| No. 10 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Placekicker | ||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Born: | May 19, 1964 Seoul, South Korea | ||||||
| Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||
| Weight: | 182 lb (83 kg) | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| High school: | Downey (CA) | ||||||
| College: | UCLA | ||||||
| NFL draft: | 1986 / Round: 2 / Pick: 32 | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||
| Roster status: | Retired | ||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||
| |||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||
| |||||||
| Player stats at NFL.com · PFR | |||||||
| John Lee | |
| Hangul | 이민종[1] |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | I Min-jong |
| McCune–Reischauer | I Minjong |
John Lee (Korean: 이민종; RR: I Min-jong; born May 19, 1964) is a Korean former American football placekicker. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, where he was a two-time All-American. Lee was selected in the second round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 32nd overall pick. He played one season with the Cardinals and was the first Korean to play in the NFL. He was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.
Lee was born in South Korea where he primarily played baseball, even playing in the Little World Series regional qualifying tournament. His family moved to the United States when he was in the sixth grade. He began playing football as a freshman at Downey High School and studied kicking under the tutelage of Ben Agajanian. It was on Agajanian's recommendation that UCLA signed Lee to an athletic scholarship.[2]
Lee played in the 1983, 1984 and 1986 Rose Bowl, and was an integral part of the success of the UCLA Bruins during his college career, as evidenced by his conference-leading accuracy and the 10 games won by the margin of a field goal.[3] He holds the Rose Bowl career record of 24 most scoring points made by kicking, 1983 UCLA vs. Michigan (3 PAT, 1 FG), 1984 UCLA vs. Illinois (6 PAT, 1 FG) and 1986 UCLA vs. Iowa (6 PAT, 1 FG).[4] The 15 total PAT points in three games also is a record and the 6 PAT-points in each of the two games ranks second in Rose Bowl history.
Lee was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the second round (32nd overall) of the 1986 NFL Draft,[5] making him one of the highest placekickers ever drafted and the first East Asia native to play in the NFL. On July 27 Lee agreed to a four-year $900,000 contract, making him the highest paid player at his position in the league.[6] The contract for a player observers expected to be a "sure-fire" star included a $250,000 signing bonus.[7]
Although Lee made his first six kicks in preseason,[8] he unexpectedly suffered through a slump and began missing field goals. Coach Gene Stallings was understanding of Lee's field goal slump, but was less understanding of the short distances of his kickoffs. Lee never had to kick off in college, with its larger rosters, but found it difficult to adjust to kicking off without a kicking tee (at the time, the NFL did not allow the use of tees on kickoffs). He was unable to get adequate distance on his kickoffs, which angered Stallings; as Stallings later put it, "my gosh, his leg." His kickoffs were too short that they cost the Cardinals valuable field position. The combination of short kickoffs, missed field goals and criticism by Stallings cost Lee his confidence.[7] Lee made eight of 13 field goals as a rookie, before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and missing the last five regular season games. Lee was waived on September 8, 1987.[9]
In 1988, Lee was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Raiders to compete with incumbent kicker Chris Bahr, who struggled in 1987. He was waived on August 22, after missing 2 out of 3 field goals in preseason.[10]
After leaving the NFL after one season, Lee helped run his family's real estate business in Guam, including retail business, gas stations, and restaurants.[11]