A punter (P) in American or Canadian football is a special teams player who receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage and then punts (kicks) the football to the opposing team so as to limit any field position advantage. This generally happens on a fourth down in American football and a third down in the Canadian version. Punters may also occasionally take part in fake punts in those same situations, when they throw or run the football instead of punting.

A punter must be skilled in angling the football and/or kicking it as high as possible (called "hangtime") to maximize his teammates’ ability to eliminate a punt returner's forward progress. Also, the punter will try to make the ball spin in an unusual manner making it harder to catch, which could result in a muff and potentially lead to the punter's team gaining possession.

Punters are rarely well known or recognized by fans, but play a major role in winning the field position battle. Today, punters have increasingly begun to pull double duty as the holder on field goal attempts and also being used on kickoffs. One of the main reasons why punters are starting to take over the holder position is that the backup quarterback is usually busy with the rest of the offense and has little time to devote to holding. Likewise the punter has certain training in throwing, due to the possibility of faking a field goal or attempting a two-point conversion. The long snapper for field goals is usually the punt snapper as well, so the punter already has developed a chemistry with the snapper and is used to catching a long-snapped ball.

Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including association football, as well as American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union and other related games. These variations of football are known as football "codes".

Various forms of "football" can be identified in history, often as popular peasant games. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The influence and power of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread, including to areas of British influence outside of the directly controlled Empire, though by the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic Football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage. In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football competitions. In the twentieth century, the various codes of football have become amongst the most popular team sports in the world.

Travis Edward Dorsch (born September 4, 1979) is a former American college and professional football player who was placekicker and punter in the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons during the early 2000s. He played college football for Purdue University, and was recognized as an All-American. He was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2002 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the Bengals and Green Bay Packers of the NFL, Rhein Fire of NFL Europa, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Dorsch was born in San Diego, California. He attended Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Montana, and was a letterman in high school football, basketball, and track and field for the Bozeman Hawks. He also played four years of American Legion baseball for the Bozeman Bucks as a starting first baseman and pitcher. He holds several state records including the longest field goal in state history (fourth-longest in the national high school annals) at 63 yards.

William Ray Guy (born December 22, 1949) is a retired American football punter for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. Coming from the University of Southern Mississippi, he was the only pure punter ever to be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft when the Oakland Raiders selected him in 1973.

Guy was a key member of three Super Bowl-winning Raiders teams: Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVIII. Arguably, his best performance was in Super Bowl XVIII against the Washington Redskins. When the Raiders' offense faltered just outside the field goal range of placekicker Chris Bahr, Guy, known for his power, showed a great deal of finesse by booting a 27-yard punt that pinned the Washington Redskins on their own 12-yard line late in the first half. On the very next play, the Raiders' Jack Squirek intercepted Washington quarterback Joe Theismann and returned it for a touchdown that gave them a 21-3 halftime lead.

Ray Guy was the first and only punter ever to be selected in the first round in the NFL Draft as of 2012. Ray Guy retired in 1986. During his career, Guy:

Taylor Anderson is a gunsmith, re-enactor, and history professor. He is the author of the Destroyermen book series, about the USS Walker (DD-163), USS Mahan (DD-102), and USS S-19 (SS-124), and their fight against the Grik. His fifth book of the series; Rising Tides, has been published.