I can remember it like it was yesterday — it was 1994 and Dan Kendra of Bethlehem Catholic High School in Pennsylvania was America’s BIGGEST recruit. I was the weekend sports anchor at WFMZ-TV in eastern Pennsylvania when the the nation’s media descended upon the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area to learn about the kid who owned an alligator and was thought of as Superman.
For those of you who live-and-die on every commit and de-commit and are anxiously awaiting National Letter of Intent Signing Day, Dan Kendra III was the original de-commit. Heck, I still have the newspaper clipping (below) about his famous, I’m going to Penn State — cue Penn State fans cheering — to check that, I’m going to Florida State — cue Penn State fans booing.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for a kid, who I covered for his entire high school career.
20 years ago, nobody had ever seen the likes of this linebacker-sized kid, who played quarterback. At 6-2, 220 pounds, Kendra was the toughest kid I had ever watched on a football field — he probably still is.
Kendra, whose father played quarterback for Bobby Bowden when the future Hall of Fame coach was the head coach at West Virginia, could run the 40 in 4.5 seconds and throw the ball 80 yards while benching 400 pounds. Everyone wanted Kendra, who was USA Today’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Dan Kendra by the numbers
Looking back at Kendra’s stats now, I’m a little surprised that his numbers weren’t bigger. They seemed to be enormous when watching him from the sidelines. Don’t get me wrong, 6,087 career passing yards and 1,939 yards rushing is nothing to sneeze at, but today’s EA Sports’ video game-like stats blow those away. Consider that Allen‘s (Texas) Kyler Murray, the ultimate modern day dual-threat QB, who was USA Today High School Sports 2014 Offensive Player of the Year, had an incredible 10,377 yards in total offense and his hand in 133 touchdowns over the last two years. Kendra ran and threw for 91 TDs in four years.
With the eyes of the nation on him, I remember watching Kendra, first-hand, get more-and-more tired of the recruiting circus. Before one interview I did with him at the midway point of a great senior year, I remember asking him how he was feeling about all of the media attention. He shook his head and sighed and then told me he was happy to know that I wasn’t going to ask him any stupid questions like those from the national media.
It definitely was a media circus, and this was several years before the birth of the the modern day recruiting services — Rivals.com was started until 1998. Tom Lemming, the grandfather of recruiting (sorry Tom), had Kendra listed as the No. 1 quarterback in the nation.
Adding to Dan’s pressure was his father, Dan Jr., who could rival Todd Marinovich’s dad. For those of you too young to know who Marvin Marinovich is – Google him. However, in Dan Kendra Jr.’s defense, I do believe that Dan III was allowed to eat a hamburger. Again, for you youngsters, Google, Todd Marinovich.
Kendra says it’s Penn State, no wait Florida State
Worn-out from the constant questions of where he was going to college, and with his girlfriend Christy Cochran announcing she was going to Penn State on a volleyball scholarship, Kendra announced in December that he was staying in-state to play for the hometown Nittany Lions. His mom even bought him a Penn St. bean bag chair for Christmas.
It was around the holidays when Dan began having second thoughts. On January 13, 1995, Penn St. fans found-out just how unlucky Friday the 13th can be — it was the day that Kendra announced he was going to Florida State, instead of playing for the Blue & White.
I was the person who interviewed Dan about the decision that day, and I can still remember the pain and the anger that was heaped on him after his decision. I can only imagine what that day would have been like today during the Age of Twitter.
Quite honestly, in a day-and-age of flip-flopping on verbal commitments, Kendra’s decision probably wouldn’t be as big of a deal today as it was in 1995.
For me, it was fun to be a part of history from the inside. However, seeing the toll it took on an 18-year old in 1995, before social media, really shaped my opinion on what the modern day plethora of recruiting services and their inherent pressures do to our teenage athletes.
Editor’s Note: To get a look at Kendra, who wore #22 at Bethlehem Catholic, check-out video of a 1993 game between Bethlehem Catholic and cross-town rival Liberty.
