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VOL. XXII, NO. II
FEBRUARY 2009
PAT O'DEA:
THE KANGAROO KICKER
By Ed Pavlick
The word "legend" these days as it pertains to sports stars has been vastly perverted. It used to be a
"legend" was an athlete whose fame lasted over time and usually was someone old or deceased. Today,
everyone it seems, is a "legend." Any standout athlete today, even if still active, is called a "legend."
One of the first really true legends of football and American sport though was Pat O'Dea, the "Kangaroo
Kicker," who in the late 1890s electrified crowds for the University of Wisconsin with his long distance
kicking feats that have never been equaled. There have been other great kickers, even in his time, but
nobody could kick so far, so accurately or consistently - and while on the dead run. His impact on the
game has seldom been equaled. Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football" said, "O'Dea put the
foot into football as no other man has done or probably ever will do."
It was the era of mass formations, brute force and all rushing plays before the advent of the forward pass.
Wisconsin coach Phil King, a former Princeton great, took advantage of O'Dea's kicking abilities and
used the punting game as an offensive weapon, saving the power plays until deep into opponent's
territory. Unlike today, field position meant more than possession. O'Dea would often punt on first
down and Wisconsin would invariably gain big yardage on the exchange of punts. With O'Dea, the
Badgers were a threat to score with a field goal anytime from midfield. A field goal counted as five
points, the same as a touchdown, and the field was 110 yards long. An O'Dea field goal from midfield
early in the game would daze opponents. A Wisconsin touchdown shortly after, demoralized them.
O'Dea had his own unique punting style. The action was from the body as well as the leg. He would
jump at the ball, leaping into the air and his left foot would be off the ground as he swung his right foot
into the ball. His kicks went end over end and high, enabling his ends to get down field to cover quickly.
He could curve the ball and would signal the ends which way it would go. On field goals, difficult
angles didn't faze him and he adeptly compensated for the wind. He would often thrill spectators and
bewilder opponents by running and dodging tacklers and then punt or drop kick while in full stride. This
was a tactic he learned by playing Rules Football earlier in his native Australia.
Pat O'Dea always claimed that he was born on 81. Patrick's Day, March 17. This writer obtained a copy
of his birth certificate which shows he was born Patrick John O'Dea on March 16, 1872 in Kilgore,
Victoria. His family moved to Melbourne and he completed his last two years of high school at Xavier
College, which also had high school secondary education. He played on the senior Australian Rules
football team and was chosen an All-Australian halfback at age 16. He later played on the Melbourne
Football Club for three years (1893-1895) and distinguished himself as a long distance kicker.
An all-aroundathlete, Pat was a first class oarsman, swimmer, sprinter, hurdler and steeple chase rider.
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He was on the crew of a celebrated rowing club in Melbourne which won the Australian championship.
He also rode the winning horse in the annual steeple chase race in Melbourne. At Wisconsin, he was a
mainstay on the track team as a hurdler for four years.
In the spring of 1896, O'Dea was on a tour of Europe, and on his way home decided to surprise his older
brother Andy, who was coaching the crew at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Andy had been an
athlete of note himself as oarsman, football player and boxer. Pat decided to complete his education
there and in the fall enrolled at Wisconsin. He hadn't planned on playing American football - he was
there to study law.
Legend has it that one day Pat was watching football practice and the ball bounded over to him on the
sideline. He returned it with a mighty kick that sent coaches and players running over to him. He thought
he had done something wrong. In a Wisconsin News interview many years later, John "Ikey" Karel, a
Milwaukee judge and old teammate of O'Dea, told this story: "One day when the team was practicing,
O'Dea walked onto the field in his bare feet and astounded everyone
by kicking the football farther than most could kick it with shoes on.
Later, coach Phil King, who had observed the kicking display, asked
me who that was and suggested I ask him to come out each morning
for practice. Pat did and word soon spread of the wonder kicker and
before long hundreds would gather each morning to watch Pat put on
a show."
O'Dea soon learned American style football. He briefly played in the
opening game of the 1896 season against Lake Forest and almost
immediately boomed an 85-yard punt and later narrowly missed a
field goal from midfield. He broke his arm in practice two weeks
later and was out for the rest of the regular season as Wisconsin went
7-0-1 and won the very first Western Conference championship. The
Badgers then played a post-season game against the Carlisle Indians
indoors in the original Chicago Coliseum in what many believed was
the first game ever played under artificial lights. O'Dea played for 10
minutes and despite the low ceiling and loose dirt on the floor,
averaged 56 yards on four punts, including one that sailed 75 yards
without aid of any wind. Carlisle won 18-8.
In 1897 O'Dea became the regular fullback for the next three seasons.
Not built like a typical fullback, he was six foot tall, with long lithe muscles and his weight ranged from
160 to 173. His legs were unusually long and very well developed. To protect his valuable asset, Coach
King rarely had him carry the ball until his junior and senior years. O'Dea ran interference and would
swing behind and push the runner forward, which the rules then permitted. He played safety and was an
excellent tackler and speedy punt returner.
In the first big game of the 1897 season, O'Dea "kicked remarkably" as Wisconsin beat Minnesota 39-0.
He drop-kicked a 55-yard field goal and, with the aid of the wind, punted the entire length of the field110 yards. The Milwaukee Journal reporter wrote, "Tonight the name of Pat O'Dea is on everyone's lips.
He is taller than any of Pillsbury's great mills."
The Badgers defeated Chicago 23-8. Maroon star, Clarence Herschberger, a great kicker and all-around
player, didn't play due to an ankle injury. O'Dea kicked brilliantly, booming a punt 74 yards and drop-
PAGE 3
kicking a 57-yard field goal. "As pretty a goal as ever was scored at an angle" wrote the Milwaukee
Journal. He also ran back a punt for 65 yards. Chicago coach Amos Alonzo Stagg was so upset at losing
to "inferior" Wisconsin, he reportedly offered $5,000 to play another game, as then Herschberger would
be able to play. He was accused of being "unsportsmanlike" and the offer was turned down. Stagg
claimed he was misunderstood.
Wisconsin's only loss was to the Alumni, 6-0, and the Badgers finished with a 9-1-0 record and repeated
as conference champions. O'Dea kicked eight field goals. The Milwaukee Sentinel wrote, "The season
will be remembered for one feature more than any other - the brilliant Pat O'Dea. He has kicked the
team to victory, is cool and collected at all times and a noble figure when on defense. He put new life
into the team and treated spectators to kicking that is not surpassed in the country for its length and
beauty."
O'Dea was named Captain for the 1898 season. The Badgers easily disposed of the first five opponents,
and then came the big game with Chicago. This time the kicking wonders, O'Dea and Herschberger,
would face each other. No previous game had ever matched two such kickers. On a muddy field,
Chicago defeated Wisconsin 6-0 before a record 12,000 fans at Chicago's Marshall Field. Despite the
footing, both kickers punted well. O'Dea's longest was 70 yards and Herschberger's 65.
The game against Northwestern in Evanston featured O'Dea's famous 65-yard field goal, the longest
drop-kick in football history. (Author Note: 65 yards is the figure in Wisconsin records; other accounts
have the kick ranging from 60 to 67 yards.) The kick came within the first two minutes of the game and
completely demoralized Northwestern. The Badgers romped to a 47-0 win. The Milwaukee Sentinel
wrote, "O'Dea played the game of his life. The tall young man from Australia shown (sic) brilliantly in
every play. He repeatedly saved his men from exhaustive work at bucking the line by his famous long
punts. He mixed in every scrimmage. He sprinted around the ends for several long gains of up to 40
yards. He tackled low and hard and interfered well for his running mates. He was the star of the
Thanksgiving Day game." Wisconsin finished the 1898 season with a 9-1-0 record. O'Dea kicked 10
field goals and was named on Walter Camp's All-America Second Team.
For the 1899 season Wisconsin was loaded with talent and predicted by many to win the Western
Conference championship. O'Dea was again named captain, and teammates included ends Bill Juneau
and Eddie Cochems. Juneau would later coach Wisconsin in 1912-1915. Cochems, as coach at St. Louis
University, would become instrumental in the development of the forward pass.
Wisconsin easily defeated the first three opponents -- Lake Forest, Beloit and Northwestern -- by a total
of 119-0. In the Beloit game, O'Dea kicked four field goals and ran 100 yards for a touchdown.
Wisconsin then traveled east to play Yale. In a hard fought struggle, Yale defeated the Badgers 6-0. The
winning score came in the closing minutes on halfback Howard Richards exciting 65-yard run.
Wisconsin could gain little yardage and only O'Dea's phenomenal punting kept the game close to the
end. In the second half, he boomed a 100-yard punt, and his kicking left a lasting impression on Eastern
fans and writers. The New York Herald Tribune wrote, "Wisconsin in Pat O'Dea has the greatest kicker
who ever played football with or without the wind."
The November 11 game in Milwaukee against Illinois featured O'Dea's great place kick, the true
distance of which doesn't appear in the record books. O'Dea punted 60 yards into the end zone and the
rules required Illinois to punt right back from their 25. Bill Juneau was set to catch it and O'Dea yelled
for a fair catch and the ball was taken a few feet from the sideline at midfield. O'Dea was going to try
for a place-kick from 57 yards out. There was a 20 mile-an-hour wind and the referee supposedly said,
PAGE 4
"you're crazy if you try to score from here in this wind." With Juneau holding, O'Dea aimed the ball
between the goal posts and the comer to allow for the drift. The wind caught the ball and took it right
between the posts and it sailed on over the bleachers and into the street. Witnesses said it traveled at
least 80 yards in the air. Bob Zuppke, famous Illinois coach years later, saw the kick as a youngster from
a roof across the street. "I couldn't believe my eyes," he said. "The ball took off and sailed higher and
higher and cleared the cross bar by 12 to 15 feet
and carried clear out of the park." The Badgers
won easily, 23-0.
Against Minnesota in Minneapolis, O'Dea
performed perhaps his most spectacular feat. The
underdog Gophers held the Badgers to a scoreless
tie on into the second half where O'Dea caught a
punt at the Wisconsin 45 and ran to his left
toward the sideline. He eluded the diving tackle
by Gil Dobie, and as three more defenders closed
in he pivoted and drop-kicked the ball through the
goal posts 60 yards away. O'Dea, a right-footed
kicker, was running to his left and the kick was
made at an acute angle without coming to a
complete stop. Dobie, who became a famous
coach, said years later, "We couldn't believe it. I
still think it was the greatest individual play I ever
saw in all my years in football." The "impossible
kick" broke Minnesota's spirit and Wisconsin
won 19-0.
In the season's final game at Madison, Chicago
defeated the Badgers 17-0 in drizzling rain for the
Western Conference title. Wisconsin went 9-2-0
in 1899, as O'Dea kicked 14 field goals and again
was named fullback on Walter Camp's AllAmerica Third Team.
In his four year career (he played in only two
games his first season) O'Dea kicked 32 field
goals, 31 of them by drop-kicks. He drop-kicked
two field goals in one game on seven occasions,
three in one game and four in another. Four of his
drop-kicks and one place kick were of 55 or more
yards. He averaged better than 50 yards per punt,
as Wisconsin won 34 games, lost five and tied one from 1896-99.
O'Dea received a law degree in 1900 and decided to remain in America. He was head coach at Notre
Dame in 1900-01 and compiled a 14-4-2 record, and he is credited with bringing the little South Bend
school into regional prominence and developing Tom "Red" Salmon into a great kicker and the team's
first All-America player. In 1902, he coached at Missouri and led them to a 5-3-0 record. He then settled
in San Francisco and began to practice law. In 1913 he coached the crew at Stanford. The end of his
athletic career however doesn't close the Pat O'Dea story, which takes on a bizarre twist.
PAGE 5
Sometime in 1917, during World War I, O'Dea simply vanished. He closed his law office and dropped
out of sight. A wide search was conducted by the Wisconsin Alumni, Andy O'Dea and friends, but
turned up nothing except false sightings. It was speculated he had joined an Australian Army unit
passing through the city and later been killed in the war. As time passed, people accepted Andy O'Dea's
belief that Pat had become an "Unknown Soldier."
It turned out Pat O'Dea hadn't gone to war and wasn't dead. He re-appeared seventeen years later living
under the assumed name of Charles J. Mitchell in Westwood, California, a lumber town 150 miles north
of San Francisco. He had been working as a statistician for the Red River Lumber Company and became
a respected member of the community, even marrying under the name of Mitchell. He kept up with the
outside world by subscribing to Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison newspapers. He followed Wisconsin
football and even went down to San Francisco and Southern California to see big games.
It wasn't easy. He fought the urge to return many times. When someone would bring up football, he
pretended to know little about it. His boss, Willis J. Walker, who had played football at Minnesota,
discovered who he was and advised him to become himself again. Walker arranged a meeting with Bill
Leiser, sports editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, and he too advised him to reveal his true identity.
O'Dea was convinced and Leiser had the scoop of his career. On September 19, 1934, the Chronicle
sports section headline read, "O'DEA, LOST GRID IMMORTAL, COMES TO LIFE."
The story made headlines across the country. Many were skeptical, including Andy O'Dea. The
Wisconsin State Journal in Madison got together three former teammates of O'Dea and they made up a
list of questions only the real Pat O'Dea could answer. All were answered correctly. There was no doubt
that Mitchell was indeed Pat O'Dea.
O'Dea gave as the reason for his disappearance that it was to get away from his football notoriety. "All
that people wanted to talk about was my football exploits. I didn't want to be known as just a former
football star and a has been." Also, with the war, his law business and investment income from Australia
began to fade. The media apparently accepted his explanation. Is it too cynical to find his explanation
hard to believe? It's hard to imagine any ex-athlete being so bothered by his fame many years later that
he would want to up and disappear. O'Dea played long before radio and before extensive sports
coverage. Even in 1917, when he disappeared, there wasn't the media hype to keep his name in the news.
More logical might be the financial problems, but perhaps it was some other reason that altogether we'll
probably never know about. Whatever the real reason, Pat O'Dea was happy to be himself again.
The University of Wisconsin welcomed him back as guest of honor for the Homecoming game in 1934
with Illinois. At a rally before the game (Wisconsin upset Illinois 7-3), he was wildly cheered by 20,000
students who not yet born when he played. He was feted at UW Alumni luncheons in Chicago and
Milwaukee and was warmly greeted by ex-teammates.
O'Dea returned briefly to Westwood and then settled in San Francisco. He was active in the San
Francisco Chapter of UW Alumni and closely followed Wisconsin football. He worked for an export
firm, then in a clothing store until a few years before his death at age 90. O'Dea died on April 4, 1962,
one day after being elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. Jim Mott, Wisconsin Sports
Information Director, said, "Pat O'Dea was a football superstar 50 years too soon. He apparently had
everything that makes up a modem athletic idol- great athletic ability, personal charm, modesty. If he
played today, he'd be a national figure."
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Wisconsin beat Beloit, Lake Forest, and Northwestern in 1891 for its first winning record (3-1-1).