Julie Harshbarger (born December 9, 1985) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

. She is most known for being the first woman to score a field goal in indoor football, as a member of the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

of the

Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor American football, indoor American football, football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as ...

(CIFL), and, at seven seasons and counting, having the longest documented career for a woman playing

professional football Professional football may refer to: *Professionalism in association football *Professional gridiron football *National Football League *Canadian Football League *Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-emine ...

in leagues dominated by men (other female football players have typically had professional careers of a year or less). She grew up in

Rockton, Illinois Rockton is a village in Winnebago County, Illinois. It is located in the Rock River Valley and is part of the Rockford metropolitan area. The population was 7,685 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 5,296 at the time of the 2000 census. Geo ...

where she was a standout on both the soccer and football field playing for

Hononegah Community High School Hononegah Community High School is a public high school in Rockton, Illinois and is the only high school comprising Hononegah Community High School District 207. Located between Rockford and the southern border of Wisconsin, the school serves stud ...

. Her play on the soccer field attracted a scholarship offer from

Rockford College Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a Unite ...

. She was twice named All-

Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference The Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference (NIIC) was a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division III level. Member schools transitioned from the NAIA ranks during the early 1980s. ...

as a soccer player. Her junior year, she transferred to

Benedictine University Benedictine University is a Private university, private Catholic Colleges in the United States, Catholic university with campuses in Lisle, Illinois, and Mesa, Arizona, United States. It was founded in 1887 by the Benedictine monks of St. Proco ...

where she earned All-NIIA Conference twice more and lead the team in assist her senior season. Harshbarger has typically played professionally for indoor football teams based in the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

area.

Early life

Julie attended

where she succeeded on both the

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

field and the football field.

College career

Rockford College

Harshbarger was able to earn a scholarship to

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

, where she played both soccer and football and baseball.

Soccer

She played for the Lady Regents, an

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

institution, from 2004–2005, where she was twice named All-

Football

She was the kicker for the football team.

Benedictine University

Harshbarger transferred to

after two years at Rockford. She played football her Junior year. For soccer, she was twice again named All-NIIC. As a senior in 2007, Harshbarger had five goals and led the Benedictine team with seven assists.

Professional career

Chicago Cardinals

In 2010, Harshbarger tried her luck with the

. After showing up to multiple tryouts, Harshbarger was cut before the season started for the Cardinals. 3 weeks into the season, the team called her back and asked for her to play due to their kicking woes. This made Harshbarger the 2nd woman ever to play in the CIFL, the first being

Katie Hnida Katharine Anne Hnida (; born May 17, 1981) is a former American football player who became the first woman to score in an NCAA Division I-A game, college football's highest level. She accomplished this as placekicker for the University of New Me ...

of the

Fort Wayne Firehawks The Fort Wayne FireHawks were a professional indoor football team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The team joined the Continental Indoor Football League as an expansion team during the 2010 season. The FireHawks were the fourth attempt at indoor ...

. Hnida went on to make an extra point in the FireHawks opener, thus becoming the first female to ever score a point in the CIFL. Hashbarger would however, become the first ever female to make a field goal in an indoor football professional game. She connected with a 24-yard field goal against the FireHawks in a 69-45 loss. For the season she was 1 for 16 on field goal attempts and 4 for 11 on PAT's.

Chicago Knights

In 2011, she joined up with the Chicago Knights, who replaced the Cardinals in the CIFL. She saw her production take a much greater incline by making 8 of 14 field goals, 19 of 26 PAT's and lead the team in points scored with 43.2011 Chicago Knights stats

Chicago Vipers

On February 23, 2012, it was announced that Harshbarger had signed with the Chicago Vipers, who replaced the Chicago Knights in the CIFL.

Chicago Blitz

In 2014, Harshbarger signed with the

Chicago Blitz The Chicago Blitz was a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League (USFL) in the mid-1980s. They played at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Team history The Blitz were one of the twelve charter ...

, also of the CIFL. Harshbarger lead the CIFL in field goals name (5), on her way to being named CIFL Special Teams Player of the Year. Harshbarger was released on April 5, 2016.

Chicago Eagles

Harshbarger signed with the Chicago Eagles on May 12, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harshbarger, Julie Living people American football placekickers Chicago Knights players 1985 births Female players of American football 21st-century American sportswomen Benedictine Eagles football players Rockford Regents football players Chicago Cardinals (CIFL) players Chicago Blitz (indoor football) players Chicago Eagles players People from Roscoe, Illinois Sportspeople from Winnebago County, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois People from Rockton, Illinois Kane County Dawgs players