Nazi Labor Camp Survivor Made Football History At UT
Fred Bednarski, BA ’61, Life Member, played soccer as a young boy in a German labor camp in Austria.
The Polish boy and his family stayed together and survived World War II, immigrating to the United States after it ended. Bednarski was introduced to football and eventually attended The University of Texas and joined the Longhorn football team.
Bednarski kicked the football the only way he knew how — soccer-style, from the side. His kick baffled coaches and other players but the yards it got convinced Coach Darrell Royal not to mess with it.
Bednarski and Royal talk about that strange kick, now used almost universally rather than the previously popular straight-on toe kick, and the bond of the Longhorn football players in this video from UT’s KNOW website.
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