Kicker has GC&SU connection

Imagine having knee surgery and Adam Vinatieri, game-winning kicker for the New England Patriots, being the surgeon.
Well, it almost happened.
While Vinatieri was attending South Dakota State University as a pre-med major, such a scenario seemed likely.
“I’ve known Adam since 1994. I was a professor at South Dakota State from 1983-1996 in the health, physical education & recreation department. Adam was pre-med and he chose to major in fitness and wellness,” Dr. Jim Lidstone, department chair of kinesiology said. “I did work with him for 1 1/2 years on the football field, however. During his junior year he was struggling with his performance and his special teams coach asked me if I could help with his confidence and concentration.”
Although Lidstone has seen Vinatieri once since 1996, Lidstone said that he and Vinatieri have spoken a couple of times on the telephone.
“I’ve only seen him once since he graduated, prior to a playoff game with the Dolphins in 1997 and then we’ve spoken on the phone a couple of times,” Lidstone said.
Whether he was kicking game-winning field goals, or at the time, studying for a test, Lidstone said that Vinatieri has always been a very serious person.
“Adam was a very serious individual, whether it was in the classroom or on the football field. He is driven by the desire to succeed. He is fun-loving and enjoys life but definitely not ‘laid-back.’ However, he is one of the nicest young men you will ever meet and not at all pretentious,” Lidstone said. “Everyone who meets him likes him instantly.”
Lidstone said that Vinatieri is as kind as he is determined.
“When my in-laws lived in New England in 1997 he came and had dinner with us the Saturday before the playoff game,” Lidstone said. “He brought autographed pictures for the kids and it was just like he was part of the family, even though he didn’t really know anyone but me.”

With eight seconds left in Super Bowl XXXVIII, Vinatieri got another chance to be the savior. After the kick sailed through the up-rights, Lidstone was relieved.
“I was really happy for him, and relieved,
considering he had missed a couple earlier. But it shows how far he has come that he was able to put the misses behind him and drill it down the middle,” Lidstone said.
“I was a lot calmer this time than I was in 2001 against the Rams,” Lidstone said. “I was a basket case during that last drive thinking that it might come down to a field goal. That’s such a defining moment for a kicker, and it can make or break them (e.g. Steve Christie with Buffalo vs. the Giants). People take field goals for granted, but try standing 45 or 50 yards away from those goalposts and see how small they look. From those distances, if you are just a degree or two off at impact, it’s going to be wide. Plus, you have a lot of very big, fast people trying to get to the ball.”
Lidstone said that everyone on the New England Patriots respects Vinatieri for his great work ethic.
“In addition to being a kicker, Adam is an athlete. In high school he was the best soccer player, and he was starting quarterback, punter and place kicker on the football team,” Lidstone said.
Vinatieri is also Evil Kneivel’s second cousin and his great, great grandfather was a drummer in General George Custer’s band. When Custer went to Little Big Horn, he decided at the last minute to leave the band behind. As Chris Berman of ESPN said, “that’s the most important Vinatieri miss ever.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 6 2004. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry