One Mans Contribution To His Team

In football, there are constant power struggles, both on and off the field: players battling players, offenses battling defenses, the passing game battling the running game, coaches battling coaches, and new ways of thinking battling old ways of thinking. And then there are kickers. Battling no one but themselves and the goalposts, they come on the field in moments most mundane and most decisive. They take all the blame when they fail, and little of the credit when they succeed.

For all the talk of the West Coast offenses, the invention of the pro formation, the wildcat, 5-wide sets, the rise of the pass-catching tight-end, and the general recognition that passing, passing and more passing is the best way to score in football, half the improvement in scoring in the past 50-plus years of football history has come solely from field-goal kickers kicking more accurately.

Fortunately for Back In Black football, the team has consistently had kickers with extraordinary skill sets. Through the years kickers have come, and kickers have also gone on this squad.

However, one kicker stands out above all the rest for many different reasons. Not because he's played on the team for over 20 years, not because he is a straight ahead kicker that uses a square toed shoe that looks like it was taken off the wall from an Applebee's vintage display of old football artifacts. There are several successful straight ahead field goal kickers through the years in college and the NFL but they have all faded away to the soccer style. The days of Mark Moseley and his Square toed shoe wearing 5 pairs of socks and kicking the Washington Redskins into the Super Bowl and being named the most viable player of their team have passed.

But for Back In Black those days live on with our veteran kicker, our friend and teammate. Yes, our beloved crazy cocktail guzzling buddy - "Jimmy Lee" or as I like to refer to him as "The collector of Revenue". Some might say he got the name because he always collected the dues for Back In Black before every game to pay the officials fees, others might opine it's because once that ball goes through the uprights the other team will pay a cost for Jimmy's effort. Either way, Mr. Lee has been doing it well for over 20 years.

Back In Black football has benefited from Mr. Lee's strong right foot for many, many years, we are blessed to have this committed and talented player on our team. Jimmy helps his team each year in winning more competitive football games. Mr. Lee is our secret weapon, he gives us the edge that other teams wish they had, but can never seem to find.

In 2017 Mr. Lee proved his value once again in the second round of the Missouri State Playoff Championships. with the game tied at 6 - 6 and 2:31 remaing on the game clock, Jimmy Lee was the deciding factor, kicking a game winning field goal to beat Go Mode 9 - 6 to secure the victory. Once again, because of Mr. Lee's impressive and more important ageless 46 years young right leg, Back In Black moved forward and into the next round of the playoffs.

Even more impressive is that Mr. Lee stood on the field for what seemed to be at least 15 minutes, while officials, League directors and coaches debated a resolution to a penalty on the previous play. Most coaches on opposing teams try to ice the kicker by calling a timeout and making the kicker wait an extra 30 to 60 Seconds to think about the kick. The mental sharpness, toughness and swagger that Jimmy Lee displayed in having to stand on the field for 15 minutes and then deliver a kick for a win is absolutely amazing....!

Thank God for good kickers and for allowing us to have Jimmy Lee kicking for Back In Black Football for over 20 years. It goes without saying that Jimmy Lee has scored more points than any individual to wear a Back in Black Football uniform. Jimmy Lee is the all time total points scored leader for Back In Black Football. This should not be a surprise, but a real good trivia question on a adult beverage filled Saturday night team social of gathered teamates, weather its at a local watering hole, or in a hotel room somewhere across the country where Back In Black is competing in a tournament.

Thank you Mr. Lee.