Steve Videtich (born November 4, 1971) 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 ...

who played in the

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(AFL) for the

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, New Jersey Red Dogs/New Jersey Gladiators/Las Vegas Gladiators, Milwaukee Mustangs, and

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fo ...

. He was also the general manager of the AFL's

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper ...

Early life

Videtich attended Ledford Senior High School and was a student and a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

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 ...

, and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

College career

Videtich 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

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

and was one of the nation's most accurate kickers over his last two collegiate seasons (1993–1994), connecting on 28-of-31 field goals. He finished his collegiate career second in the Wolfpack record books in field goal percentage. Videtich was named Second-Team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

at NC State in 1994 and his team was All- ACC in 1993 and 1994.

Professional

2008

Videtich was released March 5 after missing a game-winning

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

against the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

2007

Videtich played in all 16 games for the Blaze where he connected on 10-of-19 field goal attempts and 113-of-127 PATs.

2006

Videtich joined the Blaze for their inaugural season. During the season, Videtich became the all-time leader in kicking points with 1,381 career points, while setting two new expansion marks for PATs attempted (113) and made (106).

2004–2005

Videtich played for the Columbus Destroyers where he connected on 14-of-28 field goal attempts and 92-of-99 extra point attempts, including one by

drop kick A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player intentionally dropping the ball onto the ground and then kicking it either (different sports have different definitions) 'as it rises from the first bounce' ( rugby ...

(which was worth two points as per AFL rules). Videtich ranked third in the league among kickers with 134 points scored that season. He is one of only two kickers ( Brian Mitchell being the other) to have ever scored points with the drop kick in the AFL.

2001–2003

While playing for the New Jersey/Las Vegas Gladiators, Videtich was named Second-Team

All-Arena An All-Arena Team, an all-star team consisting of the best players of their position was selected every season in the Arena Football League (AFL). Teams * 1987 All-Arena Team, 1987 * 1988 All-Arena Team, 1988 * 1989 All-Arena Team, 1989 * 1990 Al ...

in 2003.

2000

He played one season for the Milwaukee Mustangs.

1997–1999

Videtich played two seasons for the New Jersey Red Dogs. In 1997, Videtich was named Kicker of Year for setting a league record by converting 60 consecutive extra-point attempts; a streak that extended into the 1998 season; the streak would reach 62 before being snapped.

1996

Videtich began his career in the AFL with the Florida Bobcats. He also went to

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with the

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of the

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in 1996.

Personal life

Videtich was regarded as one of the AFL's top kickers. Videtich was a three sport athlete at Ledford Senior High School in

Thomasville, North Carolina Thomasville is a city in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 27,183 at the 2020 census. The city was once notable for its furniture industry, as were its neighbors High Point, North Carolina, High Point and Lexington ...

, and holds three school records. He was a four-time soccer MVP in high school on a team coached by his father, Tom. He majored in

industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

. Videtich and his wife, Carolyn, have two children: Tessa and Emelia. When Videtich's isn't playing football, he enjoys

ing and watching college football.

Awards

* AFL Kicker of the Year – 1997, 2002 *First-team

–

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

*Second-team All-Arena –

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

Stats from arenafan.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Videtich, Steve 1971 births Living people American football placekickers NC State Wolfpack football players Florida Bobcats players New Jersey Red Dogs players Milwaukee Mustangs (1994–2001) players New Jersey Gladiators players Las Vegas Gladiators players Columbus Destroyers players Utah Blaze players Players of American football from Winston-Salem, North Carolina