Mike Vanderjagt
A Canadian kicker whose near-perfect NFL season and bold personality made him one of football's most talked-about specialists.
Born 1970 (age 56)·Canadian gridiron football player·Birthday: March 24·Generation X
Biography
Mike Vanderjagt's path to the NFL was anything but conventional, beginning his professional career in the Canadian Football League after going undrafted. His powerful leg and unshakeable confidence eventually landed him with the Indianapolis Colts, where he became a central, if sometimes controversial, figure. During the peak of the Colts' offensive juggernaut led by Peyton Manning, Vanderjagt provided a reliable scoring threat, once completing a perfect season by making every field goal and extra point attempt. That statistical feat, however, was often overshadowed by his outspoken comments, including public criticism of his own teammates, which created dramatic storylines. His career, which ended with a brief stint in Dallas, left a complex legacy: a record-setting technician whose mental fortitude was both his greatest asset and, at crucial moments, a subject of intense scrutiny.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Mike was born in 1970, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Mike Was Born
The biggest hits of 1970
#1 Movie
Love Story
Best Picture
Patton
#1 TV Show
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Mike's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1970Born
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1975Started school
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1983Became a teenager
Internet adopts TCP/IP, creating the modern internet
Gas: $1.16/galHome: $57,700Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Every Breath You Take" — The PoliceBest Picture: Terms of Endearment
1986Could drive
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1988Could vote
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1991Turned 21
Soviet Union dissolves; World Wide Web goes public
Gas: $1.14/galHome: $82,400Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" — Bryan AdamsBest Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
2000Turned 30
Y2K passes without incident; contested Bush-Gore election
Gas: $1.51/galHome: $119,600Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Breathe" — Faith HillBest Picture: Gladiator
2010Turned 40
Deepwater Horizon oil spill; iPad launched
Gas: $2.79/galHome: $147,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Tik Tok" — KeshaBest Picture: The King's Speech
2020Turned 50
COVID-19 pandemic shuts down the world
Gas: $2.17/galHome: $248,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Blinding Lights" — The WeekndBest Picture: Nomadland
2026Age 56 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Set an NFL record in 2003 by completing a perfect season, making all 37 field goal and 46 extra point attempts.
- Holds the Indianapolis Colts franchise record for career points scored.
- Won a Grey Cup championship with the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League in 1996.
- Led the NFL in scoring during the 2003 season with 157 points.
Did You Know?
He is the most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history by career percentage (minimum 150 attempts).
He played college soccer at West Virginia University before switching to football.
His famous missed field goal attempt in the 2005 AFC playoffs against the Pittsburgh Steelers was satirized on 'Saturday Night Live.'
“You can't think about the last kick; you just have to make the next one.”
