Pat Spillane remains to this day one of the finest sportspeople the island of Ireland has ever produced.
The legendary Kerry Gaelic footballer's record of eight senior All-Ireland football medals was only surpassed last year by Dublin trio Michael Fitzsimons, James McCarthy and Stephen Cluxton, and he was chosen on both the GAA Team of the Century in 1984, and its updated version - the Team of the Millennium - in 1999.
Spillane deserves his place in the pantheon of Irish sporting greats, and his prowess in the 1970s and 80s was such that he even achieved success abroad as part of the iconic Superstars TV show.
A joint American-British creation, the show was conceived in the early 1970s as a way of pitting the world's finest sportspeople against each other to find the ultimate global sporting superstar.
Competitors would first face off in national competitions ("Irish Superstars," for example") before progressing to continental competitions ("European Superstars"), before a global competition brought together the very best in the world to face off in multi-sport competition, akin to a decathlon.
The first Irishman ever to go all the way to the Global Superstars final was Pat Spillane in 1979, and his progress - and his remarkable sunburn - caught the attention of viewers up and down the country.
Many of us of an age will never forget Pat Spillane's sunburn when he represented Ireland on the BBC's #Superstars. Calamine lotion was our SPF50. #LateLate #LateLateShow pic.twitter.com/hNBa8sf8E6
— Philip Nolan (@philipnolan1) September 2, 2022
Spillane would go on to reveal in his 1998 autobiography that it was not only the Irish public whose attention he had captured, but that of NFL team the San Diego Chargers, who offered him a trial for a position as a kpunter.
READ HERE: 11 Men Who Won 2023 County Medals After Transferring GAA Clubs
READ HERE: A Tribute To 15 Of The Toughest Men In The History Of The GAA
Pat Spillane reveals details of NFL offer from Superstars
Pat Spillane wrote in his autobiography 'Shooting from the Hip' about his experience on Superstars, saying that a whirlwind few months saw him discover the existence of the programme, take part in the inaugural Irish event, and jet off to the Bahamas for the World Superstars event.
One event during warm-ups for the event saw Spillane go head-to-head with Rafael Septien, then the place-kicker for the Dallas Cowboys. Spillane says that he matched the Cowboys man in kicks off the ground, before putting on a show with ball in hand that piqued the interest of the Cowboys' NFL rivals the San Diego Chargers [now the LA Chargers]:
The Americans had a great interest in my career as a Gaelic footballer, particularly the fact that I was an amateur. NBC organised a kicking competition between myself and Rafael Septien.
I matched him for kicks off the ground up to the 50 yard line with an oval ball. On the suggestion of RTÉ commentator Jimmy Magee I then proceeded to give an exhibition of kicking the ball out of my hands. With my first kick I literally drove the ball out of the ground.
Having seen my exploits on American TV, the San Diego Chargers offered me a trial as a 'punt kicker.' I never took up the offer, even though a couple of years later I was in San Diego on an All Star tour.
Ronan O'Gara was another major Irish sportsperson who allegedly received an offer from the NFL. The Munster rugby icon claimed in his autobiography that he'd been offered a chance to play with the Miami Dolphins in early 2003 but more recent comments from the Corkman have made those claims seem dubious.
Recently, Enniskerry-born Dan Whelan became the first Irish player to appear in the NFL in over 30 years, lining out as a punter for the Green Bay Packers.
21 September 1986; Kerry's Pat Spillane in action against Paddy Ball, left, and Plunkett Donaghy, Tyrone. Kerry v Tyrone, All-Ireland Football Final, Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit; Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE
Pat Spillane would ultimately finish 11th out of 12 competitors, with only Brazilian F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi behind him in the standings.
To get to the global finals was a serious achievement in its own right, but Spillane recalls being so frustrated with his performance that he snubbed Fittipaldi's old racing rival Jackie Stewart as the Scot tried to grab him for an interview:
The one event I expected to do well in was the soccer competition. We had to dribble around two poles and then try and beat the goalkeeper. The rest of the competitors were crap at it.
I had psyched myself up and was convinced I was going to win this event. But when I missed the first kick I cracked. I made a mess of the second as well and I think I scored the third. But really I should have got all three.
I was so disgusted that I brushed passed current F1 team owner and ex-world champion Jackie Stewart, who was doing commentary work for NBC, and refused to give him an interview. As I had just fluffed the chance of maing a grand my mood wasn't great.
One of Spillane's great rivals on the Gaelic football field, Bernard Brogan (Senior) of Dublin, would go on to represent Ireland in the following year's competition, before canoeist Declan Burns finished second in 1981. Eamonn Coughlan would be joined by trampolinist Gerry Loftus on the Irish team in 1982. To our knowledge, none of that quartet were offered NFL contracts.
The image of Pat Spillane embarking on an entirely different career with the San Diego Chargers opens up a whole littany of questions we'd previously not even fathomed.
How high could the Templenoe man have risen in the ranks of the NFL? Could a 38-year-old Spillane's punts have made a miraculous difference in the Chargers' one and only Super Bowl appearance, a loss to the San Francisco 49ers in 1994? Would Spillane's famed 'Sunday Game' punditry have been replaced instead with an ill-judged stint hosting Red Zone?
We can only imagine.
SEE ALSO: Des Cahill Has No Regrets About Leaving 'Broken' Sunday Game
