ITHACA, N.Y. -- In celebration of the New York Giants' 100th season, the team released a list of the organization's top 100 players of all time, as ranked by an independent committee of award-winning journalists, NFL and Pro Football Hall of Fame executives, and superfans. Cornell football legend Peter K. Gogolak '64 was can be found in the top half of the list, clocking in at 42, the organization announced last Tuesday.

Pete Gogolak was ahead of his time. Named one of the 100 Greatest Game-Changers by the NFL, Gogolak, who was born in, and played soccer in, Hungary, approached the ball at an angle and kicked it with his instep – the style all kickers use today. Prior to him, placekickers approached the ball straight on, with the toe making first contact with the ball.

It is not hard to understand why the league adopted his soccer-style kicking. Gogolak played for the Giants from 1966 to 1974 and is still the highest-scoring player in the history of the franchise, with 646 points. He also set franchise records for field goals (126) and extra points (268).

Beyond his prowess as a kicker, Gogolak is a significant figure in the history of pro football. When he moved from the Buffalo Bills to the Giants, Gogolak became the first prominent player to leave the upstart American Football League for the NFL. Wellington Mara signed him after watching rookie Bob Timberlake miss 13 consecutive field goal attempts. "That was a whole new thing when I started as a soccer-style kicker in high school and in college," Gogolak said. "Nobody had ever seen that before, and in the beginning in college and with the Bills, the first time, I had trouble finding a holder because the holder looks at you – I'm coming from the side: 'Is this guy going to kick me? The goalposts are here, you're coming from here – what's going on?' So anyway, yeah, started a trend, and everybody else is doing it now. I think one of the most important things to me to be here is Wellington Mara – I don't know if you remember – the rival between the two leagues, and he had the courage to sign me after I played out my option from the Buffalo Bills. So, it took a lot of courage."

In his collegiate years, Gogolak was the first soccer-style place-kicker in collegiate football history, he set a national major college record of 44 consecutive kicking conversions from 1961 through '63. Overall his conversion record was 54x55 for his three-year varsity career. His 50-yard field goal vs. Lehigh in 1963 was the nation's longest in a major college game. After graduation he starred with the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants, setting the Giants' all-time scoring record. He was the first player to switch from the American Football League to the National Football League which started a trend.