Kevin Butler (American football)

Early life and college career

Butler was born in Savannah, Georgia. He attended Redan High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia, outside Atlanta where he played football and soccer. He loved to play sports and play the guitar.

During Butler's senior year, Redan played Marist High School for the state championship. In the closing moments of a very close game, Butler kicked a 44-yard field goal that gave the winning margin to the Redan Raiders. Attending the game was Georgia Bulldog Head Coach Vince Dooley. In a brief, impromptu exchange outside the door to the visiting locker room, Dooley congratulated Butler and pointed out that Bulldog kicker Rex Robinson would be graduating at the end of the school year. Georgia, Dooley said, would be needing a new kicker. The next year, Butler began his illustrious career as the Bulldog's kicker.

At the University of Georgia Butler was a two-time All-American and a four-time All-Southeastern Conference football player including three First-Team selections. Thus far he holds the Bulldogs' record for scoring with 353 points (122 PAT’s, 77 field goals), and he is second in career scoring in SEC history (including all players, kickers and non-kickers). Butler helped lead Bulldog teams to two SEC titles and four bowl appearances, set an NCAA record with 27 multiple field-goal games, and was named to All-Century teams selected by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and Sports Illustrated, as well as to ABC Sports' College Football All Time All-America team. In December 2001 Butler became first kicker ever inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Later in his Georgia career, Butler opted to not use a tee to attempt most field goals, in order to better prepare him for the NFL. The NCAA banned use of a tee for field goals and extra points in 1989.

Professional career

In his 11 seasons with the Bears, Butler became the team's all-time leading scorer with 1,116 points, easily surpassing the old record of 750 points held by Walter Payton. Butler held that record until October 11, 2015, when it was broken by kicker Robbie Gould. Butler was also part of the 1985 Chicago Bears team who won Super Bowl XX, setting a rookie scoring record with 144 points during the season and kicking three field goals in the Super Bowl.

It was said that Butler called his fiancée from training camp in Platteville, Wisconsin, and explained that "we're going to have to change the date of our wedding, because we're going to the Super Bowl and it's on January 26th."

When he was released by the Bears after the 1995 season, he was the last remaining holdover from the Super Bowl XX team. Butler finished his 13 NFL seasons with 265 of 361 field goals (73%) and 413 of 426 extra point attempts, giving him 1,208 total points, sixth-most in NFL history among kickers.

While playing for the Chicago Bears in 1985, Butler set a record for the most points scored by a player during his rookie season. His record of 144 points stood until 2014, when it was broken by place kicker Cody Parkey of the Philadelphia Eagles. Butler set his 1985 record by making 31 field goals and all of his 51 extra point attempts.

Career regular season statistics

Career high/best bolded

Personal life

Kevin is married to Cathy Butler. They have three children together: Katie Scarlett (goes by Scarlett), Andrew Joseph (goes by Drew) and Kylie Savannah (goes by Savannah) Butler. Scarlett and Drew attended the University of Georgia. Drew is now an NFL punter. Savannah was a student at Marymount Manhattan College and is a ballet dancer.

Drew was the starting punter for the Georgia Bulldogs and lead the nation in punting with an average of 49.7 yards per punt and a net average of 44.5 yards per punt. In 2012, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Drew as an undrafted free agent and he currently plays for the Arizona Cardinals.