View source for Don Chandler

{{Short description|American football player (1934–2011)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name        = Don Chandler
| image       = Don Chandler.jpeg
| image_size  =
| alt         = 
| caption     = Chandler as a member of the Green Bay Packers
| number      = 34
| position    = [[Placekicker]]<br>[[Punter (American football)|Punter]]
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1934|9|5|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|2011|8|11|1934|9|5|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], U.S.
| height_ft   = 6
| height_in   = 2
| weight_lbs  = 215
| high_school = [[Will Rogers High School|Will Rogers]] (Tulsa)
| college     = [[Florida Gators football|Florida]]
| draftyear   = 1956
| draftround  = 5
| draftpick   = 57
| pastteams   =
* [[New York Giants]] ({{NFL Year|1956}}–{{NFL Year|1964}})
* [[Green Bay Packers]] ({{NFL Year|1965}}–{{NFL Year|1967}})
| highlights  =
* 2× [[Super Bowl champion]] ([[Super Bowl I|I]], [[Super Bowl II|II]])
* 4× [[NFL champion]] ([[1956 NFL Championship Game|1956]], [[1965 NFL Championship Game|1965]]–[[1967 NFL Championship Game|1967]])
* [[Pro Bowl]] ([[1968 Pro Bowl|1967]])
* [[NFL scoring leader]]  ({{nfly|1963}})
* [[NFL 1960s All-Decade Team]]
* [[Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame]]
| statleague  = NFL
| statlabel1  = Field goals
| statvalue1  = 94/161 (58.4%)
| statlabel2  = Extra points
| statvalue2  = 248/259 (96.1%)
| statlabel3  = Punts
| statvalue3  = 660
| statlabel4  = Punting average
| statvalue4  = 43.5
| pfr         = ChanDo20 
}}

'''Donald Gene''' "'''Babe'''" '''Chandler''' (September 5, 1934 – August 11, 2011) was an American professional [[American football|football]] player who was a [[Punter (American football)|punter]] and [[placekicker]] for 12 seasons in the [[National Football League]] (NFL) in the 1950s and 1960s.  Chandler played [[college football]] for the [[Florida Gators football|Florida Gators]], and thereafter, he played professionally for the [[New York Giants]] and the [[Green Bay Packers]] of the NFL.

== Early life ==

Chandler was born in [[Council Bluffs, Iowa]].<ref name=pfrprofile>Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/ChanDo20.htm  Don Chandler].  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref>  He attended [[Will Rogers High School]] in Tulsa, Oklahoma,<ref name=dbfprofile>databaseFootball.com, Players, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100214102117/http://databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=CHANDDON01  Don Chandler]}}.  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref> and he played for the Will Rogers Ropers high school football team.

== College career ==

After graduating from high school, Chandler first attended [[Bacone College]] in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and then transferred to the [[University of Florida]] in Gainesville, Florida, where he played [[halfback (American football)|halfback]], [[punter (football)|punter]] and [[placekicker]] for coach [[Bob Woodruff (American football)|Bob Woodruff]]'s [[Florida Gators football]] team in [[1954 Florida Gators football team|1954]] and [[1955 Florida Gators football team|1955]].<ref name=ufmediaguide>''[http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2011/media_guide.pdf  2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402035222/http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2011/media_guide.pdf |date=April 2, 2012 }}'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 152–153, 159, 180 (2011).  Retrieved August 28, 2011.</ref>  As a senior in 1955, Chandler led all major college punters with an average kick of 44.3 yards, narrowly beating out [[Earl Morrall]] of the [[Michigan State Spartans football|Michigan State Spartans]].<ref>Associated Press, "[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LAEkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vAQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4713,7037839&dq=don-chandler&hl=en  Florida's Don Chandler Edges Spartan For Punting Title]", ''Ocala Star-Banner'', p. 7 (December 13, 1955).  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref>  Memorably, Chandler also kicked a 76-yard punt against the [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets]] in 1955, which remains tied for the second longest punt in Gators history.<ref name=ufmediaguide/>  Woodruff ranked him and [[Bobby Joe Green]] as the Gators' best kickers of the 1950s.<ref>Tom McEwen, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama, pp. 210–211 (1974).</ref>

Chandler graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in 1956, and was later inducted into the [[List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members|University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame]] as a "Gator Great."<ref>F Club, Hall of Fame, [http://www.gatorfclub.org/hall-of-fame/greats  Gator Greats].  Retrieved December 13, 2014.</ref>

== Professional career ==

After college, he was selected in the fifth round (57th pick overall) of the [[1956 NFL draft]],<ref>Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History, [http://www.profootballhof.com/history/release.aspx?release_id=1446  1956 National Football League Draft].  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref> and played with the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers.<ref name=nflprofile>National Football League, Historical Players, [http://www.nfl.com/players/donchandler/profile?id=CHA243096  Don Chandler].  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref>  He played in the first two overtime games ever in the NFL, in [[1958 NFL season|1958]] with the Giants against the [[Baltimore Colts]] and again in [[1965 NFL season|1965]] when he kicked the winning field goal for the Packers against the same Colts in a [[NFL playoffs, 1965#Western Conference playoff|Western Conference playoff]] game at Green Bay.<ref name=goldstein8122011>Richard Goldstein, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/13/sports/football/don-chandler-kicker-for-giants-and-packers-dies-at-76.html?_r=0  Don Chandler, Standout Kicker in N.F.L., Dies at 76]", ''The New York Times'' (August 11, 2011).  Retrieved July 8, 2014.</ref>  Chandler's fourth-quarter field goal that tied the game at 10–10 stirred controversy, as many Baltimore players and fans (and even Chandler himself) thought he missed the kick to the right. Footage of the kick shows a disgusted Chandler flip his head back in anger after he supposedly missed his kick. Chandler was named the punter on the [[NFL 1960s All-Decade Team]].<ref name=goldstein8122011/>  He went to the [[Pro Bowl]] after the [[1967 NFL season|1967 season]].<ref name=goldstein8122011/>

He led the NFL in average yards per punt with 44.6 yards in 1957 and led the league with a field goal percentage of 67.9 percent on 19 of 28 attempts in 1962.  Chandler set a record for most field goals scored in a Super Bowl with four in the 1968 edition of the Super Bowl against the Oakland Raiders, clinching the championship for the Packers; [[Ray Wersching]] tied him [[Super Bowl XVI|fourteen years later]].<ref name=goldstein8122011/>

Chandler helped [[Vince Lombardi]]'s Green Bay Packers teams win Super Bowls I and II. Memorably, he kicked a 90-yard punt against the San Francisco 49ers in 1965.<ref name=goldstein8122011/>  He was named to the All Pro team in 1967.<ref name=pfrprofile/>

In his 12-season NFL career, Chandler played in 154 regular season games, kicked 660 punts for a total of 28,678 yards, 248 extra points on 258 attempts, and 94 field goals on 161 attempts.<ref name=pfrprofile/>  He also rushed for 146 yards on 13 carries, and completed a perfect three passes on three attempts for a total of 67 yards.<ref name=pfrprofile/>

== Life after football ==

Chandler was inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame in 1975, along with tight end [[Ron Kramer]], defensive end [[Willie Davis (defensive end)|Willie Davis]], guards [[Jerry Kramer]] and [[Fuzzy Thurston]] and [[Vince Lombardi]].<ref>{{Cite web | url = https://www.packers.com/history/hof/don-chandler | title = Don Chandler | last = Christl | first = Cliff | author-link = Cliff Christl | website = Packers.com | access-date = September 20, 2023 | archive-date = May 25, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230525202627/https://www.packers.com/history/hof/don-chandler | url-status = live }}</ref> He was selected as the premier punter for the decade in the 1960s.  In 2002, he was named to the Oklahoma Team of the Century by ''[[The Oklahoman]]''. In 2003, he was added to the list of Oklahoma's Greatest Athletes by the ''[[Tulsa World]]''.  Chandler is also a member of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame and the New York Giants Wall of Fame.<ref>Jim Thorpe Association, Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, [http://www.jimthorpeassoc.org/ok-sports-hof/hall-of-fame-members/chandler-don/  Don Chandler] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927164100/http://www.jimthorpeassoc.org/ok-sports-hof/hall-of-fame-members/chandler-don/ |date=September 27, 2011 }}.  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref>

Chandler died at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma on August 11, 2011; he was 76 years old.<ref name=morgan8112011>Rhett Morgan, "[http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=440&articleid=20110811_440_0_Tulsan186848  Former NFL kicker Don Chandler dies]", ''Tulsa World'' (August 11, 2011).  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref><ref>Jeff Ash, "[http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110811/PKR01/110811088/Don-Chandler-kicker-punter-Packers-1965-67-title-teams-dies-76  Former Green Bay Packers K Don Chandler dies at 76]{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}", ''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' (August 11, 2011).  Retrieved August 11, 2011.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Florida Gators in the NFL draft]]
* [[List of University of Florida alumni]]
* [[List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members]]

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007).  {{ISBN|0-7948-2298-3}}.
* Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators!  An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002).  {{ISBN|0-9650782-1-3}}.
* Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002).  {{ISBN|1-58261-514-4}}.
* McCarthy, Kevin M., ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tk-IQepI6cC  Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football]'', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000).  {{ISBN|978-0-7385-0559-6}}.
* McEwen, Tom, ''The Gators: A Story of Florida Football'', The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974).  {{ISBN|0-87397-025-X}}.
* Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998).  {{ISBN|1-57167-196-X}}.

{{Navboxes
|title = Don Chandler—awards, championships, and honors
|list  =
{{Giants1956DraftPicks}}
{{1956 New York Giants}}
{{1965 Green Bay Packers}}
{{Super Bowl I}}
{{Super Bowl II}}
{{Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame}}
{{NFL1960s}}
{{NFL punting yards leaders}}
{{NFL scoring leaders}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Don}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Council Bluffs, Iowa]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Tulsa, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Iowa]]
[[Category:American football halfbacks]]
[[Category:American football placekickers]]
[[Category:American football punters]]
[[Category:Bacone Warriors football players]]
[[Category:Florida Gators football players]]
[[Category:New York Giants players]]
[[Category:Green Bay Packers players]]
[[Category:Western Conference Pro Bowl players]]
[[Category:Will Rogers High School alumni]]
[[Category:Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame]]