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Cameron Dicker, Ray Wersching Talk Fair Catch Kicks at Chargers Facility

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Ray Wersching was watching the Chargers-Broncos game Thursday night when he suddenly saw an old-school football card pop on screen.

It was his.

Wersching, who spent four seasons with the Bolts in the mid-1970s, had previously been the last player to make a fair catch kick in an NFL game.

That honor, of course, now belongs to Cameron Dicker, who hit a 57-yarder against Denver for the longest such kick in NFL history.

Wersching, who was at The Bolt on Monday, said he initially thought his status was safe until he saw the flag on the play.

"Then there was a penalty and I went, 'Uh oh.' That brought it 15 yards closer and I said, 'This is it. He's going to make it. I know he is.' It brought that rule into where everybody knows about it," Wersching said.

Wersching toured the Chargers facility and took Monday's practice, getting a chance to meet Dicker afterwards.

"I think it's cool we both got to do it, especially being here [with the Chargers]," Dicker said. "The odds of that are very low."

Wersching's successful fair catch kick came in 1976. It was from 45 yards out against the Bills.

"It has been awhile," Wersching, who is now 74 years old and lives in the Bay Area, said with a laugh. "It's odd because you're basically out there by yourself."

Wersching later added: "It's like practice. Not that it was easy, but it made it a lot more comfortable that way."

Dicker said Wersching recalled his kick from nearly 50 years ago on Monday. The Chargers current kicker came away impressed.

"He was telling me he didn't even know he was going out there," Dicker said. "They just told him and he hadn't warmed up.

"They showed me a picture of him kicking and I mean, dude's quads were massive," Dicker added. "Call him the 'Quad Father.' It was fun to see him and just laugh and enjoy it."

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Nobody had made one since then and Dicker's kick is now the seventh successful fair catch kick in NFL history.

The play still had Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh buzzing on Monday.

"It was a great job by Cameron Dicker and [Chargers Special Teams Coordinator] Ryan Ficken," Harbaugh said. "Again, just want to give Ryan a shoutout. On Tuesday he had gone over that free kick in the meeting with the special teams to get everybody lined up."

Ficken said Monday that he was proud of his group for executing the rare play to perfection.

"Because they were backed up in that situation, we were trying to go ahead and get a fair catch kick," Ficken said. "If he was going to drive it, then we're thinking we've got to go ahead and return it.

"But once that situation occurred, we were just trying to figure out where the yardage was going to be with the officials," Ficken continued. "Then we were like, 'Let's go ahead and dial it up.'"

He later added: "I was just fired up for the guys just because they're able to execute it. It's something we've covered but they're always like, 'Oh, this is never going to happen.' But then they executed it so I was excited for them."

Ficken added that Dicker's kick likely had another 10 or so yards of distance on it, too.

"He smoked it," Ficken said. "With the way it came off his foot, he definitely could have hit that from 65 or 70. He's got that ability.

"Obviously, it depends on the game situation but those guys were ready," Ficken added. "You can't take for granted that the guys got aligned correctly. It's good for us to go ahead and put out that there and actually say, 'Hey, it can happen.'"

Count Wersching, who said the Chargers contacted him a few days ago, was also impressed.

"All of the sudden they said, 'Ray, can you come down on Monday?' And I'm going, 'To do what?'" Wersching said.

He later added: "I'm impressed with [all kickers]. A 50-yard field goal now you're expected to make them. It's amazing. And they're putting him through."

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