Kenny Stucker Returns to AFL from Retirement
Matthew Pickut
Thursday August 8, 2002
I’m still searching Revelations for that as a sign of the coming apocalypse.
And then, some things don’t surprise you: The Rush calling K Kenny Stucker out of retirement to kick in Monday’s game.
Stucker joined the Rush last week after numerous kicking debacles by a string of Chicago kickers. While last kicking in 1999 with the now defunct Milwaukee Mustangs, Stucker scored 742 points over six years. In one game, however, he found himself further in the Arena Bowl race than he had in his previous 80 games in Milwaukee.
“It felt good, it felt comfortable,” Stucker said of his first game in Rush colors, “I’ve got another week and I’m not just going to rest on this game. We’ve got to do this every week to get to the Arena Bowl. This is the farthest I’ve ever been, so its fun, its nice. This is a good team and we’ve got some great guys – they really took me in and made me feel comfortable, which makes it easier to perform, I just want to keep doing my best.”
In his return for the opportunity to kick in the playoffs, Stucker has given Rush head coach Mike Hohensee a chance to focus on other concerns as he prepares for next week’s game against the Arizona Rattlers.
“You usually don’t have to worry about those things [the kicking game],” said Hohensee, who fired one kicker the very night of a particularly bad performance. “Right now we feel like we don’t have to worry about our kicking game; we can worry about some other things. We’re going up against Arizona, which is a very talented team. They are very experienced. We don’t come close to having the experience that they have.”
Finding a kicker is always difficult during the season but Chicago found Stucker with just a few phone calls, “We dug up a couple numbers, we called one of them and finally got a hold of him,” recalled Coach Hohensee. “He said that Grand Rapids had given him a call about a month ago. I guess [Brian] Gowins got a little banged up. They said that there might be a chance and to start kicking, so he had started kicking which was good for us.”
The decision to join the Rush took little time on the kicker’s side. “They just called Monday and said ‘Come for a tryout,’ and here I am.”
Coach Hohensee’s pre-game instructions to Stucker were simple, “I just told him to go out there and not try and overkick the ball, and don’t try and impress anyone with your power, because I know you ain’t got to worry about your power. Make the extra points and get the ball to the bottom of the net if anything and kick it straight.”
Aside from one Phil Neikro-esque knuckler of a kick-off, Stucker came through all night long for his new coach, three times placing kickoffs out of the end zone and under the nets for touchbacks and performing flawlessly on PAT’s (7 of 7) and field goals (1 of 1 from 31 yards).
“Well you always like it off the iron,” Hohensee said after the game, “but we’re pretty happy with what he did.”
Stucker, who stayed in shape by playing touch football and softball, now needs to prepare himself for next week’s game. “With him kicking the way he is, now he has to remember how he recuperates from a game where he has to kick so many times,” said a confident Hohensee. “To go travel and that whole routine, his preparation for the next game is crucial to him, but he’s a professional, he’s been playing for a long time.”
After the game, I got a high five from Kade Stucker, Kenny’s young son, as he followed his dad around signing autographs. If Kade’s dad keeps kicking the way he did Monday night, there may be a lot more celebrating in both of their futures.
Matthew Pickut is a pastor in northern Indiana and a long time AFL fan. He also writes for his own website: The Brown Paper Blog. He graduated from Taylor University in Upland Indiana (class of `96) with degrees in Biblical Literature and Sociology as well as a healthy respect for the medicinal properties of coffee.
