When Ben Agajanian played on the defensive line and place-kicked for the University of New Mexico, he held a job with a soft-drink bottling company to help with his college costs. One spring day in 1941, he was riding in the company’s open freight elevator when a concrete wall crushed his right foot, severing four toes.
Agajanian was told that he would walk with a limp and never play football again.
But not only did he return to his college team; he also became a place-kicking pioneer in pro football.
Agajanian, who died on Thursday in Cathedral City, Calif.