Olympia’s Hauschka Roots for Seattle Seahawks Kicker

steve hauschka
Steve Hauschka's accuracy for the Seattle Seahawks is admired by fans.
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By Gail Wood

pints logoTo everybody else, he’s simply #4, the Seattle Seahawks’ field goal kicker, Steve Hauschka.

He’s the hero – if he kicks the game-winning field goal. Or the goat – if he shanks that game winner.

But to Olympia’s Pete Hauschka, he’s always been a friend who just happens to also be his cousin. Their dads are brothers.

“Steve’s really a good guy,” Pete said. “Really friendly.”

steve hauschka
Steve Hauschka, the Seattle Seahawks kicker, has a raving fan in his local cousin, Pete Hauschka.

So, like every other blue-blooded Seahawk fan on Sunday, Pete watched his kin trot out onto the field to attempt a game-winning, 27-yard field goal in overtime against a tougher-than-expected Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And Steve’s kick was perfect, splitting the uprights and giving Seattle a dramatic 27-24 victory.

Pete, who is named after Steve’s dad, never doubted.

“I wasn’t real nervous,” Pete said. “When you listen to him talk about his craft, he treats every kick the same and he really works on his leg swing consistency so he gets a real consistent kick every time.”

Pete confesses he never gave his cousin a tip on kicking. Pete chose skiing, not football, as his sport of choice.

“I chose a different path athletically,” Pete said. “Steve’s dad, who I’m named after, was the kicker.”

Pete’s uncle had a free agent tryout with the Dallas Cowboys in 1967. He didn’t make the team, which was just as well because he went on to medical school and became a doctor.

Once a year, Pete, the cousin, gets free tickets from Steve for a home game. Pete and his wife watched the Seahawks beat the Tennessee Titans in CenturyLink Field and then talked with Steve after the game. But there were no kicking tips from Pete.

“He doesn’t need them,” Pete said. “He never misses.”

From college to the pros, Steve took a circuitous journey to become the Seahawks’ kicker. In college, he kicked three years for Middlebury College in Vermont, making first-team, all-conference his final year there. Then, as a graduate student, Steve kicked one season at North Carolina State, converting on 16 of 18 field goals. He was a Lou Groza Award finalist that season, but was still undrafted.

steve hauschka
Steve Hauschka’s accuracy for the Seattle Seahawks is admired by fans.

As a free agent over the next three seasons, he played for Baltimore, Atlanta and then played in four games in Denver in 2010. The Seahawks then picked him up in 2011 and he’s been golden since, making 18 of 19 kicks this season.

Pete started to think his cousin had the right stuff to make the NFL after his only season at North Carolina State.

“Kickers have to pay their dues,” Pete said. “He was on the cusp of a job at a couple of places. Teams will bring in a younger guy to make sure they have a backup during the preseason.”

Then they’ll cut the backup.

“No teams carry two kickers,” Pete said.

One season, Steve kicked for a minor-league team in Las Vegas. He never gave up on his dream. But Pete said Steve didn’t just dream. He worked hard, perfecting his craft.

“It almost looks like he’s not putting any effort into it,” Pete said. “It’s just really smooth. There’s a lot of strength behind that. So, he just tries to put the same swing on everything.”

Having grown up in Seattle and attending Eastern Washington University, Pete, who now works at Bates College, admits he was always a Seahawk fan. Sort of.

“I was sometimes disinterested, but yeah, I was a fan,” Pete said. “But I can’t claim like a deep, blue allegiance.”

He can now. Except he admits that allegiance is more blood red than Seahawk blue.

While optimistic about the Seahawks’ chances of reaching the Super Bowl, Pete hasn’t bought his tickets yet.

“I think we’ll just stay here and watch on TV,” he said.

And pull for his cousin and a Seahawks team that’s been better known for losing big games than winning… until this year.

 

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