Pete Stoyanovich: Once a Dolphin, Always a Dolphin

Miami Dolphins Tales From The Deep A two-sport star at the University of Indiana, Pete Stoyanovich reached a level of success and popularity with the Miami Dolphins rarely achieved by an NFL placekicker. The team’s 8th round selection in the 1989 draft played in 110 of the team’s 112 games during his seven seasons as a Dolphin and built a reputation for making big kicks in big moments, while earning First-team All-Pro honors in 1992 after leading the league in scoring. Stoyanovich, who ranks third in Dolphins history in scoring, dives in The Fish Tank to discuss memorable moments like his game winning kick in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, his love for South Florida, and his unique role in the box office hit Ace Ventura, Pet Detective. Contributors to this episode include Sean “DJ Prec” Todd and Dolphins Productions. Theme song created and performed by The Honorable SoLo D.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Known from making the big kick in big moments, Peace
of Janavius. Recent level of success and popularity in Miami
rarely achieved by NFL placekicker. You know the Dallas the
Thanksgiving Day kick, even though it wasn't very far, that
was a big kick in national TV. Everyone's watching Thanksgiving Day, Uh,
the snow Dallas, all the the you know, all the
hype of the game. I think that was another big kick,

(00:23):
even though it was a shorter distance. Uh that you know,
being carried off the field certainly was an honor the guys.
And you know that plane ride home was just so
much fun and the joy we had. I O J. McDuffie,
the National Football League reception leader, and I'm Seth Levin,
a former member of the Miami Dolphins media relations department.
In today's episode of the Fish Tank, NFL scoring leader

(00:45):
relives many of those magical moments, shared his love for
South Florida, and even steps back into his unique role
in the box office hit ace Ventura pet Detective, Hey
DJ priest, what are we doing next? Be done? And

(01:14):
this is strictly for the true fan Dolphins number one one,
of course, just as welcome back to the fish tank
right here on the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network. Seth Levitt
DJ priests in the back and my main man, Juice
O J. McDuffie had a quick wardrobe change. I respect that,
but uh, I didn't you know, I'd expect nothing else

(01:35):
from a superstar. Man's got something for every outfit, for
every scenario. Well you know what, man, I learned at
an early age, Big Seth, that you know, you gotta
be ready for all those different those changes. You know,
suddy change. You know that's that's all right, sudden change.
I like it. Well you certainly responded to it. Another
guy who had to be ready for changing sudden changes
and and certainly any scenario. Is our guest today, And man,

(01:59):
are we fired because the people have been asking, they've
been asking for this guy clamoring. Right, when is Pete
Stoyanovitch driving in the fish tank? And today is the day, Pete.
Welcome to the fish tank. Hey guys, how you doing? Man,
it's great to be here, so great to have you here. Yeah,
it's so it's so good man. You know I feel
all the time PHL set this all the time. Man.

(02:19):
When I get a former teammate on man, I I get,
I go, I go, little bunkers. But I love it, man,
because you know, we've we've talked to guys from the
seventy two team all the way to the guys on
the current team and everything in between. You know, so
when my errors on, man, you know, I get, I
get a little excited. Bro. Well, it's great to see
o J. I know it's been a long time, and uh,
you know, I appreciate you guys reaching out to me

(02:39):
and get me uh in the tank. I'm excited to
be here and certainly, uh a lot to catch up on.
You know, there's a lot to talk about, and I'm excited.
I'm looking forward to it. All right, let's get it started,
except where you think, so we can't you know, we
can't wait to get into your obviously your story Miami
Dolphin's career, Pete, but I have to ask you about
about college. You know, I know you're your big tank
guy like myself. You arrived at the Universe of Indiana

(03:02):
is a number one rated soccer player in the nation.
But then you also played football, and from what I understand,
you were damn valuable. That's so vand valuable. That day
had something called the story vitch shuttle, What the hell
was that? Tell me? What the hell could that be?
The shuttle? They were probably when they said that, they
were probably referring to Bobby Knights sesna is. Uh. He

(03:25):
had a private plane, obviously the university plane. Uh, that
used to shuttle me around or fly me around for
a better lack of terms. But that was part of
the deal when I went to Indiana, and you know,
their soccer program was certainly a large part why I
went there. Certainly, if I wasn't in the soccer realm
of things, I probably would have just ended up going

(03:47):
to Michigan, which was about thirty minutes from where I
grew up here in my hometown. But Indiana soccer drew
me to Bloomington, and uh, having that Cessna and flying
around in that Sesna in the fall on the weekends,
UH made my choice much easier. That's so badass, man.
I mean, you know, you hear about college as you know,
where guys get you know, a couple of bucks here

(04:08):
and there. But they have a private plane kind of
at your dispose. I know that take you back and
game the game, man, But damn, that's uh, that's that
sells some value right there. Bro. I tell you what,
it wasn't easy, man, it was so hard. I didn't
I didn't, you know, obviously going into it, I didn't
expect it to be so hard. I mean, I knew
it was gonna be tough on me and my schedule.
But you know, if you look at the schedule and

(04:28):
the way things were set up at Indiana, because they
were such a powerhouse. And ironically, you know, I don't
know you guys caught it last night or not. You know,
Indiana was again playing for the National Championship in soccer
and they were they were on ESPN you last night,
and unfortunately they lost to Syracuse in a in a
double overtime and the shootout and penalty kicks. Um. And

(04:51):
that was the second time in three years they've been there.
They were going for title number nine. Um, you know,
they just got the program has been stellar since the
early eighties, and uh, they were just they've been a
powerhouse for a long time. But anyway, their schedule made
it really easy for me to decide to go there
because most of the time they were playing their games
on Friday and Sundays, and so I could fit in

(05:14):
football on Saturday afternoons. So it would not be uncommon
for me to jump on a plane after a soccer
game at home on Friday night, you know, get transported
to the local airport there, catch the Sessna, fly to
the team hotel. Let's say they were playing at Penn State.
You know, we would fly. I would fly to Penn
State Friday night, get in real late to the hotel,

(05:35):
get in the room, and then Saturday, get up and
play football and then get back on the Cessna Saturday afternoon,
not fly back to Bloomington's with the football team would
go wherever the Sunday game, So that wasn't uncommon. There
was a lot of flying involved. UM a lot of
times I would fly by myself. There was two pilots
flying with me, and um I would be all by

(05:56):
myself in the back of that Sessna. And uh, it
was tired. It was very tireless weekends and really drained
and drained me up. I only did it for three years.
I couldn't do it anymore. My senior year. I had
to decide what direction to go. You know, I could
have gone overseason played in Europe professionally, but here there
was no such thing for soccer, and it just wasn't

(06:17):
available at the time like it is now. If you
take a look at the MLS. The MLS is blowing
up right now. And unfortunately back then I didn't have that.
We didn't have that back in the eighties, and so
it was my decision to go the NFL route was
very easy. And uh uh and and that's you know,
so I quit soccer my senior year, which was the
year they won another national championship. You know, three years

(06:41):
while I was there, we didn't we didn't we you know,
we didn't get there. But my senior year they won
it without me, and uh but uh, you know, it
was quite a quite an honor to watch those guys
win it. And it was such a great honor to
play for coach Yaguley, who was in the stands last night.
His son, Todd is the current coach at Indiana University
and never remember time, you know, the soccer fields and

(07:01):
the practice fields back in the day when he was
just a young kid, and to see the success that
he's having now has been remarkable. So anyway, that's a
little bit of my soccer background, you know, with Indiana
and college and flying around on and I I've got
so many stories that I can honestly share with you
about flying around on that plane. You know. I can
remember we had a game in Bloomington Friday night, and

(07:23):
it's kind of a funny story, but it was kind
of the way things were going for me that made
my decision easier my senior year to get out of there.
We had a game in Bloomington on Friday night. We
played a soccer game and after the game, I raced
over to the airport and uh, we had a game
at Kentucky, So I had to fly to Kentucky down
to Lexington for a football game on Saturday. So I

(07:44):
get to the airport, the Cessna's waiting for me, get
on the plane, and we're about to take off. It
was about eleven o'clock at night, and it was again
it was just mean. The two pilots were getting ready
to take off and then we gotta we gotta call.
That came into the pilots and they call from the
Lexington airport and they told the The pilot said we
couldn't fly in between midnight and six six am because

(08:05):
they were doing construction on the runway. So we had
we could not come in and it was about an
hour flight, so we we couldn't take off. So the
pilot turned back to me and he said, hey, Pete,
you're gonna have to go home and come back here
about five thirty in the morning, which was, you know,
it was already like eleven o'clock at night. He's like,
you're gonna have to go home and turn around and
come back here at like five thirty, and then we'll

(08:27):
have to leave at that point in time. And I
thought they were kidding. I thought this was a big joke.
There's no way this was gonna happen. So I did,
and I had to go home, and uh, you know,
I I tried to get some sleep, but you know,
I was a young kid. You know, I don't think
you know, I slept with my coat and tie. I
don't think I got any sleep. I was, I was,
I was worried about being late, so I really didn't

(08:47):
get a sleep that night, you know, tossing and turning.
I really didn't get any sleep. So I got back
in my car about five am, drove back out to
the airport, which was about fifteen twenty minutes away, and
got on the plane. We took off for Lexington. We
got into Lexington about seven seven thirty in the morning
and got the Limoit to pick me up at the

(09:09):
hotel at the airport transport me to the hotel where
the football team was staying. At about eight o'clock, I
get up, get out to the hotel, getting my key.
I'm going up the elevator and I hear, uh you know,
the doors open up to my floor and all the
coaches were standing right there, including our head coach Bill
Mallory at the time. And Coach Mallory looked at me
and I never got my ass chewed out so much.

(09:33):
He chewed my ass out like like never before. He
thought I was out partying all night. My eyes were bloodshot.
I was just tired, to be quite frank with you,
It wasn't because I was out in downtown Lexington hanging
out with the Wildcats all night. But anyway, he really
before I can get in two words, he really chewed
my ass out, and I had to explain to him

(09:54):
what exactly had happened because he hadn't heard and he
didn't know, and uh, you know, that was the beginning
of the end for me. That's kind of when things
kind of went downhill with with the soccer program, and
you know, putting soccer, I had a football which I
never did, you know, I was always football first and
that was the agreement. But unfortunately we had this incident
on the runway where I couldn't get into town. So anyway,

(10:17):
I say the least, I had a terrible game. I
don't think I made any kicks in the game. We
got our asses kicked, and uh, the next day we
got back to Bloomington on Sunday and we had a
team meeting o J. And I remember coach Mallory attacking
me in that team meeting and he know he went
after you again. Yeah, he came after me in front
in the team meeting on Sunday and he made it

(10:38):
clear he wanted me to to focus a little bit
more on the football program. And so anyway, in the least,
that was the that was the downfall of my soccer
career there. It started going south from there, and I
knew I had to make a decision. You know, it
was either one or the other, and it was not
going to Europe. So I stuck with the football thing.

(10:59):
And you know, an All American my senior year, and
you know that that basically was the extent of my
two sports drama at the at the university. So Pete,
you were, you know, as we said, the number one
rated soccer player on your way into Indiana. But then
by the time you leave, you enter the nineteen eighty
nine draft as the number one rated place kicker. Uh.
And so in the in the eighth round, which that draft,

(11:20):
by the way, you know, go back and look at
the guys that's certainly the first round, right, Dion Sanders
and and uh, I mean who Derrick Thomas was in
that draft, and Barry Sanders and everybody set that that
draft here not because I was in it, because I
knew the guys that were in the top five pretty well.
And you know, if I go down the list, four
of those five guys are Hall of famers. And uh,

(11:42):
the only guy that didn't make that list was Tony Mandridge,
who was the number two picked to Green Bay. So
as Troy was number one, Tony Mandridge was number two.
Then you had Barry Sanders, Dion Sanders, and Derrick Thomas.
Four of those five players are in the Hall of Fame.
That might be the best time five that I've ever seen. Yeah,
it's incredible. It's incredible. And it was a twelve round

(12:05):
draft back then Drew, so it was still a twelve
round draft. And in the eighth round, you know, you
get the call you've been selected by the Miami Dolphins.
I read you thought you might have been going to
Green Bay, but you're brought down in Miami, which I
have to imagine is exciting in some level. But then
the Dolphins have a very popular veteran kicker here by
the name of Fuad of eight. What do you remember

(12:26):
from that experience and just your rookie year in general. Well,
I tell you, you know, going to the combine. Going
into the combine, I was a number two rated kicker
going in, and like you said, I was a number
one kicker coming out. We had twenty five field goals
that we had to make from different spots on the field.
I made all twentive. We kicked off like five times.

(12:46):
I did that, and um so I remember coming home
from the combine. I was really excited with my performance.
I was a number one guy, and I was getting
a lot of tension from the Packers Green Bay and
was also getting a lot of attention from Cincinnati. Uh
Sam Weish was the coach at the time, and Sam
Weish was also the coach at Indiana just a few

(13:08):
years prior at Indiana University, So there was a lot
of interest there for me. You know, Jim Breach was
their kicker at the time and he was kind of
on his way out, and I think Coach Weiss was
really interested in bring me over there. And I was
a local guy from the Midwest, so it made a
lot of sense for them to look at me and
and that and Green Bay the same thing. You know,
green Bay being here in Wisconsin, and uh, they felt

(13:30):
like I could fit right in there and they needed
a kicker at the time. The reason I believe and
the reason I think I was wasn't chosen by Green
Bay is because they went with a kid out of
U TEP. Chris Jackie was his name. And the reason
they took Jackie over myself, who was the number two
rated guy, is that Chris Jackie used to kick on
grass at U Tep in Lambo Fields grass and we

(13:53):
kicked on turf in Indiana, So they felt with the
with the brother and you know, and I didn't have
a lot of experience on the grass that maybe going
with Chris Jackie was a better fit for their for
their team, and and they did. They selected him first
in the sixth round, and at that point I really
thought I was going to Cincinnati, but then you know,

(14:14):
the phone rang with the Dolphins, and uh, you know,
I was certainly super excited when I got that call.
And I remember, I remember, like you said, there was
twelve rounds and I had a kind of a get together,
a little draft party at my apartment on campus, and
unfortunately that I didn't get drafted the first day, so
it was kind of bad. So anyway, you know, we

(14:36):
we had we went on with the party anyway, and
you know, obviously the next day is when I got drafted.
The Dolphins finally made the call and I talked to
them on the phone, and uh, boy, was I what.
I was elated to come down to my Miami and
I knew I knew fod Reveys was there, and I
knew he had been doing very well. But I also
knew the reason they were drafting me because he was hurt,

(14:58):
and uh, you know, there was good chance there that
I could make the team because they didn't know the
extent of his injury and they didn't know how wrong
he would be out, and as it turned out, he
never he never did recover from that injury. And I
think a few games into the season, I think they
let him go and you know, and I took over
from there. Yeah, you sounded fortunate like I was. You know,
I thought that I might be going to a couple

(15:20):
of cold weather places, but we both ended up in Miami.
Thank goodness, right, yeah, thank god for that. Right. I
take Miami green Bay any day, let me tell you,
any day, any day. But think about it. Back then,
that was like a kiss of death if you were
going to Green Bay traded there, or or if you
know somebody or getting drafted there. But you know, eventually

(15:41):
they turned it around and started winning some games. But yeah,
no doubt about it. That was like, that was a
threat all the time. I'm gonna trade you to Green Bay,
You're gonna get drafted by green Bay. But yeah, yeah,
that was you know, that was obviously it was. It
was a great moment in my you know, a great
time for me and in coming down to Miami, and ironically,
one of my closest friends lived in Palm Beach. Because

(16:02):
I didn't know too many people down in Miami, and
I was an eighth round kicker. You know, I'm You're
not talking about a first round quarterback. You're talking about
an eighth round So you know, I wasn't exactly getting
the red carpet when I got drafted. You know, Vets
was still the guy at the time. So luckily I
had a really close friend whose dad was my high
school football coach that was living in Palm Beach at

(16:23):
the time. He's still living down there as a matter
of fact, and I talked to him quite a bit.
Luckily he was in I made the track down the
Palm Beach and uh, you know, I had a little
bit of a holdout. You know, I didn't get the
contract right away, but uh, you know, the contract got
finalized and I got into camp, and you know, we
got going from there. You know, a big step. That's
the football side. Let's talk about that transition pe from
Indiana to Miami. I mean, obviously, uh you know, it

(16:46):
was a great track down here. But by the time
I got down here, you were Mr Miami. I mean,
I mean he was flat out the man in Miami,
big set and no disrespect you. But you gotta tell
me how a place kicker become the coolest cat on
South Beach. Man, how did that happened? Well, you know,

(17:08):
we had I had a lot of fun. I will
say that we had a lot of fun. You know.
I think if you look back at the timing of things,
you know, when I got there in eighty nine, I
think right around that time, the Miami Heat were coming
into play. You know, the basketball team started up down there.
South Beach was kind of getting there, kind of second chance,
you know, they're South Beach was being revived, and uh,

(17:30):
there was a lot of stuff going on. And you know,
I might have got out a little more than I
probably should have, but you know, I made my round.
I had a really good time, and I got to
know a lot of people, of course, and you know,
it just uh, it was a lot of fun. I
used to love going out to you know, some good dinners,
drinking some fine wine or something. But I made my
rounds and I got you know, being coming from the

(17:51):
restaurant business, I knew a little bit about it with
my family background with the restaurant business. Uh, you know,
I got to know a lot of these restaurants owners
and managers that ran these places, and you know, I'd
be I'd be going there, you know weekly. You know,
I'd be going out and you know, having fun and
experiencing some great food. I love seafood too, I'd love
to go out for some seafood. So but it was

(18:13):
like it was a great time. Absolutely, And you know
what Big seth it. It didn't even really matter because
Pete showed up every Sunday and every Monday. Bro, I mean,
no matter how much he enjoyed South Beach man to
do with money, you know, on Sunday and Monday, that's
all that really matters. Well, and you know, you're you're
a guy that maybe enjoyed South Beach a night or
two yourself choose, so you have a great appreciation. I'm

(18:34):
really cool with the way he handled his business down here,
you know, because I can't. I can't throw stones and
I lived in the glass house myself, you know what
I mean. With your brother down here as well. Yeah,
brother came down. Uh. Once he graduated from Michigan State.
He uh, he wanted to get to the NFL. He could.
He didn't make it to the NFL, but the Arena
League was, you know, going and at the time, the

(18:58):
guys from hoodos Um but the they were they were
the owners of the arena team other Hooters and so
and I think Jim Jensen Crash was coaching, if I'm
not mistaken it he might have been quarterback and for him,
I don't remember, but there was a connection there, and uh,
I talked to Crash about getting my brother a shot

(19:20):
at a try out. Take a look at him and
you can definitely kick in the Arena League. So he did.
He came out and he kicked for him and they
signed him, and my brother spent two years down there,
I think, kicking for the Hooters, and uh, you know,
obviously he stayed with me, and uh he lived with
me at the times. So yeah, that was that was fun,
you know, I mean it was it was part time

(19:41):
for him, but you know, it was something he'd love
to do. And then he ended up going out to
San Jose and playing for the saber Cats out there
in the Arena League, and then then he finished up
one year and here in Detroit with the Detroit Theory.
But yeah, there was some fun times, you know, when
we were both down there kicking together for the for
the teams. Sweet, such good stuff. So Pete, you've have

(20:02):
been tied to some unbelievably memorable moments in this team's
history that you know, we we've got to go through
some of these things with you. And it was you know,
when I when I think about the name Pete Toyanovitch,
you think about one thing or two things, but the
two things when we started preparing for this juice and
I were like, oh my god, I can't believe that
Pete was a part of each one of these things.
So the first one I have came relatively early in

(20:24):
your career against the Cincinnati Bengals. You guys are dominating
the game. You've hit a fifty yard early on. You
just make a twenty two yard kick as well. You
put the Dolphins up twenty two six. You kick the
ball off as you did so often. You know it's
a touchback. But then you get blindsided by this linebacker
Alex Gordon from the Bengals. You know, he's six ft
five two or fifty pounds, and he comes over and

(20:47):
and just just knocks the ship out of it. For
lack of a better term, de cleats you. And then
he goes over the sidelines and he's yucking it up
and they're high five in each other like he did
some big thing because he caught a kicker who wasn't looking.
And you know, we had a rookie linebacker who took
issue with that. So you know, Brian Cox, next thing,
you know, he charged over the sideline and and his

(21:08):
legacy begins. I think in that moment as well, did
you even know what was going on? Because I was
launching the video, you looked like you were trying to
catch your breath or or get on your feet. Did
you even know what was happening? Well? I didn't know,
you know, I did. I got blindsided by Alex Gordon,
like you said, which was kind of you know, surprised
me because Sam Leish was the head coach, and I

(21:29):
think I had a nice relationship coming out of Indiana,
at least I thought I did. But yeah, I mean
I obviously I remember getting hit and going you know,
going to the ground, and uh it was a touchback,
and I you know, I kind of just eased up
and I just getting ready to turn to the you know,
jog off the field and turned to the sideline and

(21:49):
and and Alex Gordon just came blindside of me. It
was a it was a legal hit because he got
his bare I mean it was a legal hit, but
it was an un necessary hit because the referee had
blown the whistle for the touchback. But I think it
was so it happened so simultaneously that I don't think
he could have you know, I don't think he I

(22:10):
don't think he tried to hurt me, To be honest
with you. In his defense, I don't think he tried
to hurt me, but it was very unnecessary. You know.
I think the rule of thumb is with the kickers
and you know, blocking kickers on kickoffs or stuff like that.
I just it's you don't even when you draw up
a game plan with the special teams and kick coverages,
the kickers the only guy that's not blocked. Uh, if

(22:31):
you can't beat a kicker as a as a kick returner, right,
oh j if you can't be the kicker when you
shouldn't be returning kicks because we are not the most
athletic guys on the field, I'll tell you that anyway. Yeah.
Then Brian went over there, and I think what stirred
it up was the fact that Alex Gordon and his
teammates started high five and on the sideline. You know,

(22:51):
there were high five and that. You know, he just
knocked the crap out of a hunter and eighty pound
you know, kicker and uh but I think that's what
few of Brian a little it and that. Uh So, yeah,
so Brian went over there, and you know he was
gonna you know, you know, Brian, Brian comes from a
tough neighborhood here in the Midwest. He comes from St. Louis,
and he's no joke, you know, and we all know

(23:12):
about Brian Cox and uh, you know, he can be
a tough son of a gun, you know. So he
went over there and he challenged those guys and I
think he wanted to go after Alex Gordon and he did. Yeah,
and I think the play after right after that, I
think Vesty Jackson got a face mask, you know, that
was pulled and on the same sideline over there on
the Bengal sideline, which uh led to the next scuffle

(23:32):
the very next playing up and again. Uh and so yeah,
that was that was intense for that those few players
there and you know the Bengals game and yeah, I
certainly recall that and I don't know if that put
Brian Cox on the map. But it's sure, It's sure
helped his name a little bit when he went over
to the sideline and wanted to take on the entire
teams days. I bet you do, Juic say so. But

(23:57):
what I'm wondering, Peter, is that you know, once you
kind of catch win of what's going on, is there
are a part of you saying like, oh man, you
know I don't want any part of this, Like how
you know all this is happening, because I can just
imagine Coach Schula. The last thing he wants is someone
losing his cool, losing fifteen yards, personal fouls, all that thing.
And you were kind of just minding your own business,
and now you're at the center of this this brawl. Well,

(24:19):
I I was, you know, obviously I was in no
condition to go up there and stand up for myself,
and I think anyway, but you know, I, you know,
the only thing that I was concerned about obviously was
being able to walk off the field and get back
in the game, because obviously I didn't want to be
held out of the game. So I was concerned I
might back. I think it hurt me, it might have,
you know, shock my back a little bit, and you know,

(24:40):
I think my back was hurt on that. You know,
I wasn't paying too much attention to what was going
on the sideline as much as I was just more
concerned about getting back in the game. I hear it.
So year later, you're involving. You had another classic beat.
At this point, you know, you become the most accuricicker
in the league in league history, and you end up
leading the league and scoring and are selected to as
an All Pro that year too. But in the second

(25:02):
to last game of the regular season, those Thinking Jets
come to town. You know how much we love them.
Right now, now here's how we set the scene. The
Jets have, you know, justice in their lead, seventeen ten
with a little more than four minutes of play. Of course,
Danny being Danny, hits Tony Martin on a quick slant
on fourth and two, which Tony takes fifty five yards
to the house. All right, okay, and then the drum begins.

(25:25):
You missed the extra point instead of time, the game
is seventeen all we're down seventeen sixteen with two and
a half minutes to go. And to top it all off,
the Jets defensive coordinator a guy who we all know
very well. Pete Carroll is grabbing his throat in the
opposite sideline, screaming that you choked. Talk about that a
little bit. Yeah, well, you know that's uh, you know,
that was another one of those times in my career

(25:48):
where you know, they they I missed the extra point.
I'm not you know, I'm not sure exactly how I
missed it, you know, I don't you know, obviously I
didn't miss a lot of those. But my footing might
have gone on me or something I just did. The
ball might have got slightly tipped, but none. Nonetheless, I
missed a kick and we got down there, we got
a chance to win the game. I think it was
a thirty seven yard field Yeah, I'm gonna ask you that,

(26:11):
because you know you got you got a defense, got
a three and out Danny now, yeah, And I think
we lined up for a field goal there at the
end of the game, the last play the game, and
I made the kick and we celebrated. I think it
was a Sunday night game, if I'm not mistaken too,
it was. It was a national TV and I think
that's why the whole peak Hero choke sign was kind

(26:31):
of overblown a little bit because it was a national
TV and it was caught on national TV. So yeah,
so he gave me the choke sign after after the
he was their special team's coach and gave me the
choke sign after the miss p a T. But obviously
he didn't have much to say after the field there.
But in this defense, not that they're giving me the

(26:52):
choke sign was the right, you know, thing to do.
But after the game, I don't know if many people
are aware of this and not after the game, you know,
Harvey Green O J. Came up to me after we finished,
uh with prayer and all that, and coach who gave
us his you know, post game speech, Harvey Green came
up to me, who was our public relations director, and

(27:13):
he came up to me and said, hey, Pete, coach,
Pete Carroll's outside the locker room. He'd like to come
into the locker room and apologize to you and I
and I looked at Harvey, and you know, at this time,
I don't I didn't know anything about the choke sign
because obviously I was on the field and I wasn't
paying attention to it, so I didn't know exactly what
Harvey was talking about. I'm like, Harvey, what exactly are

(27:36):
you talking about? Why is Pete Carroll want to come
apologize to me? He's like, well, when you missed that
extra point, you know, he gave you the choke sign
on the sideline and they caught it on National TV
and they were kind of making fun of it or
talking about it. And he obviously he knew that they
caught it, and he wants to come in and apologize.
I said, well, it's fine, let him in. So he

(27:56):
did come up to my locker after the game and
shook my hand, hey, you know, patting me on the back,
and he did apologize. He's like, I'm sorry for the gesture. Congratulations,
great kick to win it. Go luck to you the
rest of the way. So I will give him that,
you know, showed a lot of class. You know, obviously
the gesture was uncalled for. But he did come in
and apologize to me. But he's not one of my

(28:18):
favorite people, to be honest with him, he's not one
of my favorite people. I know. He's been very successful
at USC and now in Seattle. But anyway, that was
the Peat Carroll story and it was a big deal
at the time, but you know, I don't talk about
it much. That's great. I've never heard that part of
a big stiff. You heard that part of no. And
you know, I worked for Harvey for eight years. I've

(28:39):
known him forever. I hadn't heard that. You know, I can't.
I'm gonna have to call him after this and ask him.
But that's really cool. So that what that tells me
is because usually what happens is the NPR person they're
sitting there, they're watching the game, but then they also
have in their ear because we have the broadcast television.
You know, it's it's all in the press box, but
you know, usually the volumes down because we're watching the
game or listening to the press box announcer, but the

(29:01):
HEADPR person is listening. So if anything is not writing
anything is inappropriate. And if you go back and watch
it on YouTube, now they're watching it like, oh, there's
a happy Pete Carroll defensive court. Whoa, whoa. You know,
they were kind of at that time point in time.
I think now if a guy gets a choke sign,
it's a little different, but at that point in time,
it was really something unexpected. As you said, national television
every camera caught it, so I I have to imagine

(29:24):
his PR director went down and said, hey, coach, just
so you know, everybody in the world saw that you
signal choke and you're probably gonna have to answer for
it because he came back and won the game. So
that's very classy that he did that. That's really cool
to hear that side of the story because all I
knew was the choke sign. Yeah, no, it it. You know,
I'm sure there's not a lot of people out there
that know about it. I'm not even sure you know,

(29:44):
I talked about it in the in the papers or
the media the day after, but uh, it was. It was.
It was, you know, nice of him to come in
and apologize and you know, move on from there. But
I'm sure a lot of people don't know about that. No,
And you know what, we need a good rivalry, right,
Dolphins need to dislike the Jets, and why not have
one more reason to do so. So that's great when

(30:07):
you start talking about the Jets. I thought you were
gonna talk about the James Hasty when he knocked me
flat on my ask too, and he blindsided me on
a blocked field goal that they returned for a touchdown. Uh,
and I'm you know, James Hassey is a great guy.
Was turned into be one of my teammates out in
Kansas City. But I was lying up for a field
were against the Jets, and they blocked the kick and

(30:31):
I gotta bounce right up to one of the return
guy or one of the defenders, and James Hassey came
out of nowhere blindsided me. And if you've ever been
by James Hasty, you know you're you're lucky because we
can lay it on you. So you know. Yeah, so
he's a tough dude and he laid me out and
that hurt just as much as that Alex Gordon. To

(30:51):
be honest with you, it's funny because I thought you
were going to bring that up. But well, Pete, you know,
back in the day, that was the thing. Though you know,
hut kickers and quarterbacks. They've gotten rid of that in
football now, man, but that was always the key. Man.
You you know, you take one of those guys out
pertains the hoping Plexio football game, you know, your backup kickers,
not PiZZ out of our backup quarterbacks, not Dan Marino,

(31:14):
you know what I mean. So it was like yeah,
it was tough. Well, I you know, you know, you know,
you remember the late Reggie Roby, you know, God rest
his soul, you know, a good friend of mine who
passed away several years ago. I'm not sure, o J.
I can't remember if you were with us or not.
We were in Cleveland for a Monday night game, and
like you said, the punter, you know, normally took the

(31:34):
kicking duties and the kicker would take over the punning
duties if one of us got hurt during the course
of a game. And I did some punting obviously in
high school, and I wouldn't mess around with it in
college a little bit, but I never had to step
into a game situation and punt. And we were in Cleveland.
I don't remember what year was. Reggie punted his very
first punt. He punted in Cleveland. It was a Monday

(31:57):
night game and he was running down the old and
he blew out as Achilles. And I don't know if
you remember that or not, but he blew out as Achilles. So,
you know, three minutes into the game, I were without
a punter. So you know, obviously you know I'm called
on the punt now for the rest of that game.
So it wasn't that that I was worried about. It
was the first point of that game that scared me

(32:18):
the most because I don't ever forget. And this is
a funny story I'll tell people. The very first time
I had to get into the game and punt, we
were backed up like way deep, like on our old
three yard line and four yard line on the side
of the dog Pound of all places, because now I
had to go in the game. In my first punt,
my heels were on the back of the end zone,

(32:40):
right in front of the dog pound, and I was
getting with a bunch of dog biscuits from the dog
biscuits at me while sitting there waiting for the ball
to come back. So that that that was one of
the scariest moments as a punter I can remember. But
you know, we're on to kick a few, you know,
with four or five punts the game. But whatever, I

(33:00):
think we ended up winning that game. But uh, like
you said, oh J, there's not you know you heard
a kicker punter is not necessary. So more big moments
ninety we'll move on in There were a couple of
big moments, but the first one actually took place in
the off season on a movie set ace Ventura, right,
you know, and so we got to talk about ace Ventura.

(33:21):
We've had some of your teammates on here and uh
and you know, kim Bo Camper has been on. Marco Coleman.
He's still talking about the trailer you got to hang
out in before his scene. But you know, Dan Marino,
Jim Carey creates cinematic history, and so many of your teammates.
As we said, even Coach Shula got in on the fun.
But I had no idea until Bobby Monica was a

(33:42):
guest on this show that you know. We knew iron
Horns Finkle and Finkel as iron Horn, but I didn't
know that Finkel was also Stoyanovitch. You're gonna go there
with fish Tank Baby sounds like this? Oh boy, well

(34:03):
that was that was uh, you know interesting. You know
if I, you know, to go through the script and
what I had to go through is kind of funny
and it's embarrassing at the same time too, to be
honest with you, and I can't they're actually gonna ask
me to do this, but oh yeah, well, I guess
it's the last time we're gonna get Pete. You're gonna

(34:23):
have to make the asp next time because he's not
saying yes to me. Well, I'm gonna do it for
you anyway, because it is kind of funny. So, you know,
we did this scene on the pier in Fort Lauderdale.
I can't remember where it was at. And I was
asked to come on the set to kick to kick,
and obviously, you know, you don't turn something like that down.
So I got to the set, you know again the trailer. Uh,

(34:46):
you know, I had a great time. It was early morning,
about six thirty am. Got there and Courtney Cox and
Sean Young and Jim Carey come in, and you know,
you know, and I owned a comedy club for a
long time, and I gotta tell you, I and a
lot of funny, funny faces and funny comedians in my time.
But that that one hour or that forty five minutes

(35:06):
in that trailer with Jim Carey was probably the funniest
time I've ever had with with an individual, one of
the funniest guys I've ever met, anyway, to say the least.
We made our way over to the pier and I
had to get dressed for this piece that we were
gonna do, uh this, and and I didn't know that
they were going to actually dress me like Finkle or

(35:28):
iron Horn. I guess, right, so you know, and and
you know I was I was okay with getting dressed
to some degree, but what they had dressed me with
was kind of embarrassing, and I was kind of embarrassed
about it. But you couldn't see my face in the shot.
So they actually had to put a They had me
look like Iron Horn here at the time, the lady

(35:51):
detective right, Sean Young, and they had me put on
a skirt and high heels and one pair of pennys
wasn't gonna work because of my hairy legs, so they
made me put on two pairs of panty holes. But
they weren't gonna film me from the front, so you
couldn't see my face, so they were filming me from behind.
And we go out on the pier and we're all
sitting there and you know, Marino, I think, was there

(36:13):
with us, and they had asked me to kick a
football off off a t and put it through the
ceiling of the pier where there was just cut out
in the pier. It looked like the size of a
basketball rim, you know it was, but it wasn't very big.
And they asked me to kick it, and yields kick
this ball through the roof, and I looked up at

(36:33):
the director and I thought he was out of his mind.
I thought he was crazy. So he wanted me to
try it. So the first time I tried it, honest,
honest to god, I couldn't believe. I almost almost did it.
The ball like I hit the rim. It didn't go through,
but it hit the rim, and it was very close. Boy,
that was about as close as I was going to
get because the rest of it even at the anyway, well,

(36:53):
I wasn't I wasn't closed. So the second time I
try it, I kicked the ball again. The second time,
my high heel homes flying off and goes into the water.
They got guys deep, you know, they got guys in
the water diving after my shoe. So they pull it out.
I try again. Take three, Take four, Take five. None
of this is even coming close. Finally the director got

(37:14):
all fed up, at which I was getting upset about
two because there's no chance I was gonna do it.
I thought maybe beginners luck in the beginning, but no chance.
So after about ten cuts and ten tries, the director
came over and said, cut this ship right now, forget
about it. I'm gonna kick it. We're gonna take that
cut right there, and we're gonna have Marino throw a
spiral through that through that hole, and that'll be the kick.

(37:38):
So if you look closely in the movie, you'll see
that that ball that's kicked from me, it's actually a
spiral going through that roof, you know, throwing the ball
through the roof. So that's my aspun tur movie. I mean,
you know, I don't like to talk about that a
lot because that is embarrassing, but I'd like to keep
it at I was in the Aspen Tour movie and

(38:00):
that was it that I had. Well, thanks for sharing,
and I appreciate it, even if it's severed our relationship
here moving forward. Well, Pete, that wasn't the only big
kick you made ninety three, man, I mean, that was
my rookie year. And uh, there was one game I
will never ever forget growing up, you know, watching this

(38:21):
game every year on TV on Thanksgiving. Then the game
in Dallas, you know, all the damp snow keep fires
with the snow Angel and you tell us about that one,
Pete tell us about that that that moment, well, you
know that that that's still probably one of my most
memorable memorable moments, oh J. You know, it often gets
brought up, especially on Thanksgiving Day, gets brought up, and

(38:43):
it gets shown a lot. It's one of the most
remarkable plays thanks to Leon Lattin. I mean, it wasn't
It wasn't so much the field goal at the end
as much as it was Leon Lattin leading up to
the field goal. You know, the circumstances that took place.
But you know, I remember, you know, we flew into
Dallas on Wednesday, and I remember, you know, it's snowing
and it just was snowing and snowing, and Dallas hadn't

(39:06):
seen snow ever. I don't think. I think there might
have been the first time I've ever snowed there. But
you know, then mean you get up on Thursday and
Thanksgiving morning and it was still snowing outside. So it
was kind of you know, it was gonna be kind
of weird going out to Texas Stadium, you know, even
though they had to tarp on the field for a
couple of hours prior to the game. Uh. Once they

(39:26):
took that tarp off, the field was covered and snow
because it snowed the whole time. So I had I
had problems with my footing obviously out there. I think
I missed a couple of kicks and lined up for
the game winner there at the end from forty some
yards out. Obviously I just got blocked. And all the
elas had to do was stay away from it because
the field, the ball went down the field, so you

(39:48):
just get away from it. But leon Lett then come,
you know, he wanted I don't know if he wanted
to be a hero or if he just didn't know
the rules. I think he just wanted to recover the
fumble that, you know what he thought might have been
a a free ball, you know. Uh So I don't
think he meant to do obviously what he did. But
he slipped and fell and his you know, his body,

(40:09):
his foot touched the ball and he moved the ball
for us. He became a live ball. And uh, I'm
trying to remember who jumped on it. I think it
might have been Uh, I think it might have been Dellenbach,
one of my offensive linemen. I think that was a
Jeff I'm not even sure. A bunch of guys trying
to get at that slippery pig right, So it might
have been uh Burt Widener or Jeff dlb I, I

(40:30):
can't remember who recovered it. But then there was uh,
you know, don't even we got the ball back and
they weren't quite sure where to place the ball for
the you know, we had three seconds left to go
in the game, and so Doug Peterson was my holder
in that game, and uh, Doug and I were We're
trying to find the right spot so we can kind
of clear off the field a little bit because the
field was frozen. You know, at this point it was frozen.

(40:52):
There's a lot of snow, and so we cleared off
one spot and the roughways moved the ball again, so
then we had to clear off another the spot, and
then he decided to move the ball back again. So
there was a lot of confusion on where the ball
was actually gonna get snapped on to finish the game.
So in the end, we finally got it. We finally
got the ball, you know, in the right spot, and

(41:14):
you know, it was a short field, it was nineteen
yards and you know, I wasn't missing this kick. You know,
with the second opportunity, the only the only thing I
was really concerned about is my footing because it was
a little icy. But I wasn't missing this kick, and
you know, I went on to make the kick, and
I think at the time Dallas was rolling. We were
rolling two at the time, and uh, we were looking
to get into the playoffs as well. And uh, but unfortunately,

(41:37):
I think after that game, I think we ended up
losing like the last four or five games that year, uh,
and got us kicked out of the playoffs. And Dallas
went on that you had to win the rest of
their games. And I think they ended up winning the
Super Bowl that year. Uh, they beat Buffalo. I think
it was a ninety three. Am I right about that?
I don't know. I think they, Yeah, it was it
waste week after that game, we ever won again and

(42:01):
they never lost again. Yeah. Yeah, I think that might
have piste off Jimmy Johnson, which is a whole nother
story with this guy, I think in Miami. Well that's
a that's a great segue, as we like to say here.
And Uh, I now realized, juice, that I carved this
thing up, given myself all the bad questions. So Pete

(42:22):
may never talk to me again. But since you just
since you just brought it up. Uh So my first
year with the team, my internship year was he mentioned
Harvey Green earlier. I was, you know, I had the
opportunity to intern under Harvey and really fulfilling a lifelong
dream because I grew up a Dolphins fan. I grew
up down here, and so not only was I getting
this opportunity to work here, but I was My co

(42:42):
workers were Dan Marino, O, Jim McDuffie, Louis Oliver, Pete Todyanovitch.
I thought, but that didn't last very long. I don't
know how much you want to get into or how
much you'd like to talk about it, but what I
do remember is it was for me as just this
young guy breaking into profession. It was like the Holy smokes,
This is a business and sometimes it's a nasty business.

(43:04):
And I the way it happened. But I also remember
that you were pretty emotional when you know, we had
to bring out there and you talk to the press,
and that was just that's what made me realize these
aren't just robots, This isn't just fantasy football. There are
real people with real emotions and real connections to the
cities they play in and all of these things. And
it was that experience that that kind of made me

(43:25):
understand all that well, you know, and I will talk
about it, you know, because there's you know, there's probably
things that people don't know that might have led up
to the trade. You know, it was emotional for me
because that season or the season before, I had been
with the Dolphins now six or seven years. You know,
I was having a nice career down there, and I

(43:46):
was doing well, and it's getting out in the community
and and doing a lot of work and charity stuff,
and it was really my home away from home, to
be quite honest with you. And you know, then I
just got I just signed a big contract I think
was the top I wasn't the top paid kicker need
league at the time, but I think it was number
two behind Morton Anderson. But I signed that contract. Jimmy

(44:09):
Johnson had come in, and I think a couple of things,
uh that might have spurred that trade. I remember when
we had our first team meeting with Jimmy Johnson and
and O J was there, and he'll tell you I
had gone to coach Johnson, and I had told him
that I was in the process. Over the last several months,
they're getting ready to open up my my my restaurant,

(44:31):
my sports bar here in the suburban Detroit area. My
family had been involved in for years. You know, I
kind of helped them. I took it over and remodeled
the whole place and turned it into a really nice
place called it Kickers. And anyway, I had asked Jimmie
Johnson at the time that if I could miss that
team meeting. This was our first team meeting, and that

(44:52):
was probably the biggest mistake I made right there. So
obviously he let me go because I was just a kicker,
and I don't think he had to much to say
to me, but he let me go to my grand opening.
I had the grand opening of my restaurant, a ribbon
cutting ceremony here in in in town, and you know,
the mayors are going to be here, the you know,
the press, and it was a big deal. It was
a big deal for me, for my family. And so

(45:15):
number one, I think that that was that was part
of the problem, because Jimmy Johnson didn't like that if
you were playing football and his team, you were playing football.
And he didn't want you thinking about any other business
or doing anything else besides football, which is understandable. I
get it. I understand that the other thing, like he
was alluded to earlier, it might have been the bad

(45:36):
uh the bad taste he had in his mouth. And
Thanksgiving Day. I don't know, you can ask him, but
so maybe you know those few things and and and
the last thing I want to talk about is I
think the most important thing was. Ednie Murray is a
dear friend of mine. He used to kick for the
Lions for a long time. I grew up idolizing Ednie Murray.

(45:57):
He was a kicker for the Lions, went on the
kick for Dallas and Jimmy Johnson when they won a
Super Bowl. He was a kicker, I believe in ninety four,
so I think some around that time. Uh So we
stayed in touch and Eddie reached out to me right
after I signed my contract, which made me the highest
paid kicker in the league, and he said, Pete, listen,
as a friend, I want to I want you to
be careful with Jimmy Johnson. He doesn't like paying his kickers.

(46:21):
And now I just signed I just signed a six
year extension with the Dolphins. I wanted to be in Miami.
Turned down a lucrative deal with the Patriots to go
up to New England. But again, like we talked about
earlier in the in the session here, who wants to
kick in in cold weather? Who wants to play in
cold weather? I certainly didn't want to go to New England,
but to go up there and play for Bill Bursts
Bill Parcels would have been an honor. But I turned

(46:44):
that down. And and in my agent, Drew Rosenhouse, who's uh,
you guys are very familiar with, And I told Drew, listen,
I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay
in Miami. So we got the contract done. I took
less money to stay there. But Jimmy Johnson didn't like
the fact that I was one of the highest paid
kickers in the lead because he didn't like paying his kickers.
And that's what Eddie told me. I'm like, well, I
was like. My response was Eddie, well he's not you know,

(47:06):
what's he gonna do? Get rid of me? And sure
enough he got rid of me. He traded me. So
that was a big shock in itself. And I think
that was the Probably It wasn't that I was a
bad kicker. I mean, I was still making kicks. I
was still pretty good at the time, you know. So
I think I had a lot to do with the
salary cap. I think it had a lot to do
with me being one of the highest paid kickers in

(47:27):
the league. But the emotional side of it was. The
emotional side of it was I had just gotten married
to my first wife down in South Florida. She was
a South Florida gale, and uh, we were building our
you know, our our relationship are are you know, we're
building our lives together down there, and uh and she
was a South Florida girl, and you know, I just

(47:47):
signed this extension. I really didn't think I was gonna
go anywhere. I thought I was gonna be a Dolphin
for life, to be quite honest with you. That was
my that was my projection, and that's what I expected.
And we just got back from our honeymoon. We spent
two three weeks in Europe before the preseason, and uh,
maybe the timing of that wasn't very good because it
happened right before the preseason, but it did and U uh,

(48:11):
you know that, you know that it kind of it
turned my world upside down in a lot of different
ways personally and professionally. It turned my world upside down.
But uh, anyway that that, I think that that's the
story that needs to be told that people really don't
understand that. You know, the trade was the trade, but
it was my personal life that was affected as well. Uh,

(48:32):
and all the all the relationships that I had down
there in South Florida, and the tears in that press
conference were uh, certainly they weren't tears of joy because
I was getting traded. They were tears of sorrow because
I was losing a lot of friends in the area
that I had made over the past seven you know,
seven years that I was there and the relationships that
I that I established, So that was the biggest thing.

(48:54):
And certainly, you know, leaving the fan of the p
and my wife and whatnot their family behind was hard too,
So that that that was tough for me. Yeah, that
was very tough for me. But you know, we're not
in the Kansas City and it turned out well for me,
and I had some great years there in Casey and
spent five years there, and but uh, you know, I
would have loved have been in Miami for the remainder

(49:15):
of those five or six years that I played out
and just been a Dolphin for life. But unfortunately it
didn't pan out that way, you know, Pete, and I noticed,
you know, I'm on the alumni advisory board down here,
and I noticed that, you know, you haven't been back much.
Is that is that part of the reason you haven't
had a chance to get back. I know you're busy
up north Man, but I mean, is there still a
reason that you know you don't come back as often? Well?

(49:36):
You know, oh J, It's fun you say that, because
one day I will come back, and I'll probably come
back for good when I'm ready to retire. I I
moved back. I moved out of South Florida for a
couple of different reasons. But you know, I haven't been
back much, and it's really got nothing to do with um. Really,
it's got nothing to do with what I went through
personally or professionally with the team. I love the Dolphins,
I loved I love the Dolphins. I love the Chiefs.

(49:58):
I have no you know, the Chiefs hut me in
the middle of the season. And so if there's any
team that I should be more bitter at It's the Chiefs,
you know, and they kind of ended my career when
they cut me right, you know, midway through the season
and two thousand for no apparent reason. But well I
know the reason for that. But I am not better
towards a team. Unfortunately, I haven't made it down to
South Florida as much as I would have liked. I

(50:19):
was down there a few years ago again, Harvey took
us on a tour of the new stadium and what
Steven Ross has done there, and and I'm excited to
come back again. I've been to Florida now with the
family several times, but it's because of I've got three
daughters and all three of them, two of them dance,
and we come down to Orlando, and we go to
Orlando to Disney quite a bit for the dance competitions,

(50:40):
and again in the Panhandle. But I haven't been to
South Florida much. But it has nothing to do with
my exit from from there many years ago. I still
love the team, I love the people down there, and
you know what, you'll probably see me around South Florida
here rules soon more and more, because uh, right now,
I'm looking for a place to to get uh and

(51:00):
and call home away from home again. I love that, man,
go can we miss you, bro? We love the heavy
back down whenever you get a team. Oh yeah, I
miss it too, believe I. And and you know, I'm
up here in the cold weather. It's probably fifteen degrees
outside right now. It's not very warm up here, so uh,
you know, I I'll tell you how it is here
right now. Okay, I'm sure it's pretty warm down there.

(51:22):
You know it didn't obviously. You know I love to
play golf, I don't, you know, So once once I'm
done doing a lot of the things I'm doing here
with my business. And you know, I'm coaching high school
sports right now, and I've been doing that for years,
and coaching the boys and girls varsity soccer teams here
at my local high school where my kids go to school.
So I'm pretty active in the community here. I really

(51:43):
love what I'm doing right now with with everything in
my professional life and my private life. And but one
day I definitely see myself coming down there, o J
and spending more time down there, and maybe even settling
down to you know, down there when when I'm all
retired up here, all right, Pete, So were in every
episode of the Fifth Tank with our with our two
minute drill, and I know that you spend most of

(52:05):
the two minute drill, you know, over there kicking the
ball into the net, while the rest of us, you know,
we're down there working. Now, just get you close enough
to bring us home, brother, right, but this is your
opportunity to make those plays, your chance, all right. So
we're gonna put two minutes on the clock, d J. Priest,
gonna put two minutes on the clock, and we're going
to fire off some questions at you and see if
you can get us another big dub. All right, here

(52:27):
we go, Pete. Which coach was tougher to deal with
after missing a kick? Was it Don Shula or Mike
west Off? Mike west Off? Why yeah, Mike, Mike wouldn't
you know, it wouldn't let it go too much, you know,
because he knew I was very capable. But Coachilla didn't
want to get in your face too much, because just
that was just at a pressure that I probably didn't need.

(52:48):
All right. Lendo Murray, who grew up in Cooper City, Florida,
just a few miles from the Dolphins Old Davy training
camp told us that he was inspired to make the
move from soccer to football because with photo of you
leaning on corvette. Do you remember the photo and who
was it? I do remember the photo as a matter
of fact. I think I have that big front page

(53:09):
article framed in and hanging downstairs on my man cave.
But I do remember the photo was a photo shoot
I did, I think for one of the papers down there,
and yeah, that was funny, and the photo was I
don't know. It was this whole Tom Creus thing that
was going on back then that uh they were calling
me the Tom Clues look alike, you know, and they
made me pose on a corvette. I don't know why

(53:31):
I did it. I probably would never do it again,
to be honestly, all right, Listen, we just talked about it,
and there were other kicks we didn't even cover. You
made a ton of huge kicks in your career. Is
the one that stands out as the biggest? Well, you know,
that's a great question, Seth. I you know, I don't
know if there's one significant kick, because there's been a
couple of big, big kicks that I've had in my career,

(53:53):
and one of them is still an NFL record to
this day. It's the playoff the longest kick in the
play outset I had with the Dolphins, ironically against Kansas
City in the White Card Game down in Miami, I
kicked the fifty eight yard or so. That had to
be one of the biggest ones. And uh I had, uh,
you know, my fifty nine yarder with the Jets, my
rookie against the Jets, my rookie year when coach Shu

(54:15):
has sent me out in the meadowlands, which was the
third longest kick in NFL history at the time. That
was a big kick too, I think. So there's there's
been a few. I can't really point my finger on one,
but there's been a you know, the Dallas the Thanksgiving
Day kick, even though it wasn't very far, that was
a big kick because I am National TV. Everyone's watching
Thanksgiving Day, Uh, the snow Dallas, all the the you know,

(54:36):
all the hype of the game. I think that was
another big kick, even though it was a shorter distance. Uh.
That you know, being carried off the field certainly was
an honor of the guys. And you know, that plane
ride home was just so much fun and the joy
we had the fun we had, but I can't put
my finger on one set, to be honest with I
know I was a long answer, but it was a
tough question because I honestly, I don't have one kick.

(54:59):
There's been so the big kicks that I that I remember.
It's like asking who's your favorite kid? Right, So yeah,
I mean those were some good ones, and I think
for for people who are listening right now, I think
you just gave him a lot of great memories. Thank you.
I appreciate it. The final question, Pete, here we go.
You know I said earlier in the show that you
were the man down here walk us through a week

(55:19):
of Storio in South Florida. Well, uh, typically, I mean,
you know, there were there were a lot of you know,
a lot of fun spots and again a lot of
great restaurants, a lot of great clubs. And certainly we're
not hanging in the clubs during during the season as
much as you would maybe in the off season. But
you know, I can recall, you know, Monday nights. I
remember Crocos on Monday night. I would uh, you know,

(55:42):
they would pay me to, you know, endorse their place
pretty much. I would, you know, I would probably hear
a crocos on a Monday night in the offseason, maybe
uh Wednesday, I would make my way over to uh
maybe Christopher's or September's in Fort Lauderdale. Always a fun
spot to go to Friday nights a lot of times,
you know, we'd be uh at been any boatyard over
on seventeen Street there after coming off a law Solos,

(56:05):
we used to go to La Solos on Friday night.
Um and then Saturday, you know, sometimes you make it
down to Soft Beach on the weekend or Saturday or
Sunday if you had time to get down to the
Mr Last was a hang out close by to my home.
I used to frink with that quite a bit. It's
a fun place to go eat and hang out. So
that was a fun hang out. And then there was

(56:26):
a friend of mine who owned DT Riots that was
over in uh Pembroke Pines, a little little sports bar
that a friend of mine owned from Detroit and that's
why it was called dt Riots. After games, you know,
sometimes after games on Sunday, afternoons or Sunday evenings, we'd
go over there and have a few drinks and some
food and uh. That was always a fun place to
hang out. And then you know, you make your way

(56:48):
to shooters whenever you could. You can make your way
to Hooters, you know, whenever you could Shooters Hooters. God,
they're all the same. I don't know. We had a
lot of fun, a lot of great restaurants, a lot
of great memories. You know. Cafe Monolat was one of
my favorite places. Yesterday's was a great restaurant. I used
to frequent all the time. You know, I can't say enough. Uh.
There was just so much to do, and I had

(57:08):
a lot of fun, believe I. And and sometimes I
feel like maybe that uh I wish I would have
slowed down at times, but it was hard because uh,
I just it was so much more. It was tough.
It was tough. I mean I knew, you know, I
was very professional. I knew when I had to be
to work, and I knew, you know, I knew what

(57:28):
I had to do, and uh, there was no taking Uh.
I respected my job, I respected my profession and UH
never got in trouble, never was late for practice or
a meeting. But you know, I took advantage of the
great uh surroundings down there, the great restaurants the beaches,
and it was just it's just, you know, a lot
of fun. So I mean, I love South Florida, I

(57:51):
love Florida in general, and you might see me down
there sooner than later. Well, we can't wait till you're
back down and juice. By the way, this is what
happens when a kicker does a two minute drill. He
takes as much time as he wants because as long
as he's got time to get a kick off, he
knows he can make it. And so you know, he's
not stressed about that. We didn't go We're gonna go
to may Day? May Day, dud. We we we didn't have
to go to may Day, did we? I love it,

(58:13):
absolutely love it. Well, Pete, thank you so much. You've
been so gracious with your time, You've laughed with us.
You you know, appreciate your kind of um litten us in.
You know, I didn't know. I was like, man, I
sometimes I do this to myself where I line it
up where I'm asking the tough questions. So I'm glad
that you're still willing to come and see us despite
the questions that we're here. But it was so much fun.

(58:33):
It was really really great to have you here. Well listen,
I I got. I can't thank you guys enough, and
I you know again, I'm sorry for getting back to
you as late as I did. UM certainly excited to
do this guys with you and catch up on some
of our you know, history and pass o J obviously
we've been teammates for a long time and it's great
seeing you again. And I hope everything's while down there.
You know, keep my eyes on the Dolphins and we

(58:55):
you know, I route for him every week and I
hope they do well, and I hope they and make
their way out the Phoenix this year or even get
to the playoffs. You who knows. I may come down
for a playoff game, but I'm there in heart, believe me.
I may not be there physically, but I'm there in
heart and you know, spirit and uh rooting for you
guys all the time. And I miss being down there,

(59:16):
and but I'll be back to Under soon enough. And
you know, I'm once a Dolphin, always a Dolphin, and
I'm really proud of that. And it's great to see
you guys and talk to you guys, and I appreciate
you guys having me on again. Yeah, that's right, Pete man.
It was well worth the wait man and we definitely
appreciate the diving in with the buddy. Thanks oh Jake,

(59:40):
I'm sitting down with Stephanie living O j well and
this is strictly what I'm tru Number one one of course,
this all of never sports Dog