Berkner Kicker Gets His Name Back

It’s hard to find Zach Olen in a crowd of students at Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas. He stands 5-10, average build, and before Saturday, it was even harder to hear him called by his real name.

"They called him freshman," says Berkner Linebacker Bryce Elam Ray. "Nobody knew his name, until they started asking."

Jim Ledford, the Head Football Coach at Berkner, knows kids will be kids. "Well the kids were just saying things, like 'hey kicker get over here,' those type of things," said Ledford. "Don't let anyone kid you, he's earned his stripes."

Olen's pressure kick came Saturday afternoon at Texas Stadium when he was called on to kick a 31-yard field goal to win the game, as time was running out. Olen, or "kicker" as his teammates call him, was perfect as Berkner beat Dallas Carter 31-29.

Olen every move he made. "I just kept my head down, kicked the ball, and it went in," he says. "It felt great." He laughs when he's questioned about his victory dance as he circled the field.

Not only did Olen win the game, but he quickly earned the respect of his teammates and his coaching staff.

"He's Zach now," says Ray. "I don't call him kicker anymore. Today we were having breakfast, and I said, is it okay if i still call you freshman? He was like, yeah that's cool. I'm just going to call him Zach from now on."

Ledford recognized Zach's ability during tryouts, and encouraged his parents to be trained by a professional place kicker. "I saw what he was doing, and I saw his mind set, i talked to his parents, and I told them i thought he could be a really good kicker one day. Our whole deal was to put him in the middle of the field, and let him kick, and I knew if they didn't block it, he was going to make the kick. He's money."

Says Zach, "When I first got on the team, everyone pretty much called me kicker and that's all I was known by. Now I'm hoping they'll call me Zach or something.

As a football player, Olen had two strikes against him, one, he was a kicker, two, he was a freshman, but with his game winning kick, he has made a "name" for himself.