Kevin Stemke (born November 23, 1978) 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 ...

punter who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

, where he won the inaugural

Ray Guy Award The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding punter as adjudged by the Augusta Sports Council. The award is named after punter Ray Guy, an All-American for Southern Mississippi and an All-Pro in the National Fo ...

in 2000.

Early life

Stemke was born in 1978 to Horst Stemke, a U.S. Olympic soccer player.Stemke Agrees to Terms: Should Realize Dream
He graduated from Green Bay's Preble High School in 1997, where he played

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

College career

He played for the

. In his freshman year at Wisconsin, Stemke set the team punting record, averaging 43.9 yards per punt. In his sophomore year, he made the first-team in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. His senior year, Stemke broke his own school record, averaging 44.5 yards per punt, also the third-best in the nation. His 42.5 net yards was top in the United States, and received the first

for the nation's top punter. Up until 2022, Stemke still held the Wisconsin records for highest punting average (43.5 yards) and total punting yards (10,660).

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2001 NFL draft The 2001 NFL draft was the 66th draft annual of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held at the Th ...

, Stemke was signed by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in April 2001. The Raiders signed Stemke in August 2002, where he played in two games before being cut. Stemke was signed by the Dolphins in January 2003, who in turn allocated him to the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores, were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

, but waived him prior to the start of the NFL regular season. The Redskins cut Stemke in August 2004. Stemke was signed as a free agent by the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

in November 2004 to replace

Sean Landeta Sean Edward Landeta (born January 6, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a punter in both the United States Football League (USFL) and the National Football League (NFL). Landeta played 22 seasons in the NFL for ...

. He was released before the start of the 2005 season in favor of

Reggie Hodges Reginald Aaron Hodges (born January 26, 1982) is an American former professional football punter. He was selected by the St. Louis Rams in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played college football at Ball State. Hodges was also a member ...

After football

As of 2008, Stemke worked as director of business development for Replay Photos. The Kevin Stemke Award is presented annually to the Wisconsin high school senior kicker/punter.

Personal life

Stemke is married to Lizzy Fitzgerald Stemke, a former member of the

United States women's national volleyball team The United States women's national volleyball team participates in international volleyball competitions and friendly games, and is governed by USA Volleyball. Their last head coach was three-time Olympic gold medalist and retired dominant be ...

.Vic Feuerherd, "Nebraska Coach John Cook Returns to Madison for the First Time Since Coaching UW" ''

Wisconsin State Journal The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of Septembe ...

, December 7, 2007 at B1.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stemke, Kevin 1978 births Living people American football punters Oakland Raiders players St. Louis Rams players Wisconsin Badgers football players Scottish Claymores players Players of American football from Green Bay, Wisconsin