He set an NFL record in 1970 when he kicked a 63-yard field goal lifting the Saints over the Detroit Lions at the old Tulane Stadium and he did it without toes on his right foot.
Tom Dempsey's record would stand for 43 years.
Now the NFL legend is resides at an assisted living facility, with Alzheimers disease.
He lives at Lambeth House.
That Lambeth House.
The same one where 9 residents have tested positive for coronavirus and family and friends are under orders to stay away.
According to the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate, the news have been very hard for Dempsey's daughter Ashley.
“It’s just awful,” Dempsey told the paper. “It’s really, really difficult.”
Ashley, her mother and siblings had visited him on a daily basis, bringing along a meal for him.
That was until the outbreak of coronavirus curtailed visits by anyone who have family at Lambeth House.
Though separated, the Dempsey's now have a computer tablet so they can see and talk to the father.
Before that, a Lambeth House aid let him use a video phone to call home.
“They love him like family and they take care of him like he’s one of their own," Dempsey said, praising the staff.
Despite the separation from her father for the time being, Ashley says she has compete faith the caretakers at Lambeth House to weather the COVID-19 outbreak.
