Homer Jones, a New York Giants wide receiver who performed the original end-zone “spike” in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Yankee Stadium in 1965, has died aged 82, writes Bruce Weber for The New York Times.

Despite having a relatively short football career due to a troublesome knee, Jones influenced the future of the game in a manner that even casual fans can recognize.

Jones wanted to celebrate when he caught his first touchdown pass by expressing his joy in a trendy manner of the early 1960s – by throwing the football into the stands.

On October 17, 1965, in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Yankee Stadium, he got his chance to celebrate after he scored on an 89-yard pass play. However, by that time, the league had forbidden the hurling of a football as a celebration.

So Jones found a new way to celebrate: he threw the football down to the turf with force, performing what is credited as being the original end-zone “spike.”

He was the one to name the move as well, ushering in the still-lasting era of more elaborate end-zone celebrations.

Read more about Homer Jones in The New York Times.