Punter David Lee, a veteran of 13 NFL seasons who helped the Baltimore Colts defeat the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V, died. He was 82.
Lee spent his entire professional career (1966-78) in Baltimore. He led the NFL in average yards per punt (45.6) as a rookie in 1966, and again in 1969 (45.3). In 184 NFL games, he averaged 40.6 yards per punt, including a long of 76 in 1971.
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Lee emerged as a talented three-sport athlete at Minden (Louisiana) High School before moving on to Louisiana Tech from 1961-64.
In addition to punting, Lee played some end as a sophomore and even caught a few touchdown passes. In 2018, Lee was inducted into the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.
Lee was drafted by the AFL’s Boston Patriots but instead signed with the Cleveland Browns. He spent his rookie season on the Browns’ taxi squad, then was traded to Baltimore ahead of the 1966 season.
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“The hardest thing was standing around in practice,” Lee said in a 2018 interview. “By the time I got to Baltimore, they didn’t know what to think about a specialist, this 6-4, 230-pound guy. Coach (Don) Shula would see me doing pushups or running or kicking the ball into a screen at Memorial Stadium and holler during practice, `Hey David, you all right over there?’ I didn’t even have a special teams coach until ’75.”
In 1967, the Colts went 11-1-2. In 1968, they advanced all the way to the Super Bowl. In his first championship game appearance, Lee punted three times for 133 yards as the Colts lost to the underdog New York Jets, 16-7.
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The Colts returned to the Super Bowl two years later. Lee punted four times for 166 yards in Baltimore’s 16-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys — including once in the fourth quarter as the Colts erased a 13-3 deficit to win.
On Nov. 11, 1973, Miami Dolphins cornerback Tim Foley blocked two punts by Lee, and returned both for touchdowns, to set an NFL record.
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After retiring from football, Lee moved home to Louisiana, where he worked for General Motors as a floor supervisor in a Chevy Blazer plant. Lee was forced into early retirement by chronic fatigue syndrome. He also told the Baltimore Sun that playing football left him with knee, back and hip injuries.
“My philosophy about punting was just to do my job and help the team,” Lee said in 2018. “Stats were never defining for me. One of my best punts ever was a 25-yarder that was downed at the 1.”
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