By JIMMIE TRAMEL Sports Writer on Sep 11, 2012, at 4:48 PM Updated on 9/11 at 4:48 PM
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Louisiana backup kicker Hunter Stover is expected to be on the travel roster for a trip to Oklahoma State, which means that someone with Oklahoma -- and Super Bowl -- DNA will be on the “other” sideline at Boone Pickens Stadium.
Stover’s grandfather is Stewart “Smokey” Stover, who, during an 11-month span in 1967, played in an American Football League championship game, a Super Bowl and a Canadian Football League championship game (Grey Cup). His teams won two of the three and he finished his career with two AFL title rings.
Smokey played linebacker for a Kansas City Chiefs squad that lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I. He was a fourth linebacker (joining E.J. Holub, Sherrill Headrick and Bobby Bell) when the Chiefs wanted to give opponents a 4-4 look. He also logged special teams duty in the inaugural Super Bowl.
I interviewed Smokey during a visit to his Duson, La., home in 2010 and he told me stories about playing in the first Super Bowl. He said Chiefs players were aggravated that Packers coach Vince Lombardi had called the AFL a “Mickey Mouse league.” Super Bowl I was a matchup between the AFL and NFL champs. The Packers scored 21 unanswered points after halftime and won 35-10.
Though Smokey’s football career led him to the Canadian Football League after he participated in Super Bowl I, he said he was “tickled” when Joe Namath quarterbacked the AFL’s New York Jets to an ambush of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.
Smokey grew up in Oklahoma. He was raised near Oilton and attended grade school in Vidaway before attending a military high school in Claremore. He played college ball at Murray State and Louisiana-Monroe (he’s in the athletic hall of fame at both schools) and settled near Lafayette, La.
The best story Smokey told regarded how he got a foot in the door to play pro football. He fooled coaches during an AFL tryout. He knew he was too skinny to get a fair shake, so he taped weights to his arms before a weigh-in and wore oversized clothes in hopes that no one would notice the lumps. Then he won a job by playing bigger than he was.
Hunter Stover has a story too -- and it’s a comeback tale. He tore an ACL in his left knee while in high school and a post-surgery infection led to him needing another surgery. He rehabbed well enough to kick off 47 times in the Ragin’ Cajuns first eight games last season. Then he tore the ACL in his other knee and underwent season-ending surgery.
Hunter completed his most recent comeback in the second quarter of a 2012 opener against Lamar. He pinch-hit for the starting kicker on kickoffs and every one of his four kicks resulted in a touchback. It was a victory within a victory for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who will take a 2-0 record -- and someone with Super Bowl ancestry -- to Stillwater.
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