Pete Gogolak, who played for the Bills and Giants in the 1960s and 70s, was the NFL’s first soccer-style kicker. Due to his success, all other kickers eventually adopted his then-unorthodox method, which entailed approaching the ball from an angle rather than straight-on and using the foot’s instep instead of the toes. Born in Budapest in 1942, Gogolak emigrated to the U.S. with his family after the Hungarian Revolution, and started playing football because his high school in upstate New York did not have a soccer team. After playing at Cornell, he was picked by the Bills in the 1964 AFL Draft. In his second year with Buffalo, Gogolak led the AFL with 28 field goals, nailed all 31 of his extra point tries, and made the Pro Bowl. Because the soccer style of kicking improved distance, accuracy, and fluidity of motion, it caught on. Before Gogolak, field goal kickers had mostly been burly men who played other positions; soon, a new generation of kickers, many of whom were skinny, quirky and European, began appearing in football. In the early 1970s, this shift also caused a spike in field goals that led the NFL to move the goal posts from the goal line to the end line in 1974.