He was the most prolific place-kicker in Baltimore Colts history, a rugged miner's son with coal-black hair, a snarly look and a square-toed shoe that booted 107 field goals for the team in its heyday.
Famous, Lou Michaels was not. Other Colts made more spectacular kicks. Steve Myhra's field goal sent the 1958 NFL championship game into sudden death, and Jim O'Brien's three-pointer won the 1971 Super Bowl.
But no kicker spent more time here with the tee than Michaels, who played six seasons (1964-1969), during which the Colts won 63 games, lost 17 and tied four.
"Nowhere in there can you find a game where we lost because I missed a field goal," Michaels, 74, said.
He kicked a club-record five field goals in a victory over the San Francisco 49ers in 1966. That same day, he played defensive end and recorded a couple of sacks.
A year later, Michaels nailed a 53-yard field goal in a big victory over the Dallas Cowboys. That kick had legs and sailed into the stands in the closed end of Memorial Stadium.
Colts fans embraced the lantern-jawed, left-footed kicker, though he tested their patience. In 1967, for instance, Michaels missed six straight field-goal attempts. Then he connected on 10 in a row. Why? Forty-two years later, he hasn't a clue.
"One day, everything you touch is great, and the next, it's not," the former Kentucky All-American said.
He still ranks fifth all time in scoring for the franchise, with 586 points.
Today, Michaels lives in his hometown of Swoyersville, Pa. He has been married for 43 years and retired since 2001 from a 20-year hitch as athletic director at a county prison. Before that, he owned a bar in nearby Pittston.
Booze nearly ended his Colts career early on. Dealt to Baltimore by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1964, Michaels broke curfew one October night and partied on The Block until 3 a.m., when he wrapped his car around a lamp post on Light Street.
"Colt Kicker's Car Hits Upright," The Baltimore Sun headline read. Michaels suffered a cut tongue.
"Yeah, I made a fool of myself that night - but I didn't hurt the team," Michaels said. "But I learned my lesson. Lou should have stayed on beer instead of scotch."
Five years later, Michaels was sipping beer with a teammate in a restaurant in Florida, where the Colts were preparing for Super Bowl III. Suddenly, in the door walked trouble - Joe Namath, the cocky New York Jets quarterback, wearing a full-length fur coat.
His attire alone made Michaels burn. Then Namath spotted the Colts kicker and sauntered over.
"He [Namath] looked at me and, without so much as a 'Hiya, Lou,' said, 'We're gonna kick the [expletive] out of you, and I'm gonna do it,' " Michaels recalled.
"Well, I got a little upset and said, 'Yeah, but we've got John [Unitas] and Earl [Morrall].' "
Namath's reply: "They're both over the hill. And I'm told that you don't run downfield under your kickoffs, so we don't have to worry about you, either."
Michaels exploded.
"He [Namath] was across the bar, so I couldn't hit him," Michaels said. "I told him, 'I wish I had one minute with you outside.' But he wouldn't go."
Finally, Michaels said, calm prevailed. Namath even paid for the Colts' drinks and drove them to their hotel.
That week, Namath took on the Colts and made good on his vow. The Jets won, 16-7. Michaels missed two field-goal attempts. Worse, his brother, Walt Michaels, helped coach New York and still wears the championship ring that the Colts kicker sought.
"I've never been able to accept losing the Super Bowl," he said. "Look, I married a great woman, and I've got three kids, three grandchildren and a pension that's good just as long as they keep playing football.
"It's that game that gnaws at me."
