The 1974 NFL Olympics

 By John Turney

Those who watched televised NFL games in the 1970s or read publications covering pro football would hear commentary on how great an athlete Oakland Raiders punter Ray Guy was. He was known to be someone who was more than an average punter, he could play quarterback and was said to have been able to play safety—just an all-around football player who could do a lot more than punt. 

He was also a multi-sport athlete playing basketball, baseball and track in high school and continued playing baseball in college.

Part of that legend might be from his participation in the so-called NFL Olympia.

What was that?

In March of 1974, around 50 NFL Players participated in Olymics-type events for charity at the Orange Bowl in Miami to benefit Variety Children's Hospital. It got some media attention—it was covered by CBS (for the CBS Sports Spectacular) and articles appeared in quite a few newspapers so it was not an obscure event, though it may appear so now.

Unfortunately, according to press reports after paying prize money to the players no money was left over for the charity. Less than 4,000 tickets were sold.

Well, good try.

Ray Guy won the most cash at $9,000. Alan Page was second, winning $7,000. According to the papers just under $119,000 total was paid to the participating players.

Not only did Guy win the punting competition but he also won the pentathlon event which was composed of five events—punt, pass, field goal, 50-yard scoring and broken field running.  The final two events were not defined in the articles but the broken field running—based on photos—was some sort of nonlinear running course.

Here is a clipping of the results.