Bobcat legend and NFL Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud
Stenerud to be Honored by Hall of Fame in Bozeman Thursday
4/19/2013 10:23:00 AM | Football
Skier-turned-kicker returns to Bozeman for Thursday's ceremony
The career of one of football's greatest kickers began by accident on a football field in Bozeman that no longer exists.
On Thursday, April 25, Jan Stenerud's career will be celebrated where it was launched. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Allstate Insurance Company, will honor Stenerud as a “Hometown Hall of FamerTM” in Bozeman with a ceremony beginning at 11 am at Bobcat Stadium. The event is free and open to the public, and several of Stenerud's former teammates are expected to attend.
“I've always really enjoyed Bozeman,” Stenerud said. “My feelings for my college days, my skiing days and football days there, and the friends I made in Bozeman, are very strong.”
Stenerud's football career as a kicker began in the fall of 1964, when Montana State's basketball coach at the time, Roger Craft, noticed Stenerud kicking field goals one day with halfback Dale Jackson. Craft prodded Bobcat football coach Jim Sweeney, then in his second of five seasons leading the program, into taking a look.
“Sweeney came down to the field and I kicked a few. After a few kicks Sweeney had me take my shoes off and I put on one of those awful old coaching shoes,” Stenerud recalls with a laugh. “I clunked a couple, but when I got used to it and I kicked a couple a long way. Sweeney put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?'”
Stenerud suited up for the team's final 1964 home game “to get used to the crowd,” he recalls, but wasn't eligible to compete. He participated in spring drills in 1965, and joined the team full-time the next fall. He kicked seven field goals that first season, more than the team had converted in the previous three seasons combined, but one of them was a 59-yarder which was the longest recorded at the time in college or professional football history.
As a senior, Stenerud nailed 11 field goals, breaking the NCAA record for kicking points in a season (82) and MSU's record for career field goals (18). Following the season, Stenerud was the only small-school player named to The Sporting News All-America Team, comprised of players from the top programs in the nation.
Stenerud's professional career is well-documented. He kicked 373 field goals kicking for the Kansas City Chiefs (1967-79), Green Bay Packers (1980-83) and Minnesota Vikings (1984-85), the most in league history upon the conclusion of his career. He scored 1,699 points in the NFL, was named All-Pro seven times, earned six Pro Bowl nods (a figure which includes two AFL all-star games), and was named MVP of the 1970 Pro Bowl.
Stenerud was the first full-time placekicker inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991, and Allstat's senior vice president for marketing Lisa Cochrane said the “Hometown Hall of FamerTM” program is designed to bring unite and honor all stages of Hall of Fame careers. “To be part of a program that brings the prestige and tradition of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to communities like Bozeman is an honor for Allstate, our agents and employees,” she said.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Enterprises President and CEO George Varas echoed those feelings. “'Hometown Hall of FamersTM' has been warmly embraced by communities and Hall of Famers alike,” he said. “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Allstate to bring the Pro Football Hall of Fame to communities across the country and congratulate Jan Stenerud and Montana State University on bringing a piece of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to Bozeman.”
Stenerud is also well-known in Montana for many years of involvement in the state's Special Olympics program, as well as raising over thousands of dollars for athletic scholarships at MSU. He will be presented by Tom Parac, a legendary Bobcat who was an assistant at MSU during Stenerud's career. Bobcat play-by-play man Tyler Wiltgen will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the event, which will also feature Craft and other dignitaries. A plaque and commemorative Jan Stenerud “Hometown Hall of FamersTM” road sign will be unveiled on Thursday, as well.
Representatives of Allstate and the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be on hand Thursday, but one person who won't be present will nonetheless be foremost on Stenerud's mind.
“It is Sweeney that changed my life,” Stenerud said of the former Bobcat football coach who passed away earlier this year. “It was Roger (Craft) that saw me and tried to get Sweeney to look at me. Sweeney is the one who encouraged me, he is the one that made it happen, obviously.”
On Thursday, April 25, Jan Stenerud's career will be celebrated where it was launched. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Allstate Insurance Company, will honor Stenerud as a “Hometown Hall of FamerTM” in Bozeman with a ceremony beginning at 11 am at Bobcat Stadium. The event is free and open to the public, and several of Stenerud's former teammates are expected to attend.
“I've always really enjoyed Bozeman,” Stenerud said. “My feelings for my college days, my skiing days and football days there, and the friends I made in Bozeman, are very strong.”
Stenerud's football career as a kicker began in the fall of 1964, when Montana State's basketball coach at the time, Roger Craft, noticed Stenerud kicking field goals one day with halfback Dale Jackson. Craft prodded Bobcat football coach Jim Sweeney, then in his second of five seasons leading the program, into taking a look.
“Sweeney came down to the field and I kicked a few. After a few kicks Sweeney had me take my shoes off and I put on one of those awful old coaching shoes,” Stenerud recalls with a laugh. “I clunked a couple, but when I got used to it and I kicked a couple a long way. Sweeney put his arm around my shoulder and said, 'What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?'”
Stenerud suited up for the team's final 1964 home game “to get used to the crowd,” he recalls, but wasn't eligible to compete. He participated in spring drills in 1965, and joined the team full-time the next fall. He kicked seven field goals that first season, more than the team had converted in the previous three seasons combined, but one of them was a 59-yarder which was the longest recorded at the time in college or professional football history.
As a senior, Stenerud nailed 11 field goals, breaking the NCAA record for kicking points in a season (82) and MSU's record for career field goals (18). Following the season, Stenerud was the only small-school player named to The Sporting News All-America Team, comprised of players from the top programs in the nation.
Stenerud's professional career is well-documented. He kicked 373 field goals kicking for the Kansas City Chiefs (1967-79), Green Bay Packers (1980-83) and Minnesota Vikings (1984-85), the most in league history upon the conclusion of his career. He scored 1,699 points in the NFL, was named All-Pro seven times, earned six Pro Bowl nods (a figure which includes two AFL all-star games), and was named MVP of the 1970 Pro Bowl.
Stenerud was the first full-time placekicker inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991, and Allstat's senior vice president for marketing Lisa Cochrane said the “Hometown Hall of FamerTM” program is designed to bring unite and honor all stages of Hall of Fame careers. “To be part of a program that brings the prestige and tradition of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to communities like Bozeman is an honor for Allstate, our agents and employees,” she said.
Pro Football Hall of Fame Enterprises President and CEO George Varas echoed those feelings. “'Hometown Hall of FamersTM' has been warmly embraced by communities and Hall of Famers alike,” he said. “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Allstate to bring the Pro Football Hall of Fame to communities across the country and congratulate Jan Stenerud and Montana State University on bringing a piece of the Pro Football Hall of Fame to Bozeman.”
Stenerud is also well-known in Montana for many years of involvement in the state's Special Olympics program, as well as raising over thousands of dollars for athletic scholarships at MSU. He will be presented by Tom Parac, a legendary Bobcat who was an assistant at MSU during Stenerud's career. Bobcat play-by-play man Tyler Wiltgen will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the event, which will also feature Craft and other dignitaries. A plaque and commemorative Jan Stenerud “Hometown Hall of FamersTM” road sign will be unveiled on Thursday, as well.
Representatives of Allstate and the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be on hand Thursday, but one person who won't be present will nonetheless be foremost on Stenerud's mind.
“It is Sweeney that changed my life,” Stenerud said of the former Bobcat football coach who passed away earlier this year. “It was Roger (Craft) that saw me and tried to get Sweeney to look at me. Sweeney is the one who encouraged me, he is the one that made it happen, obviously.”
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