American football player (born 1970)
American football player
Chris Gardocki
![refer to caption](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Chris_Gardocki.jpg/220px-Chris_Gardocki.jpg) Gardocki in 2006
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Position:
| Punter
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Born:
| (
1970-02-07
)
February 7, 1970
(age 54)
Stone Mountain, Georgia
, U.S.
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Height:
| 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
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Weight:
| 192 lb (87 kg)
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High school:
| Redan
(
Redan, Georgia
)
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College:
| Clemson
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NFL draft:
| 1991
/ Round: 3 / Pick: 78
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Punts
:
| 1,177
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Punting yards:
| 50,336
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Punting average:
| 42.8
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Longest punt:
| 72
|
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Inside 20:
| 322
|
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Player stats at
PFR
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Christopher Allen Gardocki
(born February 7, 1970) is an American former professional
football
punter
who played in the
National Football League
(NFL). He played for the
Chicago Bears
, the
Indianapolis Colts
, the
Cleveland Browns
, and the
Pittsburgh Steelers
from 1991 to 2006. He won
Super Bowl XL
with the Steelers.
Early life
[
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]
Gardocki played as the
quarterback
,
kicker
, and
punter
for
Redan High School
in
Stone Mountain, Georgia
. He declared for the NFL after his junior year at
Clemson University
.
Professional career
[
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]
Gardocki was selected in the third round of the
1991 NFL Draft
by the Chicago Bears.
[1]
Through the end of the 2006 NFL regular season, Gardocki holds the NFL record for most consecutive punts (1,177 for his career) with no blocks. Gardocki averaged a career-best 45.7 yards per punt for the Colts in 1996 and was selected for the
Pro Bowl
. After playing for both
AFC North
rivals Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Gardocki was released by the Steelers on May 23, 2007, less than a month after the team selected
Baylor
punter
Daniel Sepulveda
in the
2007 NFL Draft
.
Gardocki is best remembered by some for an incident while playing for the Browns in a September 2000 game against the Steelers in
Cleveland Browns Stadium
. After being tackled by Steelers
linebacker
Joey Porter
following a punt that left Gardocki briefly motionless (Porter would be
penalized
for
roughing the punter
), Gardocki flipped the
middle finger
twice to Steelers head coach
Bill Cowher
. The incident, caught on live television, resulted in a $5,000 fine for Gardocki.
[2]
Personal life
[
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]
Chris' wife, Sally Gardocki, is a real estate attorney.
[3]
They have a son named Cole, born in 1995, and raised on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
[
citation needed
]
. In 1997, Sally, an attorney and author, wrote a book titled "The Wives Room", which provided a behind-the-scenes look at the life of an NFL wife
[
citation needed
]
. Both donate time to several non-profit organizations including the Boys and Girls Club and the Taste of the NFL, and have regularly served turkey dinners to area residents during the holidays.
See also
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]
References
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]