Jan Stenerud — another ‘page’ from Las Vegas’ colorful past

By Ron Kantowski

Friday, Oct. 17, 2008 | 10:42 a.m.

NOW:

So I'm talkin' to Jan Stenerud, the Hall of Fame kicker, and he's telling me about his introduction to Las Vegas, and I'm writin' it all down ...

(This is why I love this city. One minute, you're balancing your checkbook. The next minute, smack out of the blue, you're talkin' to Jan Stenerud, the greatest field goal kicker who ever lived.)

Anyway, Jan is telling me that during his Pro Bowl days, Abe Schiller, the old public relations guru at the since imploded Dunes Hotel, would offer the football all-stars three days and two nights at a swanky Las Vegas hotel -- or at least the Dunes -- on their way back from Honolulu.

"The only catch was the players who stayed there had to allow to be paged three or four times a day," Stenerud said before teeing it up at the Justin Timberlake Shriners for Children Open at TPC Summerlin.

Stenerud. Paging Mr. Jan Stenerud.

Jurgensen. Paging Mr. Sonny Jurgensen.

Tinglehoff. Paging Mr. Mick Tingelhoff.

Stenerud said you didn't have to answer the page. Well, maybe Mick Tingelhoff did. All you had to do is let them page you, so people throwing the dice at the craps table could tell their friends back in Cedar Rapids that there might have been a great field goal kicker, or quarterback or even an offensive lineman from the Vikings walking through the casino, and you might want to stay there the next time you go to Vegas.

This is why I -- and Mick Tingelhoff -- love the old Las Vegas.

THEN:

Did you know that were it not for an old football coach with ties to Las Vegas that Jan Stenerud might still be telling his grandkids about jumping off a 90-meter hill?

He came to American from his native Norway to be a ski jumper, of all things, at Montana State.

The ski team would run the stairs at the football stadium to get in shape. One day, Stenerud noticed the MSU kickers booting an oblong-shaped ball through these funny looking post things.

"Can you use the side of your foot?" asked the former soccer player from just outside of Oslo.

Stenerud boomed one kick after another through the funny looking post things. When word got back to Jim Sweeney, the Montana State coach who would go on to coach at Fresno State in the old PCAA and Big West, he immediately gave Stenerud a jersey and a helmet with a single bar face mask.

Stenerud played just that one year of college football at Montana State before signing with the Chiefs. He kicked a 59-yarder, then a college record, against the rival Montana Grizzlies.

Having retired in 1985, Stenerud doesn't kick field goals any more.

He doesn't jump off 90-meter hills, either.

But he does play a lot of golf.