| Fred Bednarski | |
| Position: | Kicker |
| Birth Date: | 12 December 1936 |
| Birth Place: | Uście Biskupie, Poland (today Ustia, Ukraine) |
| Death Date: | 23 March 2024 (aged 87) |
| College: | Texas |
Fred Bednarski (12 December 193623 March 2024) was a placekicker in American football.[1] He is often credited with introducing the "soccer-style" kick to American football, which revolutionized the element of place-kicking in the sport.[2]
Born in Uście Biskupie, Poland (now in Ukraine), on 12 December 1936, before Soviet and then German occupation of the country in World War II, his family was taken to a Nazi labor camp outside of Salzburg, Austria in 1942, where they would spend three years.[3] He considered himself fortunate for having been taken a "labor" or "concentration" camp rather than an extermination camp, as was the fate for many other Polish families. At the camps, when they could find some free time, Bednarski recalls playing games with other camp detainees using makeshift soccer balls constructed from rolled-up socks.[4]
Bednarski's football career began with the Texas Longhorns in 1956 after Head Coach Darrell Royal of the Washington Huskies was informed by his scout who had just returned from scouting Texas for the team about the "soccer-style" kicker named Bednarski. In contrast to the traditional football place kick in universal use at the time, in which the kicker would approach the placement from directly behind and strike the ball with his toe, Bednarski approached the placement from roughly a 45-degree angle and struck the ball with the instep of his foot, swinging his leg in a "golf club"-like motion.
On 19 October 1957, Bednarski kicked the first-ever "soccer-style" field goal in American football history, giving the team a 3-0 lead against Arkansas with the 38-yard kick.
Bednarski continued to live and work in Texas after graduation from the University of Texas. He died on 23 March 2024, at the age of 87.[5]