Jan Stenerud (born November 26, 1942) is a
Norwegian
former Professional Football player for the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs (1967-1969), and the
NFL's Chiefs (1970-1979), Green Bay
Packers (1980-1983), and Minnesota
Vikings (1984-1985). Stenerud was one of the first
professional football players to be used as a dedicated kicker, due
to his excellent "sharpshooting" ball-kicking performance. He was
one of the first placekickers to use the "
soccer style", a technique the Hungarian-born
Pete Gogolak had recently introduced in
the
AFL. Stenerud came to
the United States on a
ski jumping
scholarship and had never played
football.
While attending Montana State
University
in Bozeman, Montana
, he joined the football team and in 1965 kicked a
59-yard field goal, then a college football record, against the
rival Montana
Grizzlies.
During his 3 years in the AFL, Stenerud hit 70% of his field goals,
compared with a 53% average for the other kickers in the AFL and
NFL.
After the 1969 season, Stenerud won
Super
Bowl IV with the Chiefs when they defeated the
Minnesota Vikings 23-7. In that game,
Stenerud kicked three field goals, scoring the first 9 points of
the game for his team. His first, a 48-yarder, would remain the
longest field goal in a Super Bowl until January 1994, when the
record was broken by the
Buffalo Bills
kicker
Steve Christie in
Super Bowl XXVIII.
But Stenerud wasn't infallible. He missed two field goals and had
another kick blocked on
Christmas Day,
1971 in an AFC divisional playoff game against
the
Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins won
the game 27-24 in double overtime on a 37-yard field goal by
Garo Yepremian.
The game is the
longest in NFL history at 82 minutes, 40 seconds of playing time,
and was also the final football game in Kansas City
Municipal Stadium
.
Stenerud retired after the 1985 season, after 19 years (3 AFL, 16
NFL). In his career, he converted 373 out of 558 field goals (67
percent) and 580 out of 601 extra points (97%). Overall, Stenerud
scored a total of 1,699 points. At the time of his retirement, he
was the longest tenured (19 years) Professional Football player to
have played in the AFL. The last former AFL player in Professional
Football was
Charlie Joiner (
Houston Oilers, 1969), who retired from the
San Diego Chargers after the 1986
season.
Enshrined
in 1991, Stenerud, along with George
Blanda and Lou Groza is one of only
three kickers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame
, and he is the only one of those three who did not
play another position (Blanda played Quarterback, Lou Groza played Offensive Tackle). The Chiefs have
retired jersey number 3 in his honor. In 1994, he was selected on
NFL's 75th Anniversary Team
In recent years Stenerud has been involved in a Kansas City firm
that is involved in designing stadiums and sports arenas. He also
worked as a commentator for Scandinavian TV channel TV3's Super
Bowl Sunday coverage in the 1990s, and still maintains strong ties
with his native Norway. The street where he grew up, in the
municipality Fet, was renamed in his honor.
References
- http://www.missoulian.com/specials/UM-MSU100/G64-70.html
See also
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