In keeping with the Prime Directive set forth in the beginning of time - the one that says kickers are born to be flaky - Herky Marxen of Southern Utah State College is a textbook case.
Here is a person with a clear idea of who he is and where he is going. "I'm a flaky kicker," says Marxen. "That's exactly what I am."Kickers are islands unto themselves. They are the only people on the team who can get away with not lifting a weight all season. They can read novels instead of studying game films. They only have to memorize one play. They can wear glasses and look bookish and nobody will care.
Their entire job is to swing their foot and get out of the way.
The rest of the time they are free to engage themselves in the unbridled pursuit of being eccentric.
Marxen is a true student of the trade. Before a practice last week, SUSC Coach Jack Bishop instructed players to arrive in gray T-shirts and gray shorts. Marxen complied - slightly. He wore his T-shirt and a pair of Calvin Klein boxer shorts. "They felt comfortable," explained Marxen.
As any good kicker will testify, comfort is all.
So far he is well into the comfort zone when it comes to kicking. He has made six field goals in six tries and all seven PAT attempts this year. He has a field goal of 48 yards this season and contributed a 51-yarder in 1987. "Actually, I'm cocky," says Marxen. "But that's one of the reasons I'm a good placekicker."
The Master Plan is to make every field goal he tries. PAT's are a foregone conclusion. "I'll make all of those," he says. "Field goals are the goal."
Marxen got his start as a star athlete at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas. The school is a sea of prep talent and Marxen considered himself a major league kicker . . . in soccer.
For fun he signed up for football and ended up kicking field goals of 53, 48 and 46 yards. Those were followed by considerable recruiting mail but not much genuine major college interest, largely because of his tepid performance in the classroom. "I had a lot of, uh, fun in high school. Once they found out about my grades, they (letters) stopped coming," says Marxen.
More than once, grades got in the way of Marxen's efforts. Last spring he had to attend summer school to be eligible for this season. "I do have a Ph.D. in Nintendo, though," he says.
Marxen, who was christened John Marxen, began his career in the weird science shortly after adopting the name Herky. The nickname came from neighborhood kids who noted his penchant for what he calls "being sort of destructive." Herky was a derivative of Hercules.
Upon signing on at SUSC, Marxen began taking upper-level courses in flakiness. He is so superstitious he showers before every game. He wears the same pair of socks until he misses a kick. He writes the name of his fraternity on his helmet. He has Coach Jack Bishop wear his watch on the sidelines during games. When the defense is on the field he wears a Notre Dame hat; when the offense takes the field he switches to a helmet. He paints a field goal post on his hand before games, complete with a tiny football flying through the uprights.
All of the above have some cosmic significance to his kicking.
He's also superstitious about religion. "If I don't pray at night, I try make up for it by praying longer in the morning," he says.
Also on Marxen's list of superstitions/dislikes are flying ("I hate to fly. I don't want to die."), driving and standing in line.
Marxen is already the top scorer in SUSC history, which he hopes to carry over into a career in the NFL. "I see kickers in the NFL that are terrible," he says. "I look at them and say, `I'm better than that.' "
Eccentricities shouldn't keep him out of the NFL, and neither should his kicking. He has excelled at both. Herky Marxen seems to have just the traits he needs to have a long and prosperous career doing strange things.