under the ball enough and sweeping it like I had in college. So when I had a blister during a tryout with the Giants, I said, ‘Let me take the shoe off and see what happens.’ Suddenly I had better trajectory and great power.”

Lansford beat out Frank Corral to make the Ram squad in 1982, but his chances of sticking around another year were slim when Robinson, then a first-year coach, drafted Lansford’s college teammate, Chuck Nelson, in the fourth round. Lansford appeared on his way out of Anaheim when he developed a knee injury.

“As luck would have it, he was hurt, so we couldn’t cut him,” said Donovan, a member of the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame board of directors. “When the season starts, Nelson is not cutting it and suddenly Robinson begins to look lovingly at Lansford.”

Said Lansford: “It wasn’t exactly luck but I did get hurt and hang around long enough for Nelson to kick himself off the team.”

Nelson wasn’t off the team, but Lansford became the Rams’ kicker when he was activated from injured reserve late in the season. By Week 16, Lansford was still not completely healthy but none of that mattered to Robinson, who asked Lansford to put the Rams into the playoffs with a 42-yard field goal in the Superdome.

“I’d never kicked a pressure kick like that,” Lansford said. “I remember shaking hard and my teeth were chattering. That place was loud. It was up to me, a guy who’s been activated four weeks and coming off a knee injury. It was a 42-yarder but some people say it’s now a 60-yarder against the wind. Chuck Nelson was on the sidelines and if I miss that kick, guess who the kicker is next year?

“The ball wobbled through and Robinson said to me, ‘I knew you had it all the way.’ I just laughed. I hit it pretty solid, a little left of center, but I say that anything that goes through is right down the middle. That certainly labeled me a clutch guy and I certainly tried to live up to that.”

Lansford never made a Pro Bowl during his years with the Rams, but he also had the misfortune of kicking in the same conference as the Saints’ Morten Andersen. Still, Lansford always considered himself to be among the top five kickers in the league.

“The kicks I missed came at the end of games in 30-0 games with people laughing on the sidelines,” he said. “It was pressure situations that separated me from the average kicker.”

Lansford’s best season came in 1989, when he was named on a few All-Pro teams.

“That was the year I felt I had the most impact,” he said. “We were winning so many games by the skin of our teeth and I couldn’t afford to miss.”

Donovan said Lansford’s golf game is no different than his kicking game.

“If I say I’m an 11, he’ll say he’s a 12 handicap,” Donovan said. “Then he’ll knock one in off the green or make a long putt.”

Said Lansford: “If there’s something on the line, I focus a little better,” he said. “When I’m popping off, I always say, ‘I’m not a great athlete or anything, I just care about winning a little more than you do.’ ”

Lansford’s luck ran out with the Rams in 1990. He tore a calf muscle and limped through a 5-11 season. The next year the Rams brought in Tony Zendejas and suddenly Lansford was in Cleveland trying to beat out Jeff Stover. Lansford never got the chance because he failed the Browns’ physical.

“That put a black mark by my name and no one would touch me in ‘91,” Lansford said.

But life hasn’t turned out too badly for Lansford.

“He’s such a self-effacing guy,” Donovan said. “He knows life is a daily struggle for all of us. He’s worked hard at acclimating himself into the real world. He’s always had a good grasp of that.”

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Orange County Hall of Fame

* What: Orange County Sports Hall of Fame ceremonies and dinner.

* Date: Thursday

* Time: Ceremonies at 6 p.m., dinner at 7:30

* Location: Near Gate 6, Anaheim Stadium

* Honorees: Don Johnson, former Cypress College men’s basketball coach; Mike Lansford, former Ram kicker; Dick Tucker, former Orange Coast College and Brea Olinda High football coach; Clyde Wright, former Angel pitcher; Mark Wulfmeyer, former Troy High basketball and baseball standout.

* Background: The Hall of Fame opened in December 1993. This year’s additions brings the total of inducted members to 78.

* Tickets: $100 per person or $1,000 for a table of 10.

* Reservations: (714) 758-9882.