Jan Stenerud
BOBCAT CALENDAR: The life of Jan Stenerud, who was elected to the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame one year ago today, would make an amazing movie
12/11/2020 2:10:00 PM | Football
The former ski jumping star from Norway found his way to Bozeman and eventually the Pro Football Hall of Fame
A day-by-day look at Bobcat football history...
December 11
SPOTLIGHT: Jan Stenerud's story would make an amazing movie. One year ago today, the former Bobcat two-sport All-America was elected into the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class.
A national ski jumping sensation in his home country of Norway, Stenerud came joined countryman Tor Fageraas on Bob Beck's Bobcat ski team. Things went well, with Stenerud winning Big Sky championships and earning All-America honors.
One day, taking a break from running stars at Gatton Field, Stenerud begins kicking a football. He kicks it conventionally, straight on, in the style of the day, then when he kicks soccer style - with the side of his foot - the ball begins to soar. His majestic kicks sail through the air, and in one of the most serendipitous moments in football history Montana State basketball coach Roger Craft happens past the field at this moment. The Bobcat football team is practicing just south of Gatton Field that afternoon, but the next day Craft strides into MSU football coach Jim Sweeney's office and told him about a potential star kicker. Feeling Sweeney may not have taken it seriously he made a repeat visit, and Sweeney agreed to have a look. After a quick look, Sweeney said something to the effect of, 'What are you doing Saturday afternoon?'
Stenerud couldn't participate that fall, 1964, because of eligibility rules. The next year, though, he took college football by storm. MSU students arrived at Gatton Field early to watch Stenerud kick on warmups. He kicked a 59-yard field goal against the Grizzlies at Gatton Field that fall, and eventually set NCAA kick scoring and field goal records. It was an amazing Bobcat career, and had the story ended there it would be worthy of national acclaim.
But it didn't end there. He was drafted by the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs, sirning with Kansas City and eventually kicking three field goals in KC's Super Bowl IV win. He set many NFL records, was an all pro multiple times, and eventually earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the first pure kicker so enshrined.
But possibly the most amazing and endearing things about Stenerud is a story about his feelings upon joining the Bobcat football program, and how that team embraced him. When the Pro Football Hall of Fame honored him with a Hometown Heroes ceremony in Bozeman a few years back, Stenerud reminisced about the stature of the football program, calling the players "big men on campus" for their individual and collective aura. But he said he was welcomed unconditionally and formed friendships that have lasted ever since. Many of those friends traveled to Canton for Stenerud's Hall of Fame induction and back to Bozeman when he was honored again.
It has been quite an odyssey, a young Norwegian competing at Montana State in sport no longer sanctioned by the NCAA kicking a football in a stadium that no longer exists, discovered by the football coach on a tip from the basketball coach.
BOBCAT FOOTBALL ON TODAY'S DATE
2019 - Jan Stenerud named to inaugural class of Big Sky Hall of Fame
2015 - Gerald Alexander joins MSU staff
FINIS: A head coach's initial coaching staff is a small point in the evolution of any football program that is out-sized in the moment but largely forgotten as time passes. Jeff Choate got a big one right today in 2015, though, when he hired Gerald Alexander to coach Bobcat defensive backs. A former Boise State Bronco and NFL player, Alexander did exceptional work in his one season at MSU before moving on to Cal in the same role. He is currently the secondary coach for the Miami Dolphins.
December 11
SPOTLIGHT: Jan Stenerud's story would make an amazing movie. One year ago today, the former Bobcat two-sport All-America was elected into the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class.
A national ski jumping sensation in his home country of Norway, Stenerud came joined countryman Tor Fageraas on Bob Beck's Bobcat ski team. Things went well, with Stenerud winning Big Sky championships and earning All-America honors.
One day, taking a break from running stars at Gatton Field, Stenerud begins kicking a football. He kicks it conventionally, straight on, in the style of the day, then when he kicks soccer style - with the side of his foot - the ball begins to soar. His majestic kicks sail through the air, and in one of the most serendipitous moments in football history Montana State basketball coach Roger Craft happens past the field at this moment. The Bobcat football team is practicing just south of Gatton Field that afternoon, but the next day Craft strides into MSU football coach Jim Sweeney's office and told him about a potential star kicker. Feeling Sweeney may not have taken it seriously he made a repeat visit, and Sweeney agreed to have a look. After a quick look, Sweeney said something to the effect of, 'What are you doing Saturday afternoon?'
Stenerud couldn't participate that fall, 1964, because of eligibility rules. The next year, though, he took college football by storm. MSU students arrived at Gatton Field early to watch Stenerud kick on warmups. He kicked a 59-yard field goal against the Grizzlies at Gatton Field that fall, and eventually set NCAA kick scoring and field goal records. It was an amazing Bobcat career, and had the story ended there it would be worthy of national acclaim.
But it didn't end there. He was drafted by the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs, sirning with Kansas City and eventually kicking three field goals in KC's Super Bowl IV win. He set many NFL records, was an all pro multiple times, and eventually earned induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the first pure kicker so enshrined.
But possibly the most amazing and endearing things about Stenerud is a story about his feelings upon joining the Bobcat football program, and how that team embraced him. When the Pro Football Hall of Fame honored him with a Hometown Heroes ceremony in Bozeman a few years back, Stenerud reminisced about the stature of the football program, calling the players "big men on campus" for their individual and collective aura. But he said he was welcomed unconditionally and formed friendships that have lasted ever since. Many of those friends traveled to Canton for Stenerud's Hall of Fame induction and back to Bozeman when he was honored again.
It has been quite an odyssey, a young Norwegian competing at Montana State in sport no longer sanctioned by the NCAA kicking a football in a stadium that no longer exists, discovered by the football coach on a tip from the basketball coach.
BOBCAT FOOTBALL ON TODAY'S DATE
2019 - Jan Stenerud named to inaugural class of Big Sky Hall of Fame
2015 - Gerald Alexander joins MSU staff
FINIS: A head coach's initial coaching staff is a small point in the evolution of any football program that is out-sized in the moment but largely forgotten as time passes. Jeff Choate got a big one right today in 2015, though, when he hired Gerald Alexander to coach Bobcat defensive backs. A former Boise State Bronco and NFL player, Alexander did exceptional work in his one season at MSU before moving on to Cal in the same role. He is currently the secondary coach for the Miami Dolphins.
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