| | Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Where are they now: Jan Stenerud
By Dan O'Sullivan
MondayNightFootball.com
He didn't play organized football until his senior year of college. Twenty-six years later, he became the first full-time kicker elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
|  | | Kicker Jan Stenerud of the Green Bay Packers in action during a game at Lambeau Field in 1981. |
Jan Stenerud, a native of Fetsund, Norway, took a crooked path to football immortality. He attended Montana State on a ski jumping scholarship (and was an All-American in 1964), but later was invited to try out for the football team after word of his place-kicking prowess got out. He made the squad and nailed a then-record 59-yard field goal in his first season.
In 1967, Stenerud joined the Kansas City Chiefs, where he spent 13 seasons. He next moved on to the Green Bay Packers before finishing his career with the Minnesota Vikings. By the time he wrapped up his 19-year career in 1985, Stenerud had compiled 373 field goals (a record at the time), 1,699 points, four All-Pro honors and a Super Bowl ring. A Hall of Fame induction followed in 1991.
Stenerud, 57, lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., and works for the engineering/architectural firm of HNTB Corp.
MondayNightFootball.com: Tell me about your work with HNTB.
Jan Stenerud: We're one of a handful of companies that specializes in the design of new stadiums. One of our latest projects that we are most proud of is that we are the designers of the Denver Broncos' new stadium. I'm the director of business development for HNTB. Every time we hear about a new stadium or a renovation or an addition of decks or suites, etc., my role is to get HNTB up to bat and competing for the job. In addition to the pro ranks, we also do a lot of work in the college ranks. We are involved at Ohio State, which is planning a huge modernization of its old stadium. We're involved in work at the University of Purdue, University of Kentucky, University of South Carolina, to name a few. We're also at this time designing three or four minor league baseball stadiums.
MondayNightFootball.com: How did you end up playing football at Montana State?
Stenerud: Having played a lot of soccer, I fooled around kicking the football around at the football stadium my junior year, 1964. I kicked with the toe, like everybody else kicked in the '60s. Then I tried a few with the side of my foot, and I said, "Wow, there's a guy with the Buffalo Bills, Pete Gogolak, who kicks like that." Gogolak was the first soccer-style kicker. ? The football coach, Jim Sweeney, heard about me and asked me to try out for spring practice. ... In the spring game, I kicked a 62-yard field goal. As a result, I made the team the following fall, my senior year.
MondayNightFootball.com: You played four years with the Packers, 1980-83. What are your recollections of Green Bay?
Stenerud: When I got there, I thought, "Oh gosh, what am I doing here?" Difficult conditions, frozen ground - difficult to perform on as a kicker because you need good footing. But I can honestly say that if you haven't played football in Green Bay and you've been in the NFL a long time, you've missed out on something special. Football there is like football in Nebraska, or football in Alabama, or football at Notre Dame. It's a special experience. [Football] is so important to the people of the community and the people of the state. It is unbelievable. I am just thrilled to death that I got that opportunity. And of course my coach was Bart Starr, and I think a lot of him. It was a wonderful experience. I can't say enough about the Packers fans and how they make us players feel.
MondayNightFootball.com: Our classic Monday Night Football game of the week is an Oct. 17, 1983, contest in which your Packers beat the Washington Redskins 48-47. What are your memories from that night?
Stenerud: I would guess it had to be one of the most entertaining games ever on Monday night. I wasn't a big factor. I think I kicked early in the ballgame from 48, 49 yards [actually, 47 yards]. Then I kicked a [game-winning] field goal with about 50 seconds to go. A very short field goal, but it was still something you had to make. The Redskins actually had a chance to win the game on the last play of the game, but it didn't work out with the field goal attempt. When we kicked the field goal with less than a minute to go, we thought that was going to take care of it. But they were able to at least have an opportunity to win.
MondayNightFootball.com: Was there a secret to your longevity and was it more difficult to stick around in your day?
Stenerud: Now they only bring 80 people to training camp, and sometimes they bring in only one competitor [for the kicking position]. Sometimes they don't bring in anyone if you had a decent year the year before. In the old days, they brought in people from all over the world. They went to South America and Europe in the late '60s to try to find professional soccer players in addition to the American kids they could find. So [I] lasted, I suppose, because [I] had to do a decent job. Number two, I imagine I was more stubborn than most. ? I didn't relax a lot in those 19 years.
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