South Africans in the NFL

Gary Anderson Trading Card

South African sports fans may not recognize the name Gary Anderson readily but he could possibly be the country's most successful sporting export and certainly the country's finest contributor to American football.

Anderson was born in Parys in the Free State in 1958 and raised in Durban. Upon completing high school, his family moved to the United States. His father, Douglas Anderson was a professional soccer player in England before moving to South Africa. Gary played soccer and cricket at school.

Newly moved to the Pennsylvania in the States, Gary decided on a whim to compare kicking a soccer ball to kicking a football similar to the ones in the NFL, at a nearby school. He was spotted by a local coach who was acquainted to Philadelphia Eagles coach Dick Vermeil who invited him to try out with the NFL team. Anderson was offered scholarships by 4 colleges whose coaches attended the Eagles' trials. He chose to attend Syracuse University because they agreed to let him play both soccer and football. He scored 19 goals in his first 2 years at Syracuse for their soccer team before devoting himself completely to football.

Mr Automatic in action for the Steelers.

Anderson was noted for his high levels of concentration in the professional game which he attributes to playing cricket as an opening batsman in his school days. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the 1983 NFL draft before being cut from the squad which led to him being signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was nicknamed Mr. Automatic at the Steelers owing to his remarkable kicking accuracy. He is noted as a pioneer for accuracy in the NFL. His career success rate for kicks at goal stands at 80.1% which is the second best in NFL history.

Anderson played in the NFL for 23 years, phenomenal considering that the average NFL career spans 3, 5 years. He is one of only 3 men including Morten Andersen and George Blanda to have played in over 300 career games in the NFL. In 2000, he became the highest points scorer in NFL history and his record of 2434 points stood until 2006 when it was broken by Morten Andersen.

Gary and his wife, Kay, during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Anderson spent 13 years at the Steelers before playing for 4 other teams in his career including the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans. Amongst his long list of achievements is the perfect season he achieved with the Vikings in 1998 where he was successful with all 94 of his kicks in the regular season, a major contributor to the Vikings' record of 15 wins and only one loss in the regular season that year.

Anderson was named in the NFL Team of the Decade for the 1980s and 1990s and in 1983 was named as the Steelers Most Valuable Player for the season which is almost unheard of for a kicker. He has one of the highest accolades that can be bestowed to a player in any sport in that the number 1 jersey that he wore for the Steelers has been retired in his honour.

Anderson's career is the stuff of legends. He was nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame which in itself is huge considering that only 1 kicker in the history of the NFL has been inducted in the hall of fame. Anderson retired from football in 2004. He maintains ties with his homeland; he was in the country during the 2010 FIFA World Cup and still maintains a heavy South African accent.

Two other South Africans have played in the NFL. There is the story that goes around that legendary Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha played in the NFL. He was invited by the Dallas Cowboys to try out for their team as a kicker. He played in a couple of exhibition games for the franchise dubbed America's Favourite Team but in the main he was unsuccessful in his trial and was not signed on by the Cowboys and spent the majority of his time in the US playing rugby for the Dallas Harlequins which he led to the 1984 USA National Club Championship.

Jerome Pathon at the New Orleans Saints

Cape Town born Jerome Pathon played wide receiver in 99 NFL games and scored 15 touch downs in his career spanning 8 years with 3 teams the Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. Most notably, he was drafted by the Colts in 1998 along with Peyton Manning. He last played in the NFL in 2005 and is currently a coach at the University of South Florida.

Linebacker Ezra Butler had a less spectacular career in the NFL. He was signed by the Saints in 2011 after unsuccessful stints on the practice squads of the 49ers and the New York Jets. However he did win two championships with the Las Vegas Locomotives who play in the minor United Football League.

- Mawande Mateza
follow on twitter @Mawandinho

Many thanks to Ben Morgan