Dan Bailey is not your typical football player who started playing right from the time he was a little kid learning to walk or the type who had all set for him to play the sports. Nonetheless, he has been able to get himself growing steadily until he got to play in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys with which he still plays since he was signed by the team in 2011.
Regarded by many as one of the best kickers that the league has ever seen, it is in football that Bailey has become famous, but his personal life, although mostly kept away from the public is no less interesting.
Dan Bailey Biography (Age)
January 26, 1988, was the day the American football star was born in Oklahoma City. It was here that he was brought up by his parents, Gary Bailey and Ann Bailey alongside his sister, Sarah Bailey.
For his education, Dan Bailey went to the Southwest Covenant School and later, the Oklahoma State University. Nevertheless, it was football that has brought him to where he is today. Interestingly, as indicated above, he didn’t start playing the sport as you would expect of many that have come to dominate various positions or even sports in general.
The first time he got to kick the ball was when he was only 4 years old, but it was as a young kid beginning to learn soccer. By the time he was probably eight or nine, he had already become a good soccer player that he could easily and accurately kick from one side of the pitch to the other. Nevertheless, he still came around to choosing football.
Playing at Southwest Covenant, the school’s eight-man team did not have a kicker. At the time, he was playing as a backup running back to two other players as well as a linebacker. But then, what he had actually wanted to do as he progressed was to become a kicker and that led him to get the help of others and create a homemade goalpost for training. Before this, he trained by having friends stand as the post for him or even use an imaginary one.
This was the beginning of his journey to becoming a kicker unlike many before him in the NFL. Even before then, he came by to set a high school record of having the longest field goal which is at 50-yards as well as having the highest number of field goals in a season and in a career, seven, and fourteen respectively. Just as you would expect, he also excelled in his college career.
During his free agency period in 2011, the Dallas Cowboys signed Bailey following the 2011 Draft as an undrafted free agent. He would go on to remain with the team for years to come, signing a $22.5 million contract extension in 2017 that would see him remain with the Cowboys for the next 7 years.
The highlights of his career thus far include the 2015 Pro Bowl as well as the Second-team All-Pro that he also made in 2015. In 2011, he made the PFWA All-Rookie Team.
His Wife and Family
The story of athletes meeting their life partners since their teenage days and growing to build a family together is not something that is uncommon. You even find more stories of athletes meeting their better halves in college. That is the story of Dan Bailey who met the woman that has come to be his wife, Krista Bailey when they were both in college.
Born as Krista Cochran in Cincinnati, Krista Bailey was into athletics the same way as Dan when she was at the Oklahoma State University, although it was gymnastics that she devoted her time to. Having met at the college, the two were able to maintain their relationship and in 2011, they decided to tie the knot.
Even though the young family is yet to have any kids, there shouldn’t be any surprises if Dan and Krista decide to start having kids and you get to see that they also decide to go into sports. This is as while Dan is serious about football, his wife once worked as a gymnastics coach at Texas Dreams Gymnastics before leaving.
Height and Weight
One of the first things that many can guess with football players in general and most especially those in the NFL is that they have a good height and they are well built. This is likewise true with Dan Bailey who is not necessarily the tallest man you will find in the league, standing at a height of 6 ft. 0 in (1.83 m), he has a weight of 195 lb (88 kg).
