REGION — Last week, as the Los Angeles Chargers returned to San Diego for a two-day training camp, the franchise announced that Encinitas resident John Carney would be inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame alongside former wide receiver Anthony Miller, becoming the 37th and 38th players honored by the franchise.
A placekicker, Carney remains the Chargers’ all-time leading scorer, a record built over 11 seasons with the franchise from 1990 through 2000. He converted 261 of 320 field-goal attempts during his tenure, an 81.6 percent success rate that made him one of the NFL’s most reliable kickers during the 1990s.
Carney’s finest season came in 1994, when he earned first-team All-Pro honors from The Associated Press. He led the NFL with 34 made field goals that season, helping the Chargers capture the AFC championship and advance to Super Bowl XXIX.
More than three decades after joining the franchise, Carney’s 1,076 points and 261 made field goals are both franchise records, while his 29 consecutive made field goals from 1992-93 stood as an NFL record at the time.
He was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week eight times and AFC Special Teams Player of the Month three times, and his teammates voted him the Chargers’ Special Teams Player of the Year following his first season with the team.
In six seasons for the Chargers, from 1988 to 1993, Miller caught 374 passes for 5.582 yards and 37 touchdowns. The Pasadena native was named to the Pro Bowl after the 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993 seasons.
“We’re excited to welcome two exceptional players, whose contributions will forever be woven into the fabric of our team’s history, into the Chargers Hall of Fame,” said President of Football Operations John Spanos.
“To be voted in by your peers is the ultimate honor, and we’re proud to celebrate John and Anthony, their incredible careers and the indelible moments they created for our fans.”
Selection for the Chargers Hall of Fame, the franchise’s highest honor, is determined by a vote of the organization’s living Hall of Fame members.
“I think some people are born with ice in their veins, and then some people develop it somewhere in between,” Carney told The Coast News in March. “I don’t think I was born with ice in my veins, but I give my father a lot of credit. He was a very hard-working man with a strong will, and if he set his mind to something, he was going to accomplish it.
“I enjoyed challenges and preparation — whether it was practicing soccer for hours, practicing the trumpet in junior high for whatever piece I needed to get right, or training for kicking. I loved visualizing the game coming up, predicting what situations and what environment it was going to look like, and then preparing for that.”
Carney, whose 23-season NFL career spanned from 1988 to 2010, grew up in Florida looking up to former Miami Dolphins kicker Uwe von Schamann.
“He was our South Florida super kicker,” Carney said. “He was fun to watch on Sundays. I had to be patient and watch the Dolphins until they got to the red zone.”
Since 2012, Carney has also operated Carney Training Facility in Carlsbad, working with kickers, punters and long snappers at all levels of the sport. The gym’s walls are lined with photos of professional special teams players who have trained with Carney over the past decade-plus, reading like a who’s who of the profession.
“The garage gym was born when I started playing for the Saints [in 2009],” Carney said. “We kept our home here in San Diego, and going to public gyms just wasn’t efficient, so I started putting equipment into the garage. Some of my teammates from around the country started joining me, and we fed off each other, motivated each other and pushed each other.
“When I slipped into retirement, I had some college guys wanting to get ready for the pros, and then it kind of grew. I didn’t really have intentions of working with high school kids, but all of a sudden, high school kids started knocking on our door, and I really enjoyed watching them start the journey and blossom into great kickers and punters.”
Carney and Miller will be formally inducted during a halftime ceremony Nov. 8, when the Chargers host the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium.
“What’s great about John is that he’s respectful and supportive of everybody’s climb,” said Drew Ferris, who had a brief NFL career as a preseason long snapper and now trains aspiring long snappers under Carney, “A lot of coaches will tell players they don’t have a shot, or they should quit, sometimes prematurely.
“People don’t come to John to be told to quit; they come to get better and pursue their dreams. And as cliché as it sounds, John’s intentions are so pure that I think that’s what’s built his great reputation.”
