Lou Michaels

Louis Andrew Michaels (originally Majka) (September 28, 1935 – January 19, 2016) was an American professional football player who was a standout defensive lineman for the University of Kentucky Wildcats from 1955 to 1957. After Kentucky's victory over archrival Tennessee in 1957, Michaels was quoted as saying, "Nothing sucks like a Big Orange." He played professionally for fourteen years, from 1958 to 1971, with the Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Colts, and Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. Michaels also played placekicker and was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 1962 and 1963 seasons. In 1962 he led the league in field goals made. He finished his career with a 54.8 percent field goal percentage and 955 points.

By 1969 Michaels was almost exclusively a placekicker for the Colts, but after a season in which he was successful on less than half of his field goal attempts and struggled especially with longer kicks, rookie Jim O'Brien won the Colts placekicking job in the 1970 preseason and Michaels was waived. After sitting out the 1970 season, he tried out with the Packers in their 1971 training camp and won their placekicking job, playing the first ten games of that season.