- [Announcer] Major funding for this program was provided by Northwest Austin Sertoma Club.

Additional funding was provided by Peter Buenz and Steve Collier.

For a complete list of funders, please visit thekickerfilm.com.

(bell rings) - [Fred] I'm grateful today for everything in my life and being able to come to America to a free country, and as an immigrant coming here to this country from Nazi labor camp, it was really a blessing and really belief in this country that the possibilities that if you try, what good things can happen to you.

(victorious music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] In the 1950's, the American dream was alive and well.

World War II was over, businesses were booming, and so were the babies.

College football stadiums were the place to be on Saturdays in the fall.

And if you happen to have been in Memorial Stadium on one of those fall Saturdays in 1957, you just might have seen the American dream standing five feet, 11 inches tall and wearing number 35 for the Texas Longhorns.

But before Fred Bednarski could embody that dream and change the game of football, the tough kid from Poland first had to survive the Nazi invasion of his home country.

- [Radio Announcer] On September 1, 1939, the Nazi army smashed into Poland.

- In Poland, where we lived in Uscie Biskupie, it was a small village where people have farms and my dad operated the flour mill in Poland before the war.

And of course the war started 1939, and the Germans were coming in, so I lived in a complete turmoil and not knowing just exactly what's gonna happen to our family.

They loaded us up into these box cars and we didn't know where we were going.

They opened up the box cars a couple of days later and we were in Austria and that's where they took us to this Nazi labor camp there.

- In those work camps, he experienced some real atrocities.

- The camp conditions were just totally inhumane.

It's just incomprehensible to think in terms of how bad those people were treated and what was done to 'em.

- [Fred] We were on our knees and praying the Lord's Prayer and praying it will come to an end.

The spring in 1945, the American troops were coming in and we were just so happy that we were finally liberated from the Nazis.

- As combat soldiers we saw and we moved through those areas where the camps were.

And after the war was over and the Germans surrendered, we received orders from General Eisenhower that all of the troops were to go back and see those camps and the condition of the prisoners as they were.

And it's just unbelievable.

I'll never forget seeing all of that.

- [Fred] God bless America and its troops who came and won the war and then were able to liberate us from the Nazi forced labor camp where we were.

After liberation, we had an option to go back to Poland, but we experienced the Russians and knew what kind of life we would have back in Poland.

- They would not have wanted to go back to Poland because Poland was, at this time, communist.

And if they had gone, they would've been in the Ukraine, they wouldn't have been in Poland anymore if they'd gone to their hometown.

- The reason we chose to come to America and not go back to Poland because that was not the kinda life we wanted for ourselves, and my dad didn't want it for our family, for the kids.

He wanted us in a free country, and opportunity.

America was the place where he wanted to come because he knew that that would be the country that would provide for all of us a future and an opportunity.

(patriotic music) - [Narrator] Heading for America may have been the right choice, but it certainly wasn't the easiest one.

- [Fred] We had a waiting period to be accepted to come to America, and it took four years before we knew that we were coming.

We left Bremerhaven on a Army transportation ship called General Sturgis.

And when we were getting close to America, my dad had us get up at four o'clock in the morning because we gonna see the Statue of Liberty.

It was just a really unbelievable, it was so excited.

We have a home and ability to be able to do things if you try and you just don't know where it's gonna take you.

- [Radio Announcer] There it is, New York, the wonder city.

- [Narrator] On October 25th, 1949, after four long years in a displaced person's camp and 11 days on a troop transport ship, the Bednarskis were finally on American soil in New York City.

But their joy was soon tempered by some unexpected news.

- We found out that our job in North Dakota was canceled and we didn't have a place to go.

So we had to wait and see where will would we actually go, what would be our destination place of work when we got here?

(peaceful music) - They thought they were going to North Dakota when they came to the United States as refugees, then that fell through and they had an opportunity to go to Smithville, Texas, where it was an awful lot warmer.

- So we were happy because my daddy said, "Well, that's a great place to go 'cause it's warm there, it's great climate, and you don't have all that snow and cold like you do in North Dakota.

(train chugging) When we arrived in Smithville, Texas, the Burns family were there waiting for us, and we didn't know what to expect.

So they took us to their dairy farm and really made us feel at home.

And of course, you know, we couldn't speak any English, so we really did our best to try to communicate.

And learning how to take care of the the dairy farm and have had to get up in the morning, like 3:30 in the morning and learn how to milk cows.

I mean, that was a lot.

I mean, then learning how to drive a tractor and then plowing and then help deliver milks in the mornings before I went to school.

And I mean, our family just was so grateful and thankful, but they always felt like that we gonna have to move from a farm to a larger city to get more of an opportunity for a better life.

So, we moved to Austin.

(peaceful music) We also had a teacher here that were interested in our family and just kind of took us as their family to take care of.

And so they found a job, my dad, to work as a carpenter's helper in Calcasieu Lumber Company and he wouldn't make a whole lot of money.

So they helped us with the move into South Austin on East Monroe into a house and they paid first month's rent for the house and they helped us with some money to buy food, they were so kind to us.

- And those were some really Christian people to be so giving and kind to, you know, a family that they didn't know, that weren't their own flesh and blood.

- When they came over here, they didn't have anything, but they were able to eventually move out of the country into town and get a pretty good job and were able to purchase a house.

And my dad went to school.

- My grandfather was able to just broaden the horizons for his family to have the opportunity for my dad to get to go to the schools in Austin and have that education.

Then the athletic opportunities, which were, you know, awesome for him.

(peaceful music) - First time I saw American football, to me it was completely confusing.

I didn't have any idea about American football.

All I wanted to do is just be part of the boys and play the game, and just be able to be part of the team.

- He was our fullback.

Yeah, he was our punter and our kicker, kickoff man.

He was just tremendous.

And in high school he was very popular.

Very popular.

And if I may say so, he was a nice looking guy, real nice looking guy.

- So we were all just mesmerized by him and Fred was always kind of our star that we kind of, you know, said, "And here's Fred Bednarski."

And besides that, he wasn't too shabby to look at.

- He was an extremely high achiever.

Whatever Fred did, he wanted to be the best.

(upbeat music) - Fred was a person that kind of pulled everybody together.

Everybody liked him very much.

- Fred was a very humble person, very genuine, he was very athletic.

When he had to kick a ball, he seemed to know what to do with it, regardless whether it was like an extra point or field goal or put it in the air off his foot.

(upbeat music ending) - [Fred] When my family was in Austria in a forced labor camp, I was just eight years old and we didn't know how long we would be there or even if we would survive.

Who would've thought that just 11 years later I would be able to play football at the University of Texas and be able to do something that had never been done before.

(victorious music) I had some other smaller schools ask me to come and try out, and I said, "Well, you know, if I'm gonna try out, I'm gonna try out at the University of Texas."

- And Fred only knew one thing and that's work.

I mean, he got out there and whatever had to be done, he did it.

You always had some people, you know, want to take the shortcut, you know, try to hide a little.

If I don't have to do it, I'm not going to do it.

But Fred wasn't one of those people.

(inspirational music) - [Darrell] My first impression was to tell the staff, nobody mess with Fred.

He is a great kicker already.

What you do is put him out there and choose who the best players are, who's the best kicker, wasn't any question about that.

Nobody even competed.

It was Fred all the way.

(victorious music) - Well back then, it's not like today, when you play two platoon football, back then we had one platoon football, you played everything.

You had to play offense, you had to play defense, you had to play a kicking game.

- In those years, you had to play both ways.

So didn't have the special teams or special individual where they could go in every time.

In other words, you went in once a quarter and then after you went in you had to stay in, or when you came out you couldn't go back in.

- So theoretically, Fred could only come in the game twice in a quarter.

So if there was a third time that someone had a kick and Fred wasn't in the game, well somebody else had to kick.

Fred couldn't come in.

- [Narrator] But when Fred was in the game, there was something different about how he kicked.

- There was no one else that ever had kicked soccer style before and most of us just kind of stood around and watched with amazement.

We had never seen anybody kick side of their foot.

There must be something wrong with that guy.

He's abnormal, you know, normal people don't kick that way.

- It's side winder.

That's what they called me.

They didn't called me a soccer star kicker.

He was side winder.

So you know, you come from the side of it and that's kind of pretty much what it is.

Your leg becomes a like a golf club, but it's natural.

- Fred quickly began to shine with his kicking and ended up being publicized.

- [Narrator] Bednarski did get a lot of media attention and it didn't hurt that Coach Royal invited sports writers to come watch him practice.

(victorious music) The press coverage of Fred's groundbreaking kicking style was nice, but the first points scored in a game by a soccer style kicker were still to come.

(victorious music continues) - [Radio Announcer] Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the home of the Razorbacks, as in the Longhorns from University of Texas against the Razorbacks of Arkansas.

- Frank Medina, our trainer, he was telling all of us, now when you go into the dressing room, you walk on the side.

Now, everybody, keep your headgears on, they're libel to throw something at you.

And I mean, sure enough, we walked down there and boom, somebody threw a bottle down there.

It just shattered.

- You have to understand the tradition of rivalry between Arkansas and Texas.

- You know, at that time, Arkansas felt like, you know, we may not be as good a program as Texas is.

- [Narrator] Arkansas may not have felt like they were as good a program as Texas, but they came into this game undefeated and ranked 10th in the country.

The 27,000 fans in attendance that day, didn't know that they would be witnesses to history, just five minutes and 20 seconds into the game.

- All was going through my mind was just knowing that you had to kick the ball and keep it down.

Keep your head down.

Don't even look up.

Let the referees tell you if you made it not.

And that's really what went through my mind.

And Walter Fondren, who was the holder, came up to me and says, "Fred, this is your time.

This is your chance, this is your opportunity."

They came in the huddle and said, "Well, Pollock, you better do this right, or we'll deport you back to Poland."

(Fred laughs) - I was on defense and I was a safety and he moved over and I had never heard of anybody getting over here and almost outside the tight end, not quite.

I started hollering, you know, "It's a fake, it's a fake, it's a fake!"

- They were hollering, says, "Oh, it's a fake, it's a fake.

It a fake.

It's a run, fake."

- Well, I'm serious.

I thought it was a fake, I thought it'd be a double reverse or something.

And I was alerting our corners from where I was as a safety.

- Walter Fondren said, "This is your chance, Fred."

And he held the ball for me and I just kicked it.

- [Radio Announcer] And this is a big one.

It's up... Good!

Texas for the first time!

- When I kicked it, yeah, I got excited and had started running out back to the bench Coach Royal says, "Wait a minute, get back, get back, you got the kickoff."

Anyway, it was fun.

- He kicked it and made it.

It was certainly football history.

- It absolutely changed the game of football.

You know, you had those straightaway kickers and you know, you had to get it all lined up and then you bring this new style, and Fred was the very first to kick a soccer style field goal in a football game.

- Didn't plan on anything like that.

The most important part with me was that I was part of the team and I was able to contribute, and kicking was what I could contribute with.

I just felt like when the time came, I was ready and giving my best to be able to do that.

- [Narrator] Fred's contributions to Coach Royal's first teams in '57 and '58 did not go unnoticed at the time, but over the years his history making kicks have been largely forgotten.

- When you think about how Fred came to University of Texas as a walk-on in the '50s, just tells you a lot about his confidence in God for sure.

But I'll also tell you, if you were to ask Fred, you know, what afforded that opportunity, he'd say, there's no country like America that gave him that chance.

- Coming to University of Texas, I just was in awe the whole time.

But you know, I learned then that you can do anything in America if you give your best.

And I feel still that way, that this is the greatest country in the world.

And I love the University of Texas and I love this country, and I think that the country gave me a life and future.

There's no doubts about it.

- [Narrator] When Fred's historic time at Texas came to an end, he traded one iconic uniform for another.

(patriotic music) - When he went to serve his country, he just, I think as a boy, a young boy, and coming over to the United States, he always just in his heart was like, I wanna give back.

I wanna give back to the United States for what they did for me.

- I think that speaks volumes about what he thinks about America and the country, and this was the land of opportunity for him and his family.

I mean, he feels almost indebted and is so appreciative and grateful and thankful for a land like America and the freedom that it provides.

- He was really inspired to want to serve and give back to this country that had given him so much.

- No one can appreciate freedom any more than one who has been suffering under that type of lack of freedom.

- He appreciates what his country is all about, that it is truly a land of freedom.

So many freedoms that were secured by the sacrifice of other people.

And so, he is one that always speaks so positively about America, about the opportunities it's afforded him.

Every time you're around him, you know, it's like, "I love America!

Greatest country ever!

I love this place!"

That's Fred.

And it just is, it's inspiring for sure.

- [Fred] When I graduated from the University of Texas, I received my commission as Second Lieutenant and I was stationed in Fort Hood with 720th MP Battalion Company A, that we were called in during the crisis that we had in Oxford, Mississippi.

- [Radio Announcer] The town of Oxford is an armed camp following riots that accompanied the registration of the first Negro in the university's 118 year history, in the greatest crisis the South has faced since the Civil War.

- When Fred gets over to the University of Mississippi with his platoon, it was as bad as you can imagine.

The riots were happening everywhere.

There were US Marshals that had been shot.

There were people beating up one another, black and white.

It was very polarized.

I mean, normally peaceful people were like coming out of the woodwork with such hostility.

- The court made up of southern judges determined that it was, according to the Constitution that Mr.

Meredith go to the University of Mississippi, the governor of Mississippi opposed it.

And there was rioting against Mr.

Meredith, which endangered his life.

We sent in Marshals and after all 150 or 60 Marshals were wounded one way or another out of four or 500, and at least 3/4 of the Marshals were from the south themselves.

And then we sent in troops when it appeared that the Marshals were gonna be overrun.

(suspenseful music) - [Fred] President Kennedy called us in to go as a security force to Oxford, Mississippi, and it was my job to establish security for James Meredith where he stayed in his dorm.

- On campus, they hollered at us, they cussed at us.

They threw rocks, they threw tree limbs, anything they could get their hands on and yelled at us that we were invading their territory.

It was an experience that I will not forget.

- [Radio Announcer] President Kennedy appealed to the students and to the people of the state to comply peacefully with the law and bring the crisis to an end.

- Americans are free, in short, to disagree with the law, but not to disobey it.

For any government of laws and not of man, no man, however prominent or powerful and no mob, however unruly or boisterous is entitled to defy.

- I was real proud to even go to Oxford, Mississippi as a military police with my platoon, so James Meredith could go to school, and I was proud of all of that because, you know, I was here to help do to protect this country to be free.

- What irony, that a man who had been incarcerated by a foreign power's military comes to the United States and is wearing the uniform to protect the rights, now watch this, of a black man who had come from the military and under the GI Bill was going to the University of Mississippi.

How does that happen?

(peaceful music) - It's interesting because he's been through so much in his life and he doesn't need anything.

He just, he loves God, he loves his family and he loves people for who they are, not what have.

People are drawn to him for his personality and for his heart and his character.

Not, you know, and not even, his story's amazing, and the kicking part.

Being the first soccer style kicker is really awesome, but that's not what they're drawn to.

They're drawn to him.

He has a really big heart and he's compassionate for people who don't have a lot, and he's taught us how to be that way too, and to go and serve.

- My dad is always so thankful and grateful about those opportunities that he's been able to have by coming here and he's really ingrained that in all of us, hoping to inspire those of us that have lived here all of our lives, who take a lot of things for granted, to inspire us to really realize what kind of great freedoms we do have here.

- And who better than my dad to tell that story.

You know, he's lived and breathed that other life and then had an opportunity here.

He has such a passion for people to know what an amazing country this is.

- He's been in such a true inspiration to me and our family.

- He set such a great example as far as just what's important in life.

- There seems to have been a plan.

He looks back and he goes, God preserved my life for this, and I don't know why I get emotional about that, except for that it's speaking to me, that he's a hero.

You know, I just love him.

(peaceful music) - If I had to do it all over again, I would not change it.

Now, I mean, God had a plan for us, for our family, even through all the tribulations and hardships.

I would not change it at all because I think that that's really what it meant to be for us to be where we are today and let them others know what all they have that they need to be thankful and grateful for.

(Fred laughs) (victorious music) - I believe that there are four loves in his life.

One is America, two is God and his faith, and three as family and four is the University of Texas.

(victorious music continues) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program was provided by Northwest Austin Sertoma Club.

Additional funding was provided by Peter Buenz and Steve Collier.

For a complete list of funders, please visit thekickerfilm.com.

(peaceful music)