Dempsey is most widely known for kicking a 63-yard field goal as time expired to give the Saints a 19–17 win over the Detroit Lions on November 8, 1970 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Prior to 1974, the goal posts in the NFL were on the goal lines instead of the end lines. With time running out in the game, the Saints attempted a field goal with holder Joe Scarpati spotting at the Saints' own 37-yard line. The snap from Jackie Burkett was good, and Dempsey made the field goal as the ball fell just beyond the bar. The win was one of only two for the Saints in that dismal season. With the kick, Dempsey broke Bert Rechichar's NFL record for longest field goal by seven yards. His record was tied three times—by Jason Elam in 1998, Sebastian Janikowski in 2011 and David Akers in 2012—before it was broken on December 8, 2013, by Matt Prater who hit a 64-yard field goal. Dempsey's kick along with Graham Gano's 63-yarder in 2018 are the longest field goals to win a game on its final play. Dempsey was born without toes on his right foot and no fingers on his right hand. He wore a modified shoe with a flattened and enlarged toe surface. This generated controversy about whether such a shoe gave a player an unfair advantage. When reporters would ask him if he thought it was unfair, he said, "Unfair, eh? How 'bout you try kickin' a 63 yard field goal to win it with 2 seconds left an' yer wearin' a square shoe, oh yeah, and no toes either." Additionally, when an analysis of his kick was carried out by ESPNSport Science, it was found that his modified shoe had offered him no advantage. In fact, it was found that the smaller contact area could have reduced, not increased, the margin for error. The league made two rule changes in the subsequent years to discourage further long field goal attempts. The first was in 1974, which moved the goal posts from the goal line to the back of the end zone, adding ten yards to the kick distance, and awarded the ball to the defense on a missed kick at the spot where the ball was snapped. This was changed in 1994 to the spot of the kick. Then, in 1977, the NFL added a rule, informally known as the "Tom Dempsey Rule", that "any shoe that is worn by a player with an artificial limb on his kicking leg must have a kicking surface that conforms to that of a normal kicking shoe."
Career regular season statistics
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Post career
In 1983, Dempsey was inducted into the American Football Association's Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame. After retiring from football he resided with his wife Carlene, who taught history at Kehoe-France, a private school in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. His house was flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Dempsey married Carlene and had three children with one named Ashley. In January 2013, Dempsey revealed he was suffering from dementia. Psychiatrist Daniel Amen made the initial diagnosis of damage to Dempsey's brain. During medical examinations and scans, Amen found three holes in the brain, along with other damage. On March 30, 2020, Dempsey tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic. He was one of 15 residents at a New Orleans senior residence to test positive for the virus. Dempsey died on April 4 of complications of COVID-19.
