Ove Johansson with his daughter, Annika on the left. |
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| Born | March 31, 1948 Gothenburg, Sweden |
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| Career information | |||
| Year(s) | 1977–1977 | ||
| NFL Draft | 1977 / Round: 12 / Pick: 316 (By the Houston Oilers) |
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| College | Abilene Christian | ||
| Professional teams | |||
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| Career stats | |||
| Field goals | 1 / 4 | ||
| FG% | 25.0 | ||
| Extra points | 1 / 3 | ||
| Stats at NFL.com | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Ove Claes Johansson, born March 31, 1948, in Gothenburg, Sweden, is a former American football placekicker and the current holder of the record for the longest field goal ever kicked during an American football game, at 69 yards (63 m).
Johansson was a junior at Abilene Christian University and performed this kick during ACU's 1976 homecoming game against East Texas State University at Shotwell Stadium, in Abilene, Texas.[1][2][3] This record kick is longer than any other field goal kicked in organized football, one yard longer than the current high school record set by Dirk Borgognone in 1985, 2 yards longer than the NCAA record (Abilene Christian was playing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics at the time), and 6 yards longer than the current NFL record of 63 yards set by Tom Dempsey in the New Orleans vs. Detroit game of November 8, 1970 (a feat which was also accomplished by Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos in the Denver vs. Jacksonville game on October 25, 1998 and by Sebastian Janikowski of the Oakland Raiders in the Oakland vs. Denver game on September 12, 2011).[4]
Johansson had previously played soccer, and the 1976 season was his first and only season to play college football. He hurt his knee in a season-ending bowl game and played in just two regular season games in the National Football League. Kicking for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1977, he was successful in only one of his four field goal attempts and one of three extra points.[5][6] Johansson was the first Swedish-born player to play in the NFL, twelve years before Bjorn Nittmo.
He is currently a business person in Amarillo, Texas. He is married to April (Bankes) Johansson, and they have a daughter, Annika Johansson, and a son, Stefan Johansson. The family is bilingual English-Swedish.