How a ‘South Dakota kid’ became one of only three kickers to reach football immortality

Karen Guregian’s football analysis is sponsored by Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers, a Leading Boston Personal Injury Firm.

SAN FRANCISCO – Adam Vinatieri, the man with ice water in his veins with the game on the line, the kicker who chased down All-American sprinter Hershel Walker, said he was a bit nervous heading onto the stage to join this exclusive club.

Hearing his name, learning that he was headed to the shrine that honors the NFL’s very best, brought Vinatieri, arguably the greatest kicker of All-Time, to tears.

After getting a disappointing call last year and learning he wasn’t getting his ticket to Canton, the Patriots legendary kicker wasn’t sure how to feel this time around when he was a finalist for the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

“So this year my expectations, I try not to have any, you know, I really was sitting there going, well, maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t,” Vinatieri said. “Just being nominated and being in the finals with these guys, I look at that list and I go, ‘My gosh, how do you cut that down to 4 or 5 guys because it’s it’s a pretty amazing list?’

“So when I got the knock on the door. I will be the first one to admit I got teary eyed, and choked ‘em back a little bit because, just because of what it means, you know?”

It hit Vinatieri, especially after hearing his name announced with fellow inductees Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, and Roger Craig. He said it was all incredibly “surreal” the wave of emotions he felt Thursday night during the NFL Honors ceremony.

“Even when the Hall of Famers came up and shook our hands and said congratulations, you know, joining the club, I mean, there’s just no feeling like that,” Vinatieri said after the Hall of Famers were announced.

The former Patriot, whose career spanned more than two decades, joins just two other full-time kickers, Morten Anderson and Jan Stenerud, in the football shrine.

It was Anderson who knocked at his door to inform him he had been voted in during his second try.

“It’s a tough position to get in, but, yeah, you know, I never really thought about it too much while I was playing,” Vinatieri said. “I just wanted to keep on stacking, stacking stats, and it was never really about me and what I was doing.

“It was always about trying to help the team win games and how can we get to the playoffs and how can we get to another championship and all that stuff and then I guess once you’re done then you turn around and you look back on it and go that’s pretty awesome.”

Vinatieri started his career with the Patriots as an undrafted rookie of Bill Parcells. He was with the team for 10 seasons (19956-2005), before moving on with the Indianapolis Colts.

He was part of three Super Bowl winning teams with the Patriots, and one with the Colts.

“You know, with these guys, just to say you did it a long time and you did a pretty good job and got to put a couple exclamations on a couple of games was a wonderful experience for me,” he said, “but, those 10 years in New England, there was nothing like it … we built a dynasty, winning a bunch of Super Bowls in a short amount of time. That was a great, great experience for me, and one that I will cherish the rest of my life.”

Vinatieri is the NFL’s all-time leading scorer (2,673 points with an NFL record 599 field goals). He made 29 game-winning kicks in 24 seasons before retiring at age 48.

He will always be remembered for his 48-yard field goal in a blizzard in Foxboro during their first Super Bowl run in 2001, considered the greatest kick of all-time.

He’s now immortalized for all of his clutch game-winning kicks for two organizations.

“I’m just a South Dakota kid, right? I never thought I’d play very long,” he said. “I never thought I’d get, you know, to whatever. So at this point right now, I just pinch myself just thinking that I’m sitting up here with some of the greatest men to ever put a put a football uniform on and to be in the same class, to be, to be bound to these guys for the rest of my life. It’s just, it’s really, really humbling for me.”