Kicker Hopes He’s Not Next to Get Booted

The St. Louis Cardinals finally have a kicker you’ve never heard of, which is a step in the right direction.

Most teams sign kickers as free agents, but the Cardinals tend to draft them in the first or second round. They have taken two of the highest-drafted kickers in NFL history.

They took Arkansas’ Steve Little with their first pick in 1978, but he lasted only two seasons.

Last year, they used their second pick to draft John Lee, the former All-American from UCLA. Cardinal publicists say Lee spent most of his free time playing golf and watching MTV. About 10 days ago, they cut him because--among other things--he couldn’t kick a field goal much past 40 yards.

So now we’re in the Jim Gallery era, which has lasted one glorious week. Against Dallas last Sunday, Gallery got a standing ovation for putting a kickoff out of the end zone. He said he’d never seen anything like it before, but then he’d never been in St. Louis before.

“We have a history of kicking problems? I guess that’s true,” said Larry Wilson, Cardinal director of player personnel. “That ain’t no revelation.”

Gallery--in case you missed his college career--played football and baseball at Minnesota. After that, the Buffalo Bills cut him twice. New England cut him again about 10 days ago. The Patriots kept Pro Bowl kicker Tony Franklin, but Patriot Coach Raymond Berry still raved about Gallery to Cardinal Coach Gene Stallings, and that’s all Stallings needed to hear.

Lee had ruined too many days for Stallings. In an exhibition game against the Bears this year, he was five yards short on a 48-yard field goal attempt. He also had an extra point blocked. He also slipped on one kickoff and dribbled the ball about 15 yards. And, on still another kickoff, he was supposed to kick toward the left sideline, but instead booted it down the middle. The Bears’ Dennis Gentry returned it 50 yards.

Then in practice a few days later, he mis-hit a field goal attempt and hit a teammate in the helmet.

According to observers, Stallings screamed: “I’m getting sick of watching you kick!”

It’s either a cruel coincidence or an outright jinx, but Cardinal kickers have little place in St. Louis. Gallery is the sixth Cardinal kicker in two seasons, and he doesn’t have much of an act to follow.

There was Neil O’Donoghue, who once missed an 18-yarder with seconds left in overtime. There was Jess Atkinson, who missed three straight field goals and lasted two games.

There was Novo Bojovic, who ran toward the end zone after he made his first field goal and spiked the football.

Of course, there was Lee. And when Lee got hurt last year tripping over a pile of players, there was Eric Schubert, a high school teacher from New Jersey.

In all, these five kickers made 24 of 52 field goals.

Now, there’s Gallery.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” he said.

Where are they now?

After Little was cut by the Cardinals, he wrecked his sports car and was left a paraplegic.

Little is in Little Rock, Ark., confined to a wheelchair. He needs a nurse wherever he goes because he has regained only slight movement in his shoulder area.

Little once made a 67-yarder at Arkansas and could easily put a kickoff in the end zone blindfolded. The Cardinals were seeking a replacement for the veteran Jim Bakken in 1978, so they made Little the second-highest drafted kicker in NFL history. (Charlie Gogolak went to the Redskins in the first round in 1966.)

In Little’s first season, Bakken beat him out, so the Cardinals made Little their punter and kickoff man. They felt Bakken’s presence was too much of a burden on Little, so in 1979, they forced Bakken to retire. Little took over and made 10 of 19 field goals, including a 51-yarder.

The next year, first-year coach Jim Hanifan brought in O’Donoghue to compete with Little. It came down to the final cut, and Hanifan decided to have all the players sit and watch the two duel it out in practice one day.

The pressure got to Little, who failed miserably. He was cut. Police documents show that he began drinking at 10 a.m. the next day. He crashed his car that night. He was found paralyzed from the head down.

“We spent a lot of time scouting Steve Little,” Wilson says now. “He looked great. But he lost his confidence.”

O’Donoghue spent six seasons in St. Louis, but he’ll be remembered mostly for two games. In 1984, with time running out, he rushed onto the field to kick a 50-yarder against the Redskins that would have given St. Louis the division title. It was long enough, but sailed left.

The previous year against the Giants, he missed three short field goals in regulation and then that 18-yarder with time running out in overtime.

He now works in real estate in the Tampa area.

Atkinson, who joined the team in 1985, had gone on to better things for the Redskins before he dislocated his ankle last Sunday. He said he never got a groove in St. Louis, but few do.

Bojovic replaced Atkinson that same season and immediately said he’d be the “Jan Stenerud of St. Louis.” He said he’d break Tom Dempsey’s record for the longest kick in history, 63 yards. He said they’d have to force him to retire someday.

Instead, they cut him.

He’s selling cars in Detroit. He passes out business cards that say, “Mr. Excitement.”

So after 1985, the Cardinals decided to draft a kicker. At UCLA, Lee had been the most accurate kicker in NCAA history (79 of 92 field goals), so the Cardinals thought he was a safe pick.

“We made him kick off the ground to make sure,” Wilson says. “We worked the stew out of him.”

Lee--kicking without his college tee last season--made several field goals in a row and remembered seeing a poster at Busch Stadium that said: “John Lee is God.”

He didn’t handle it well.

“When I started making a few, they (the fans) blew it way out of proportion,” Lee says now. “That was pressure, and it got to me. I made something like six straight, and they started to worship me. Then, when I missed (he made 8 of 13 field goals last year), it was like the world caved in.

“From then on, I couldn’t fight off the pressure. The atmosphere from the coaches and fans wasn’t right. At one point, I was afraid to go out there. The consequences scared me. It was like, ‘What if I fail?’ ”

Lee had never kicked off at UCLA, and the Cardinals saw why. He couldn’t get it much farther than the five-yard line, and his average hang time was about 3.6 seconds. He was just 1 for 4 on field goal attempts from 40 yards and out.

Coaches noticed that he spent more time talking about the rock group Van Halen than conditioning. And they said he turned off his teammates when he started complaining about the snaps and the holds.

After his knee injury last year, he underwent arthroscopic surgery and the Cardinals asked him to stay in St. Louis for rehabilitation. Lee wouldn’t. Instead, he preferred to do it in California, which, again, only made enemies. And it didn’t help when his leg strength was about the same as last season this summer.

Lee’s personal coach, Ben Agajanian, was critical of his performance.

“After knee surgery, I don’t think John did enough conditioning,” Agajanian said. “He doesn’t have enough distance, and he’s not as strong. On kickoffs, he jogs through the ball and doesn’t have enough speed to kick it deep.”

When he was cut, Lee dodged most of the St. Louis media and has been spending a lot of time on Los Angeles area golf courses. He won’t be visiting his former teammates when they play the Chargers in San Diego this weekend. Instead, he plans on doing some boating this weekend. Later, he will spend a three-week vacation in Korea, where he was born.

“I’m enjoying myself,” he said the other day. “If kicking is enjoyable again, I’ll do it again next year. But right now, I’m having as good a time as I’ve ever had. Doing what? Golf every day.

“I’m burned out because it wasn’t fun over there in St. Louis. For whatever reason, I’ve lost interest in football overall. I don’t miss it. I don’t even look at the box scores. I’m sick and tired of it. I never felt attached to that organization. I didn’t have the motivation to go out and practice.”

The Cardinals told Lee to stay ready if Gallery struggles, but Lee told them to not bother calling.

“If you asked me now if I’ll ever kick again,” he said, “I’d definitely say no. You know, they kept saying I didn’t have leg strength, and it was almost like I got brainwashed by it. I almost started believing I couldn’t kick past 40 yards. Listen, I’m just putting it out of my mind.”

Wilson says: “John has to grow up a little. I’m sure he’ll change his mind.”

Wilson also says he hopes Gallery is in St. Louis for 15 years, but that’s what he had hoped for Lee.

“Few people understand kickers,” Wilson said. “When you do start understanding them, I think you’re in a world of trouble.”

Charger Notes

Wide receiver Wes Chandler, the Charger player representative, held a 15-minute team meeting Friday in an attempt to get everyone’s mind off the possible players’ strike. Chandler said he was concerned that Tuesday’s potential strike was a distraction, but he said his teammates indicated otherwise. “I asked them to raise their hands if they were all comfortable, and everyone did,” Chandler said. “I can’t foresee the future, and I won’t have my team trying to foresee the future, either. If they look (ahead to) Tuesday, what happens Sunday? . . . Sunday will be there, and so will the Cardinals. We don’t know what Tuesday holds.” . . . The Chargers on Friday signed tackle Dwight Wheeler, who was cut by the Raiders two weeks ago. Coach Al Saunders said that Wheeler will replace guard Dennis McKnight as the snapper on field goals and punts. McKnight’s hands are banged up, and Saunders said he didn’t want him snapping this week. Wheeler last snapped in 1985, playing for New England. “It’s no problem,” Wheeler said. “You never lose the hang of it.”

The signing of Wheeler means the Chargers will have to make another roster move when they activate linebacker Thomas Benson today. Someone will be cut or placed on injured reserve, Saunders said. . . . In addition, the Chargers expect to grant a tryout today to defensive back to Elvis Patterson, waived recently by the New York Giants.

Saunders said Lionel James has officially been switched from running back to wide receiver and will start there against the Cardinals. Last week against the Kansas City Chiefs, James started as a third running back, but was split wide in a lot of formations.