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Don Cockroft

Don Cockroft

Cockroft in 1978
No. 12
Position:	Punter / Placekicker
Personal information
Born:	(1945-02-06) February 6, 1945 (age 79) Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:	195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High school:	Fountain-Fort Carson (Fountain, Colorado)
College:	Adams State
NFL draft:	1967 / Round: 3 / Pick: 55
Career history
Cleveland Browns (1968–1980)
Career highlights and awards
PFW Golden Toe Award (1972) Cleveland Browns Legends
Career NFL statistics
Field goal attempts: 328 Field goals made: 216 Field goal %: 65.9
Player stats at PFR

Donald Lee Cockroft (born February 6, 1945) is an American former professional football player who was a punter and placekicker for 13 seasons with the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He has the third most career points for a Brown behind fellow kickers Phil Dawson (second) and Lou Groza.

Cockroft served as the Browns' primary punter and placekicker for the first nine seasons of his career. In 1977, he dropped punting from his duties and became solely a placekicker. He and Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker/punter Dave Green were two of the last NFL players to lead their teams in both punting and kicking in the same season (1976).

He was involved in the January 4, 1981, American Football Conference divisional play-off game versus the Oakland Raiders. Cockroft missed field goals from 47 and 30-yards in the second quarter. The Browns scored a touchdown on a 42-yard interception by Ron Bolton with 6:02 left in the second quarter, but the extra point attempt by Cockroft was blocked. Cleveland would lose the game 14-12, a game which is nicknamed Red Right 88.

Later NFL players to have this dual role were Steve Little of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979, Russell Erxleben of the New Orleans Saints briefly in 1979 and 1980, and Frank Corral for the Los Angeles Rams in 1980 and 1981.

• Interview with Don Cockroft conducted by Dan Coughlin at the Cleveland Public Library Sports Research Center on August 8, 2013.

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