Remy Hamilton

American football player (born 1974)

Remy Martin Hamilton (born August 30, 1974) is a former American football kicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) and Arena Football League (AFL). In college, he was an All American for the Michigan Wolverines football team. As a professional, he played for the Detroit Lions of the NFL in addition to exhibition and training camp experience with the Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams and Chicago Bears. He also played for the Grand Rapids Rampage, Carolina Cobras, Milwaukee Mustangs, Los Angeles Avengers, and Dallas Desperados of the AFL. In the AFL, he holds records for all time career points and single season kick points. At Michigan, he set the current Big Ten Conference record for single season field goals, which is 25. He ranks both first and second in school history in single season field goals made and co holds the school record for consecutive field goals made along with Brendan Gibbons. He is the only All American placekicker in Michigan history.

Hamilton attended Spanish River Community High School in Boca Raton, Florida, where he was a three sport athlete in football, soccer, and tennis. In football, he played as a kicker, punter, defensive back, and quarterback. As a senior starting quarterback, the Sun Sentinel named him the Offensive Player of the Year, after completing 74 of 121 passes for 1,147 yards, 11 touchdowns, and rushing for 249 yards and six touchdowns. Hamilton was named after the Rémy Martin brand of cognac, which his parents once served as owners of the New Jersey Bolero Motel and Bar.

Hamilton attended the University of Michigan, where he played football from 1993 to 1996. During this first season at Michigan, he only made one field goal. Lovell missed an extra point in the opener, which gave Hamilton his second chance. Thus, before the second game of his sophomore season, he had not recorded any field goals that season, still had a career total of one and was mostly used for kickoffs. However, during the September 10, 1994 Michigan – Notre Dame rivalry game against third ranked Notre Dame, he made four field goals and two extra point conversions, including the game winning 42 yarder with two seconds remaining. Notre Dame called a timeout to ice Hamilton, but it inadvertently helped Michigan, which had prematurely packed away the kicking net on its sidelines. Two games later, he had a three field goal game in the Big Ten Conference opener against Iowa. Hamilton had another four field goal outing later in the season against Illinois. This earned him another Player of the Week recognition. Despite NFL alumni that include Jay Feely, Hayden Epstein and Ali Haji Sheikh, Hamilton remains the school's only All American placekicker. The Big Ten was talented at the placekicker position that season, with four of the twenty semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award being from the conference (Hamilton, Illinois' Chris Richardson, Minnesota's Mike Chalberg and Northwestern's Sam Valenzisi). Hamilton won the NCAA statistical championship for field goal kickers that season. He also set Michigan's single season kick point record with 101 in 1994. During the 1995 season, one of his more important field goals for the Wolverines came in the 5–0 victory over Purdue. However, when Northwestern beat Michigan at Michigan Stadium, 19–13, for its first victory there since 1959, Hamilton missed a key 37 yard field goal. His 1995 total of 19 field goals ranked second in Michigan history, behind only his own 1994 total. Garrett Rivas tied that single season total twice, but no one has unseated Hamilton from first and second place. He also helped the 1996 team take a 9–0 halftime lead and converted an extra point to give them a 16–0 lead in what would eventually be a loss to Northwestern, 17–16. His fourth quarter points contributed to a 27–20 victory over Indiana. He earned his third Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors following a 13–9 victory over Ohio State in the Michigan – Ohio State football rivalry game on November 23, 1996. A two time finalist for the Lou Groza Award, Hamilton finished his career as the all time Wolverine leader in field goals made (63) and field goals attempted (82). Hamilton holds the Michigan record for consecutive field goals made (14) as well as outright or shared school records for single game (5), single season (30) and career (82) field goal attempts. His career field goals made record (63) was eclipsed by Garrett Rivas in 2006 by one. Hamilton was a three time Big Ten All Academic selection (1993, 1995, 1996). He was also a three time Big Ten Conference Special Teams Player of the Week (9/12/94, 10/10/94, 11/25/96). His 14 consecutive field goals mark was one short of Vlade Janakievski's Big Ten record, which has since been broken. He then played in 2000 with the Carolina Cobras and in 2001 with the Milwaukee Mustangs, where he posted 11 of 42 (26.2%) and 18 of 47 (38.3%) field goal performances. In 2002, he joined the Avengers for which he had his best years as a professional, making at least half of his field goal attempts each season. Hamilton was second among kickers in the AFL in scoring in 2003. Following his strong performance, he signed with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks on August 4, where he competed against rookie Josh Brown. After Brown was perfect in both four field goal and seven extra point attempts in the first three preseason games, Hamilton was released on August 25, and he returned to play for Los Angeles again. On August 9, 2004, he signed with the Chicago Bears, where he battled Paul Edinger for the kicking duties. Bears head coach Lovie Smith noted Hamilton's skill at onside kicks. In terms of distance, Hamilton had a slight edge with his average kick three yards deep in the end zone compared with Edinger's goal line average. However, Edinger was perfect on six field goals and two extra points in the first three preseason games, and Hamilton missed his only exhibition game field goal attempt, a 36 yarder on August 27. The team waived him a few days later on August 31. He was again the top scoring kicker in the AFL in 2005. That year, he eclipsed Jay Taylor's AFL record for single season field goal percentage, which had been 72%, with a 74.4% 29 for 39 performance. He played for them during the 2005 exhibition season. For the preseason, he made his only field goal and all six extra points. He was released on August 30, as the Rams decided to retain Jeff Wilkins who had been their kicker since 1997. Hamilton then signed with the Detroit Lions for their practice squad on September 15, 2005. He appeared in one NFL game for Detroit, but missed his only point after touchdown attempt, He also executed a couple of kickoffs, and he made the tackle on Jerry Azumah's 33 yard return to the 37 yard line on one in the third quarter. He was activated to replace Jason Hanson who suffered a hamstring injury, which ended Hanson's consecutive games streak at 209. However, Hamilton was released on September 19 and re signed the next day to the practice squad. He was cut from the Lions practice squad on October 11. Hamilton returned to the AFL for Los Angeles, This earned Hamilton his second consecutive AFL's "Kicker of the Year" title and second consecutive First Team All Arena League selection. and he played for them in exhibition games during 2006. He made four of six field goals (including a 48 yarder) and four of five extra points during the preseason. On August 28, he was released, after the Rams kept Wilkins again. He joined the Dallas Desperados for 2008. In 2012, Hamilton was assigned to the Philadelphia Soul. By the time of his assignment he was the AFL's all time leader in field goals made (188), extra points made (1,082) and scoring by a kicker (1,646 points).

In a May 2009 article, the Los Angeles Times reported that, less than 15 hours after a 53–52 overtime loss to the Georgia Force at Staples Center, Hamilton's wife, Heather, delivered the couple's first child, a boy named Tate. Hamilton has served as a personal trainer for other kickers. Hamilton and his wife, Heather, also went on to having a beautiful baby girl Elle Jessie Hamilton. Soon after Elle they had another baby boy, Hawk Campbell Hamilton.