Booth Lusteg

Gerald Booth Lusteg (May 8, 1939 – July 12, 2012)^[2] was a placekicker in the National Football League who played for the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers.^[3] Lusteg played collegiate baseball for the University of Connecticut and played football professionally for 4 seasons. He retired in 1969.^[2] He came out of retirement in 1974 and played one season for the Portland Storm. In 1976 he was signed to the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but was released after the first preseason game.

Lusteg, who at the time was an unsuccessful actor,^[4] first played football for the New Bedford Sweepers of the Atlantic Coast Football League. After the Bills lost kicker Pete Gogolak, Lusteg was one of nearly 100 people who applied to replace him. Lusteg was one of the only players with kicking experience out of the group: his top two competitors were a German bricklayer and a one-armed cyclops.^[4] At the time of the tryout, Gerald Lusteg took on the identity of his younger brother Wallace, who had graduated from Boston College, to shave four years off his perceived age. Using the nickname "Booth", Lusteg was able to pass as four years under his actual age for years, including adopting Boston College as his alma mater (he had not kicked or even played football in college, so he never ran into a challenge to his career).

Lusteg also played some minor league baseball as a 1B-OF with two teams in the West Carolina League in 1961 and 1962, first with the Newton-Conover Twins before being traded to the Statesville Owls. In his final season, Booth hit .230 in 22 games.

Lusteg died on July 12, 2012 after suffering from lung cancer for three years.^[5]

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