New York Giants: 30 greatest players in franchise history

It’s easy to overlook those special teams folks, especially the ones who use their feet to impact the game. Football doesn’t often give the glory to those who use the body part in the name of the sport — they’re primarily there to place blame on.

However, in the case of Pete Gogolak, he deserves more than his fair share of credit. Not only is he the Giants’ franchise leader in points scored, but he also revolutionized the game of football. He introduced soccer-style kicking, drastically changing the way the kicker position is played today.

Gogolak didn’t win any fancy awards — his only All-Star selection was in 1965 while with the Buffalo Bills. After joining the Giants the next season, he lived in a quiet, praise-less world that saw him struggle mightily to put the ball through the uprights. Just ask his career field goal percentage of 57.5 during his time with the G-Men.

And yet, despite that awful conversion rate, Gogolak still deserves a spot on this list. Not only for bringing about a momentous change for the game of football, but for putting plenty of points on the board for the Giants and helping pave the way for the AFL-NFL merger.