Kicking Up a Storm : UCLA’s John Lee and Arizona’s Max Zendejas to Renew a Rivalry at Tucson

Whenever UCLA kicker John Lee started his windup to kick a field goal in practice this week, quarterback Matt Stevens yelled, “Zendejas!” And then Lee split the uprights.

Stevens was never real specific about which of the Zendejas brothers or cousins he was chiding Lee about. Most likely it was Arizona’s Max Zendejas, the man Lee will be matching kicks with Saturday night in Tucson.

Then again, he could have been thinking of Luis Zendejas, Max’s brother who set the NCAA field-goal record before he left Arizona State.

John Lee and Max Zendejas are racing toward that record as their senior seasons come to a close. Luis set the record at 78. Lee has 74 and Max 72.

Lee, an Associated Press All-American last season, and Max, whose name is known not only for his own accomplishments, but for those of his brother Luis, his brother Joaquin and his cousin Tony, are constantly being compared.

With an instep-to-instep meeting coming up, the debate is peaking.

It’s a rivalry that has been four years in the making. Lee, whose parents came from Korea and settled in Downey, has been the Bruin kicker since his first game at UCLA, just as Zendejas, whose parents came from Mexico and settled in Chino, has been the Wildcat kicker right from the start.

Both are soccer-style kickers. Zendejas was taught by his father, Lee by Ben Agajanian.

Max didn’t want to say too much about the record this week. He knows that Lee has enough incentive going, what with the celebrated miss that cost UCLA a victory at Tucson two years ago.

He did admit, though, that if anyone is going to break Luis’ record, he’d like to keep it in the family. “I won’t be disappointed if I don’t break Luis’ record,” Max said. “But I would want to get it instead of somebody else. I want to be the only one who breaks the record, or either have it stay the way it is.”

If Max had made all of his field-goal attempts this year, he would have tied the record already. He has made 17 of 23, missing one inside 39 yards, one inside 49 yards and four of more than 50 yards.

A couple of those misses have been 60-plus.

“I am pleased that my coach trusts me to try the long ones,” Zendejas said. “In practice, I kick a lot of long ones. He’ll let me try from anywhere on the field. He’s not afraid to let me try anywhere. The thing is, some kickers are afraid to try those long ones because that’s going to affect their record. I’m not afraid to go out there and find a way to win. I just want to try for the points.”

Lee’s percentage this season cannot be challenged. He’s perfect on both field goals and extra points. He has made all 16 of his field goal kicks, the longest from 47 yards. And UCLA Coach Terry Donahue reconsidered on a 42-yarder at Stanford to go for the touchdown and run more time off the clock.

Zendejas’ longest this season, and his career best, is 54 yards. Lee’s career best is 52.

Arizona Coach Larry Smith put it this way: “You look at Lee and you see the picture of perfection. How often do you find a kid who is such a blend of consistency and perfection? Max is more flashy. The guy can boot the real, real long one. But, then, the other day he missed a simple little chip shot.

“They are both outstanding kickers and I’m sure they are both aware of one another.”

There have been no reports of players shouting “Lee!” when Zendejas practices, but Zendejas is much aware of Lee, even if he’s just one Lee against a clan of Zendejases.

“Of course I’m aware of him,” Zendejas said. “He’s a fine kicker. There’s no doubt about that. I also feel that way about myself and Jeff Jaeger (of Washington). I think we are all three very good kickers.”

But Lee is the guy who has the jump on him in quest of his brother’s record.

For Lee, this game is key not only because of the confrontation with Zendejas but because of the 36-yard field goal he missed at the buzzer that would have given UCLA a tie at Arizona in 1983.

That stands as the only kick Lee has missed inside 40 yards in his career at UCLA. His percentage of 98% (50 of 51) inside the 40 is an NCAA record.

And now, two years later, the story is that Lee might have been perfect inside the 40 were it not for a bad hold.

Donahue told Arizona reporters earlier this week that highlight films, shot from ground level and not reviewed until long after the season had ended, showed that the ball was still spinning when Lee kicked it.

And the holder, former quarterback Rick Neuheisel, admits the possibility that blame should lie with him, not Lee.

Neuheisel, now a law student at USC, said: “I said at the time that it was possible, even though I didn’t come away from it thinking that it had been bad. In hindsight, I think it must have been the hold. The guy just doesn’t miss.

“There was a picture in the Daily Bruin of the hold that showed the ball leaning forward, but I didn’t pay much attention to that because the picture was taken well before John kicked the ball. It always started out like that, before I had time to straighten it.

“But if films show the ball spinning, then I’ll go along with that and say I didn’t give him a good hold.

“They took a timeout right before the kick, and I told (the snapper) Terry Theodore to wait a split second before he snapped it. I thought we might throw them off. But as soon as I said ‘ready,’ he snapped it and kind of took me by surprise. I still thought that I had time to handle it, but maybe I didn’t.

“It is to John’s credit that not only did he never make any statements about the hold, but he never even said anything to me about it.”

The only thing Lee ever says about that kick was how he felt the world come crashing down on him when he shanked it so far to the left. He threw himself on the field, and might have been trampled had not tackle David Randle and Stevens come to his rescue.

“I’ll never forget the two guys who came and picked me up,” Lee said. “Everyone else was just leaving the field and those two came out and got me. Their fans were already taking the goal posts down and there were about 10 guys coming right at me with a side of the goal post.

“That meant a lot to me to have somebody care enough to come to give me some support. . . . I guess if Matt wants to yell at me at practice now, that’s OK.”

Bruin Notes Free safety James Washington has a chipped bone in his right hand, but he has continued to practice and he is expected to play at Arizona.