Growing up in Texas, they tried to strong-arm Jason Cunningham into playing football. Regular football. Not that "other" position.
It turns out Cunningham is a little too strong-legged. Not to mention strong-willed.
"It was in seventh grade," Montana State's junior kicker recalls. "I never, ever thought I'd play football. The only reason I went out was because that's what all my buddies were doing."
Once they had roped him in, they told him he'd have to eventually hit somebody. Cunningham begged to differ.
"We were playing a really bad team and they were going to make me play another position," Cunningham said. "So I pretended I was sick and never showed up."
It was a stunt that would have gotten other kids a pat on the butt and a "nice to know ya." But not Cunningham. Even his early coaches knew they couldn't afford to cut the kid with the bouncing blonde hair who would later come to be known as Sunshine.
He had a golden leg to match those golden locks.
Cunningham remembers the day when he became indispensable. It too was in seventh grade. A gangly soccer midfielder at the time, Cunningham spent his first day at football practice trying not to look like a gangly soccer midfielder.
Then he heard someone yell, "Anyone want to try out for kicker?"
"I thought, ‘Hmm. I bet I can do that,'" Cunningham said.
Lucky for Cunningham, the first drill played into his strengths.
"They told us all to line up and kick the ball as far as we could," he said. "I kicked it the farthest every time. I've been the kicker ever since."
The story continued from the first day Cunningham set his precious right foot on the MSU campus. And believe it or not, the guy whose job he was about to take couldn't have been happier watching the kicks soar through the thin air off the foot of the Texan.
After all, it was the first time in about a year that Eric Fisher could say the words "Texas" and "kicking" in the same sentence without shivering.
Fisher was coming off a sophomore season in which he connected on 2-of-11 field goals, which included an infamous 0-for-3 performance in an ugly 38-7 loss at Texas A&M.
"When I saw him kicking for the first time, it was a relief," said Fisher, who turned into an all-conference punter after Cunningham showed up. "He was so good. It was pretty easy to accept losing a job to a kicker that was as good as he was. Plus it allowed me to focus more on punting."
And it allowed Cunningham to step into the spotlight as only a kicker can. Over two years as the Bobcats' golden boy, Cunningham has been blamed for both wins and losses.
And it's funny, he wasn't even at the game the Bobcats say he cost them - a 35-24 loss to Eastern Washington last season.
Like that day in seventh grade, Cunningham said he was sick and didn't get on the bus. But this time he wasn't faking it.
"I was puking my guts out," Cunningham said. "I could hardly stand up."
With Cunningham absent, the Bobcats failed to convert on four point-after tries. Three times they went for it on fourth down inside Cunningham's range and also failed to convert. It was 13 potential points wiped from the scoreboard.
And if you want to throw in the toe-punched kickoffs from defensive tackle Zach Minter and the pooched floaters from backup punter Mackey Nolan that gave the Eagles an average starting position on their own 40-yard line, well, you get the picture.
Even the typically mild-mannered Rob Ash had some strong words about the tragedy in Cheney. When asked if he believed his team would have won the game had Cunningham attended, MSU's head coach said, "Definitely."
"My heart tells me that," Ash said. "We played great, we fought, but without Jason Cunningham, it was tough to win. (Losing that game) cost us everything. We win that game, we're 8-3 and in the playoffs."
Instead, MSU finished 7-4 and missed the playoffs.
"It gave us a whole different feeling about the end of the year," Ash said.
On the other hand, Ash remembers with equal clarity the kick that almost made MSU's year - the kick he calls the best of Cunningham's career. It came in one of those games in 2007 that the true freshman kicker was credited for winning.
But it too was a bit peculiar, considering it was a 38-yarder - a relative chip shot for Cunningham - in the friendly confines of a dome.
It just so happens that the kick came with 1:24 left at the Walkup Skydome - home to Northern Arizona, then ranked No. 23 in the country. And it gave MSU a 25-23 win.
"I always talk about clutch kicks when it comes to kickers," Ash said. "That's still his best kick in my mind. Because if he makes it we win, if he misses it we lose."
With two years left in his career, Cunningham will continue to be Montana State's x-factor of sorts. Except this year, he feels like a new man.
He's added kickoffs to his arsenal, a skill he says many NFL scouts covet. And as he's made progress in that department, he feels he's added leg strength as well.
Having nailed one 59-yarder during preseason drills with a live rush - which long-snapper Tim Garcia said "would have been good from 65 yards" - it seems as if that might be the case.
But all of those adjustments seem to have taken a backseat to the story developing on Cunningham's head. That's right, on it, not in it.
It's the first time in nearly nine years of kicking that Cunningham will be sporting a shaved head. Or, as he calls it, the "Eric Fisher look."
It figures, says the now-departed, still-balding Fisher.
"He made a hair joke every chance he got," the former punter said.
Cutting the bushy, blonde, lion-like mane which gained him the Sunshine nickname, courtesy of - who else? - Fisher, was a big decision, Cunningham said, especially since he's had his floppy mop since way back in seventh grade.
He's even gone so far as to call it his "mojo."
But he's still got a little bit of animal in him, considering the last song he plays before every game is Elton John's "Circle of Life."
Yes, it's the theme from "The Lion King."
"I play that right before I come out," Cunningham said. "It just calms me down."
Only a kicker. Only Cunningham.
Will Holden can be reached at wholden@dailychronicle.com and 582-2690.
special teams
Projected starter: K: Jason Cunningham (6-1, 175, JR), P: Rory Perez (6-2, 180, FR), PR: DeSean Thomas (6-1, 176, JR), KR: Everett Gilbert (5-9, 180, SO) and Orenzo Davis (5-9, 185, JR).
Could surprise: Julius Lloyd. The senior wide receiver was fielding punts late last week in place of Thomas, who will be suspended for the season opener, and looked like one of MSU's most comfortable punt returners - a position where the team struggled mightily a season ago.
Strengths: Legs. Between Cunningham's long field goals and the massive hang time on Perez's punts this preseason, it looks like MSU will have two of the strongest legs in the conference this season.
Weakness: Punt returners. MSU recruited players just for the purpose of returning punts and has tried out eight different players there this fall with limited success.
Quoting a coach: "We feel very settled with Jason Cunningham and Rory Perez," said head coach Rob Ash, who is in charge of MSU's special teams. "But we need to find someone who can consistently field punts."
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