Word: szaro
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Szaro became the team's place kicker for the next three years. He set two Harvard records for career points in place-kicking, led the team in scoring in 1969, and was selected All-Ivy his senior year...
While the number of Harvard football greats who have gone on to play in the pros can be counted on one hand, Szaro made it into that elite circle and joined the New Orleans Saints in 1975. Szaro played for three seasons and in 1977 led the NFL in field-goal percentage...
...Szaro's then-agent and now-business associate Jim deHart recalls one of the highlights of Szaro's pro football career: "Richie was a left-footed kicker, you know, and that season (1977) he'd hurt his left foot so badly he had to kick with his right one. He won a game for the Saints on Monday Night Football using his right foot. He's probably the only one who ever did that--the only one on Monday Night Football, anyway...
According to deHart, it was a hamstring problem that forced Szaro to abandon his football career. According to Szaro, it was a gradual weariness of his football life and a desire to try something else. "Even football becomes boring after a while, very stagnant and routine," he says. "We looked at it as any 9 to 5 job, for the paycheck it brought. I'm glad that I got out early enough to begin something...
Fortunately, Szaro already had a trade to go back to. Between college and his years in the NFL, Szaro had worked as an export manager with Colgate-Palmolive, travelling extensively throughout South America, Europe, and especially the Far East. Szaro recalls as one of the most rewarding times of his life a stint as liason between skilled Jewish professionals emigrating from Russia and American businesses, many emigrants whom he place through Harvard connections...