From Moscow to Madison

The first time Wisconsin kicker Vitaly Pisetsky held a football helmet, he didn’t realize the strange American sport it represented would be his ticket to a new life.

Pisetsky was practicing soccer in Moscow with the prestigious Red Army club when he saw the fledgling Moscow Bears playing American football, part of the NFL’s attempt to spread the sport to Europe.

“I’d watch them and think, ‘Those guys are crazy. You’ve got to be mentally challenged or be paid a lot of money to do that,’ ” Pisetsky said Monday. “One guy walked by and he had a helmet, and I said, ‘Can I take it?’

“Little did I know, seven months later I would be playing football.”

Or that three years after that, having moved to the United States with his parents and sister to escape anti-Semitism in their homeland, he would enroll at Wisconsin and eventually would play in the Rose Bowl, as he will Saturday against Stanford.

Pisetsky spoke no English when he arrived in New York seven years ago. Now fluent--he scored 96% on an English placement test at Wisconsin but had to sit out a year because he didn’t meet the NCAA’s eligibility requirement of four years of English--he can only marvel at the improbable chain of events that led him to the top of his inadvertently chosen sport and, eventually, to Pasadena.

A finalist this season for the Groza and Tatupu awards, given to the top kicker and national special teams player of the year, respectively, Pisetsky was a first-team all-Big Ten selection by coaches and reporters. He set a school record of 14 consecutive field goals, and finished with 15 of 18, leading the Big Ten with a .833 average. He also converted 39 of 40 extra points.

Pisetsky, who became a U.S. citizen a year ago, hoped sports would help him acclimate more quickly to his new homeland and intended to take up soccer at John F. Kennedy High in the Bronx.

“I went downstairs and I spoke only broken English, and I said, ‘I’m looking for the soccer team,’ and the athletic director asked me, ‘How far can you kick?’ ” he said. “I got really confused and I blushed, and she told me to calm down and asked where I was from and she got somebody on the phone who spoke Russian.

“I said I could kick 50 to 60 meters, and the next thing I know, the kicker who kicked before me at Kennedy is walking me to the football field. He showed me the steps and the rest is history.”

He was recruited for Wisconsin by Bernie Wyatt, who also recruited Heisman Trophy-winning tailback Ron Dayne.

“My high school had some guys who played there and liked it, and I definitely wanted to go,” Pisetsky said. “I didn’t want to stay on the East Coast. I didn’t know much about America and I wanted to learn. I like Madison. The people are very laid back and the weather is more like home.”

Pisetsky challenged the NCAA’s decision to deprive him of a year and was told he can gain another year of eligibility if he graduates this year. He said he has decided on his future but won’t announce it until after the Rose Bowl. He wants to focus on the game, yet another wonderful experience in the country he has come to love.

“My parents wanted better lives for their children,” he said, “and we’re very thankful.”

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Linebacker Donnel Thompson, who twisted his ankle in practice Sunday, did not participate in Monday’s workout, watching from the sideline in shorts. His status is day to day.

Coach Barry Alvarez declined to comment on Thompson’s injury, which a team spokesman said was not believed to be serious.

Alvarez said he was pleased with his team’s second practice, and rejected suggestions that he might want to eliminate events leading up to the game and play it today.

“I like all week,” he said. “The guys still haven’t had a chance to go to Universal or to see the Lakers 1/8Monday 3/8 night. You come to these things, you want to take it in and enjoy. I know I did as an 18-, 19-year-old 1/8at Nebraska 3/8, packing up and going to a bowl game.”