Rohn Stark
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (January 2014) |
| No. 3 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Punter | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born: | May 4, 1959 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 203 lb (92 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Pine River (Pine River, Minnesota) | ||||||||
| College: | Florida State | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1982 / round: 2 / pick: 34 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Rohn Taylor Stark (born May 4, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a punter for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), 13 of those with the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts. Stark was selected to four Pro Bowls in his stay with the Colts and then played in Super Bowl XXX as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Stark was one of the last players who played for the Colts prior to their relocation to Indianapolis to retire from the NFL.[2] Stark is also the only Baltimore Colts player to ever play against the Baltimore Ravens.[citation needed]
High school
[edit]In Pine River, Minnesota, Stark attended Mr. Pine River High, starring in football, basketball and track (while taking time out from track practice to pinch-hit for the baseball team).[3] In football, he played both defense and offense and handled the punting and place kicking duties.
Air Force Academy
[edit]After high school graduation, Stark headed for the Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs. 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", 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.[3]
College career
[edit]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."[4] At the end of his college football career, Stark was considered one of the best college punters since Ray Guy played for Southern Mississippi in the early 1970s.[3] "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."[4] He seriously considered participation in the 1984 Olympics.[3]
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.[3] In his 16 seasons in the NFL, he only had 7 blocked punts.[5]
Retirement
[edit]After retiring from the NFL, Stark and his family made their home in Maui, where he works in real estate.[6]
NFL career statistics
[edit]| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
- Regular season
| General | Punting | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GP | Punts | Yards | Y/P | Net | In20 | TB | ||
| 1982 | BAL | 9 | 46 | 2,044 | 44.4 | 34.3 | 8 | 12 | ||
| 1983 | BAL | 16 | 91 | 4,124 | 45.3 | 36.3 | 19 | 9 | ||
| 1984 | IND | 16 | 98 | 4,383 | 44.7 | 37.2 | 21 | 7 | ||
| 1985 | IND | 16 | 78 | 3,584 | 45.9 | 34.2 | 12 | 14 | ||
| 1986 | IND | 16 | 76 | 3,432 | 45.2 | 37.2 | 22 | 5 | ||
| 1987 | IND | 12 | 61 | 2,440 | 40.0 | 30.9 | 12 | 7 | ||
| 1988 | IND | 16 | 64 | 2,784 | 43.5 | 34.5 | 15 | 8 | ||
| 1989 | IND | 16 | 79 | 3,392 | 42.9 | 32.9 | 14 | 10 | ||
| 1990 | IND | 16 | 71 | 3,084 | 43.4 | 37.4 | 23 | 3 | ||
| 1991 | IND | 16 | 82 | 3,492 | 42.6 | 34.8 | 14 | 6 | ||
| 1992 | IND | 16 | 83 | 3,716 | 44.8 | 39.3 | 22 | 7 | ||
| 1993 | IND | 16 | 83 | 3,595 | 43.3 | 35.9 | 18 | 13 | ||
| 1994 | IND | 16 | 73 | 3,092 | 42.4 | 34.1 | 22 | 10 | ||
| 1995 | PIT | 16 | 59 | 2,368 | 40.1 | 33.3 | 20 | 11 | ||
| 1996 | CAR | 16 | 77 | 3,128 | 40.6 | 36.0 | 21 | 9 | ||
| 1997 | SEA | 4 | 20 | 813 | 40.7 | 26.9 | 7 | 2 | ||
| Career | 233 | 1,141 | 49,471 | 43.4 | 35.2 | 270 | 133 | |||
References
[edit]- ^ Minimum 4 punts
- ^ "Former Colt Stark faces team he fled Familiar foe: Punter Rohn Stark, the last active Baltimore Colt, left the team after 13 years to play with a winner in Pittsburgh. Now those teams meet Sunday for the AFC championship". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e N. Brooks Clark (September 14, 1981). "FSU Punter Rohn Stark has set his-sights on the NFL and – 09.14.81 – SI Vault". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
- ^ a b "Rohn Stark Bio – Florida State University Official Athletic Site". Seminoles.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
- ^ "Rohn Stark". Nolefan.org. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
- ^ "Broker Information for Rohn Stark". Luxury Homes. Retrieved February 7, 2014.