Unlikely Hero -- Chapter 1

All the boys played for the football team. This was necessary because the school only had about 80 students, half of whom were boys. And so, Kevin along with every other boy went to the first football practice. It didn't matter if a boy did not play football, he was required to be on the team. Not only did Kevin not play football, he didn't play anything. Kevin was a couch potato, and he was shaped like a potato. Kevin was 5 foot six, 240 pounds, and round as can be.This was freshman year, and Kevin waddled to the practice field for the first time. Coach Gunther looked at the assembled team, numbering 37, and addressed them. "Men," he said, "This will be our best year yet."

What Kevin did not know was that Coach Gunther said the same thing at the beginning of the first practice every year. Samuel J. Jenkins High School had never had a winning season. The year before they had only won one game, but that was more than either of the previous two years. Coach Gunther was obviously an optimist. He was also the only male teacher in the school, so that he became football coach by default. Because every boy made the team, Coach Gunther made sure that every boy played in each game. He believed winning was not very important, but that teamwork and camaraderie were important in building the character of his young charges. In this sense he was the anti-Lombardi.

Kevin understood that soon he would have football equipment on and very likely he would be knocked on the ground during each game. Now Kevin was no fool. He had no desire to he knocked on the ground. He had decided months before to try kicking the ball as a field goal kicker. The kickers on TV very rarely were knocked on the ground. Another thing, Jenkins High hardly ever scored a touchdown. Therefore, he would very rarely be called upon to kick an extra point. Kevin thought this was very clever.

He went to Coach Gunther, and said, "Coach, I would like to be a kicker."

Coach Gunther looked surprised. "Really, Kevin, have you ever kicked before?"

"Oh yes, my cousin Johnny from Centerville and I have been kicking since spring. Would you like to see?”

"Indeed I would," exclaimed Coach Gunther. "If you are a good kicker, you could be our secret weapon."

****

Before we watch Kevin's kicking audition, perhaps a few words about Samuel Jenkins High School are in order. The school was located in Jenkinsville, a small town in farming country, named after Samuel Jenkins, a man who became known as a biologist with a fascination with peep frogs. Unfortunately, as a result the school name became the Peep Frogs. The other towns in the county had names for their teams like Cougars, Bears, or Dragons. Not surprisingly, the Peep Frogs were not taken seriously by their opponents.

You might think the students at Samuel Jenkins high school would feel humiliated. But Jenkins high was a very unusual place. The town of Jenkinsville was inhabited by many children of the sixties, refugees from communes who had become hard working farm families. They did not take themselves too seriously and instilled in their children a friendly, patient spirit. The staff throughout the school system was mostly of the same mind, so that even the football program, normally the most aggressive of pursuits for the young male students was easy-going and noncompetitive. Of course, results in games against more traditional foes were lopsided.

The previous year Jenkins high was successful in one game, only because most of the opposing team was sick with the flu. Even then they were victorious only because the Collins Dragons were so exhausted by the fourth quarter, the poor players could hardly move. In line with the civic nature of Jenkinsville, Jenkins high offered to call the game a tie with a replay later in the season. Collins High proudly refused, and so Jenkins had a victory. Finally.

****

The coach handed Kevin the ball. They walked over to the 50 yard line. "Well, Kevin, let's see how far you can kick the football." Kevin looked at the coach. "Coach, I want to be a place kicker."

Coach Gunther smiled and said, "Kevin, we are not usually very close to the end zone, at least the other team's and so, what we need is a punter."

Kevin was dismayed. "A punter?"

"Yes, now let's see how far you can kick the ball."

With that, Kevin took the ball and kicked it as hard as he could. Much to his surprise, and the Coach's, the ball went way up in the air and landed about 35 yards down the field.

Coach Gunther said, "Good, now let me see you do that again." They went after the ball and Kevin kicked it 40 yards this time. They retrieved the ball, and he did this several times kicking the ball between 30 and 50 yards every time. Kevin was surprised. He had never punted before, but all that practice had made his leg very strong, and from the look in Coach Gunther's eye, it looked like Kevin was the team's punter.

Meanwhile the team had noticed Kevin's exhibition and were gathered watching his prolific punting with shock. They had never seen anyone kick the ball so far before, except for the punters on other teams. Coach Gunther announced, "Men, Kevin will be our punter this season, and I predict he will kick it even farther with practice. He will make the other teams have to work hard to score against us. This may give us an opportunity to be very competitive in our season."

As mentioned before, the character of the team was one of friendliness, and the boys were very supportive of one another, having been used to losing in the past, and now saw Kevin's skill as something positive, not something they were used to. The boys came mostly from farm families and were lean and strong, but did not have the bulk that many football players prize. But because the families cooperated in the times of good and bad, planting, harvesting, and also those times of trouble so common to farmers, they appreciated one another very much. Even though Kevin was a freshman, this did not cause any jealousy or antagonism among the older boys. After all it was a small community, a small school, and everyone knew everyone else, and had since they were little.

A few of the older boys, Jeremy Wisniewski, Todd Platt, and Sam Rendon spoke quietly together for a little while. They went to the coach, and spoke to him privately. Then Coach Gunther announced to the team, "Jeremy Todd and Sam want to make sure that our new secret weapon keeps a clean jersey this year. We have to work on protecting our punter." So the team started working right away on blocking and protecting, so that Kevin would have time to get his punts away. And what punts they were, sailing high in the air making it a challenge for the player trying to catch the ball. Frequently in their practice the receiver of the punt would drop it and the kicking team would recover the fumble.

At the end of practice, Coach Gunther gathered the team together and told them, "Kevin told me before he also can place kick. If we can get close to the other team's end zone, maybe he could kick field goals also." The boys cheered. Really for Jenkins high any possibility of scoring, no matter in what way, was something to cheer about.