Björn Nittmo
No. 3, 5 | |
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Position: | Kicker |
Personal information | |
Date of birth: | June 26, 1966 |
Place of birth: | Lomma, Sweden |
Career information | |
College: | Appalachian State |
Career history | |
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Career highlights and awards | |
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Career NFL statistics | |
Stats at NFL.com | |
Career Arena football statistics | |
FG Made: | 60 |
FG Att: | 162 |
PAT Made: | 273 |
PAT Att: | 298 |
Tackles: | 17 |
Stats at ArenaFan.com |
Björn Arne Nittmo (born June 26, 1966 in Lomma, Sweden) is a retired American football placekicker, being the second Swedish-born player ever in the National Football League (behind only Ove Johansson, who briefly played in the NFL in 1977.
Football career
The left-footed Nittmo, famous for his very long kickoffs, came to the U.S. as a foreign exchange student at Enterprise High School in Enterprise, Alabama.[1] After playing High School ball he played college football at Appalachian State University. He was the first Swedish-born player to play a full season in the NFL, when he played for the New York Giants in 1989. He also tried to make the Kansas City Chiefs' roster the following year but was cut. Other teams of his career include the Montreal Machine of the World League of American Football (this league later became the NFL Europe). He has also played for the Cleveland Thunderbolts, Arizona Rattlers and the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League, as well as the Shreveport Pirates of the Canadian Football League. In 2005, Nittmo was invited to the Ottawa Renegades' training camp, but was cut prior to the start of the season.
Miscellaneous
Nittmo appeared on Late Night with David Letterman a few times during his stint with the New York Giants. Letterman seemed to be obsessed with the kicker's name and even coined a new catchphrase to both celebrate and mock him: "Who do you think you are, Bjorn Nittmo?"[2] (season 8, episode 162). Nittmo's celebrity continued briefly when in 1999, he appeared as a kicker in the football flick Any Given Sunday.