Tony Zendejas

Tony Zendejas

Date of birth:	May 15, 1960 (1960-05-15)
Place of birth:	Curimeo, Mexico
Career information
Position(s):	K
College:	Nevada
NFL Draft:	1984 / Round: 1 (1984 NFL Supplemental Draft of USFL and CFL Players)
Organizations
As player:
1983-1985 1985-1990 1991-1994 1995 1995	Los Angeles Express (USFL) Houston Oilers Los Angeles Rams Atlanta Falcons San Francisco 49ers
Playing stats at DatabaseFootball.com

Tony Zendejas (born May 15, 1960) is a retired Mexican professional athlete. He was a placekicker in American football, playing for the Los Angeles Express, Houston Oilers, the Los Angeles Rams, the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers.

Early life

Zendejas was born in Curimeo, Michoacán, Mexico, but raised in Chino, CA where he attended Chino High School excelling in soccer and football. From Chino High, Zendejas attended Santa Ana Community College and Mt.Sac and was eventually recruited by the University of Nevada at Reno head coach, Chris Ault. At UNR, Zendejas smashed kicking records which were eventually broken by younger brother Martin Zendejas.

Athletic career

Initially, he played in the United States Football League for the Los Angeles Express. He joined the National Football League when he was chosen by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft of USFL and CFL Players.

During his eleven seasons in the NFL Tony made 186 field goals in 252 attempts; he also scored 316 extra points for 874 points.

In 1991, he became the first kicker in NFL history to convert all of his field goal attempts, going 17 for 17. He fell one missed extra point short of having the first "perfect season" for a kicker, a mark Gary Anderson reached seven years later.

Personal life

Zendejas was accused of raping a woman in January 2008, but he was acquitted of all charges on March 10, 2009 as a result of his accuser changing her version of the facts on five separate occasions and all drug tests coming back negative for any type of sedatives as the accuser had claimed she was drugged.