Hell in the Hall – Louisville Sports Blog

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I had a pleasant visit from someone unexpected:  Ryan’s mom, Debbie.  She had googled her son’s name, and arrived at my site.  She asked for the pics that we had taken of Ryan, and I was more than happy to oblige.  Of course, I had to ask for a little information on her son, which she was kind enough to let me share with you...

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Hi Frank,

Thank you the information about the “other” barefoot kicker!  Ryan
has quite an interesting story and I think it would be a great public
interest piece.  I’ll briefly share a bit how he got here…

Ryan has been a life long soccer player, having played at gold club
levels since the age of 8.  He played two years at Concordia
University in Irvine California.

He was still playing soccer and enjoying his sophomore year of college when a lifelong friend of his,
Colt Brennan who was the quarterback for University of Hawaii last
year, asked Ryan why he didn’t try kicking since he had such a strong
leg.

Well Ryan’s father started taking him out to the local school
where they kicked footballs.  Ryan’s dad called me one day and said,
“you know, I think he can really kick a football”.

Well of course Ryan’s dad thinks he can do everything well, so I insisted that he
get a second opinion from someone who knows what they’re talking
about.  As it turned out, Colt’s father knows Mike Lansford, who as
you may or may not know was a NFL kicker for the LA Rams for about 20
years, who was interestingly enough, a barefoot kicker.

Well anyway, Mike agrees to come out and take a look at Ryan.  After one practice,
Mike confirms that yes, Ryan has a “Sunday leg”, which I guess means
he could kick on Sundays … NFL?

Ryan initially used a shoe to kick but one day, just to kid around with Lansford, takes off his
shoe and makes a few kicks.  Well that was the end of the shoe!  He
added at least 5 yards to every kick and was much more accurate with
his placement.

Mike agrees to work with Ryan to help him refine his
skills since he’s never played football before, save being a wide
receiver his freshman year of high school.

After a few months of workouts, we make a video and send it out for
coaches to evaluate.  Many calls were received and some scholarships
offered from D2 schools.  Ryan was really under the gun as it was
time to re-enroll for his Junior year at Concordia.

Mike Lansford made a call to the Athletic Director at Louisville, Tom Jurich who he
knew from college.  Tom said they’d like to get a look at Ryan and
have him work for a year learning the trade from Carmody, which he
did. He wasn’t offered a scholarship but didn’t care as he was
excited to play at Louisville.  Ryan has worked hard and has
definitely been “under the radar”.

I so appreciate the pictures, living in California it’s impossible
for me to get to all or even most of Ryan’s games, so being able to
see him in action was priceless.

Warm Regards,

Debbie Payne-McLane