Some plays in college football history will be remembered forever. Some plays in college football history will be immortalized in folklore, talked about in bars and stadiums, and everywhere else sports fans unite to discuss or argue a particular moment’s correct amongst the annals of the great game. However, other plays demand something much more.
Pat Brady Performs One of the Most Famous Plays in College Football History, One That May Never be Seen Again
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Virginia Peak. Pah Rah Mountain. Mount Bullion. The Reno area of Nevada has some impressive mountainous terrain that would challenge the skills of even the most epic adventurer.
Yet, in 1950, the football team of the University of Nevada contained a man who could likely have kicked a football over them and beyond. Pat Brady was a man, myth, legend, and punter.
Reportedly, it was a chilly day at Mackay Stadium that greeted the home team Wolf Pack and Los Angeles Loyola — not to mention 4,000 fans — on October 28, 1950.
While the atmosphere around the 0-5 hosts might have been as chilly as the air, Brady was about to warm their hearts while setting fire to the college football record book for punting phenomenom.
The original punt god laid down a marker that would never be beaten. Backed up in his own end zone, the left-legged punter (Bill Belichick would likely have drafted him in the fifth round for that detail alone) prepared himself to flip field position.
Striking the ball and fear into the hearts of the Loyola special teams unit, Brady unleashed a canon the like of which hasn’t been seen again.
99-yards. The length of an entire playing field. Unheard of before, never to be repeated. The epitome of field-flipping. While the total distance is earth-shattering and record-breaking, the air time alone would beat most career-long attempts.
Bouncing at the 25-yard line, Brady booted the ball 75 yards before it returned to earth, rolling inside the 1-yard line.
Others have tried. Some have come close. In 2011, Memphis punter Tom Hornsey boomed a 95-yarder, and the following year, Alexander Kinal of Wake Forest hit the same mark (as did Michael Cintron of Rutgers in 2016). Iowa’s Tory Taylor, a modern punting legend, recorded a career-long 93-yarder in 2023.
However, Brady’s stands as a record that simply might never be beaten. He accomplished many great things in his life, as a soldier in World War II, as a punter in the NFL, hell, he even played some quarterback, but he will be forever remembered as the man with the greatest left leg in college football history.
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