A day after kicking a 67-yard field goal for Central Valley (Wash.) High School, Austin Rehkow signed his first autograph.

He plans on signing many more before his kicking days are over.

For the 17-year-old high school senior from Spokane Valley, it was just another aspect of his new-found celebrity following the viral video of his kick and local and national media attention that eventually included coverage on ESPN's "SportsCenter," "Good Morning America," the "Today" show and the NFL Network.

"I'm more noticed around town, with people asking me for autographs and pictures," Rehkow told Playbook recently. "It's been great. My teammates accepted the TV crews following me around. It was a big accomplishment."

And that first autograph request, he said, came while he was watching Eastern Washington University play last weekend: "A woman found out who I was and just came up to me and asked me to sign her scorebook. I think it's pretty cool."

Rehkow was equally cool this past Friday, kicking a 54-yard field goal which was the eventual margin of victory for Central Valley (7-2) in its 37-35 victory over Gonzaga Prep.

During Friday's game, Rehkow said he learned of a scholarship offer from the University of Idaho. He had previously been offered a partial scholarship from Eastern Washington.

"Some coaches have called and other schools are asking for my transcript since my kick," Rehkow said. "Being a kicker, most schools lock up their skill positions first, eventually you'll get the call. So we'll just wait and see what else comes."

His 67-yard kick on Oct. 18, which came as regulation ended in a 62-55 overtime victory over Spokane (Wash.) Shadle Park, was a yard short of the all-time high school record but 4 yards longer than the current NFL mark. It has certainly helped Rehkow achieve notoriety on the recruiting front (here's his 2011 highlight video posted on YouTube) and may end up paying dividends beyond Internet celebrity.

Rehkow hopes to kick in the NFL someday but also wants people to know there is more to him than just a golden right foot. The 6-foot-3, 193-pound Rehkow is a point guard for the school's varsity basketball team, has a 3.95 cumulative GPA, is currently taking AP calculus and plans a career in medicine "as either a dentist, chiropractor or pharmacist" as a fallback plan if the NFL doesn't work out.

Elsewhere:

• NHL players are locked out, but that didn't stop Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien from getting behind the bench to coach the Winthrop (Mass.) Squirt B hockey team to a 3-2 win over Watertown on Sunday. The Winthrop team had won Julien's services in a charitable raffle that benefited the Boston Bruins Foundation and Massachusetts youth hockey.

Coach congratulated the team after the win & Winthrop thanked him for giving them a memorable day.^BB twitter.com/NHLBruins/stat…

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 28, 2012

As far as the lockout goes, "Unfortunately, I'm just a bystander like everyone else, waiting for the signal to go back to work," Julien told The Boston Globe. "That’s all I know and that's all I can say."

• Halloween is Wednesday, but Team USA soccer gold medalists Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux paid homage to fellow Olympians McKayla Maroney and Gabby Douglas at a weekend party.

Impressed?

Me and @alexmorgan13 aren't impressed with the gold. We feel you Gabby and McKayla.. instagr.am/p/RTzWw0GWL9/

— Sydney Leroux (@sydneyleroux) October 28, 2012

”Oh just Gabby Douglas and McKayla Maroney.......”






From sydneyleroux via Instagram.

If you see any offbeat links from your favorite sports site or catchy tweets that might be of interest to others, pass them along to me @billsperos or to bsperos1@gmail.com.