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On this day in Latinx history: Tony Gonzalez breaks touchdown record
Chiefs great scores twice to move past Shannon Sharpe on career list for tight ends
Tony Gonzalez set the NFL record for touchdown catches by a tight end in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 27-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 14, 2007.
A 3-yard pass from quarterback Damon Huard in the first quarter moved Gonzalez past Shannon Sharpe with 63 career touchdowns.
Gonzalez’s milestone was announced to the sellout crowd in Kansas City, who gave the eight-time Pro Bowler a standing ovation. In the final quarter, the 1997 first-round pick snagged his 64th career touchdown.
“Breaking the record for touchdown catches is not anything I ever thought I would do,” the former football and basketball standout at the University of California, Berkeley told NFL.com. “When I first came into the league, all I wanted to do was be the best player I could be.”
Later that season, Gonzalez broke the NFL record for receptions by a tight end with his 816th career catch in the third quarter of Kansas City’s regular-season finale against the New York Jets on Dec. 30.
Gonzalez went into the game needing only three catches to break Sharpe’s milestone. His 7-yard reception on the team’s first play of the second half tied him with Sharpe, and two plays later he broke the record by taking Brodie Croyle’s short pass for a 17-yard gain.
Gonzalez finished with seven catches for 99 yards in Kansas City’s 13-10 overtime loss to New York, the Chiefs’ ninth consecutive defeat as they finished the season with a 4-12 record.
“It’s honestly one of the only positive things I can take from the season,” Gonzalez said. “I was able to go out there and surpass a really good tight end in Shannon Sharpe. Individually, it’s been a pretty good year, statistically.”