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Walk-on kicker Patrick O'Hara gets his chance
NORMAN — What started out as boredom killing evolved into a dream for Patrick O’Hara.
Walk-on kicker Patrick O’Hara (43) booted a field goal and two extra points in OU’s 65-10 win Saturday over Texas A&M. PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN
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And as a result, Oklahoma may have uncovered an answer at place-kicker in the unlikeliest of places.
It all began eight months ago, on the Topeka, Kan., campus of Washburn University.
O’Hara and his twin brother Steven, both freshman students at Washburn, decided to kill a spring afternoon by kicking footballs. Neither had ever played football. In fact, neither had even kicked a football before.
But as former high school soccer players, both enjoyed kicking things. So the brothers rounded up a couple of old footballs and headed to the field.
First they kicked short field goals. Then 40-yarders. Then 50-yarders.
"We were crushing the ball,” O’Hara recalled.
It didn’t take O’Hara long to figure out he had a knack for field-goal kicking. He considered joining Washburn’s Division II football team.
"I thought about that,” he said. "But I really wanted to play Division I. Maybe try and get school paid for. I thought I had the talent. If you can chase a dream, do it.”
So O’Hara chased the dream.
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