Aug. 12, 2009

Rice University senior place kicker Clark Fangmeier was one of 30 players named to the Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award watch list unveiled Wednesday during "College Football Live" on ESPN.

Fangmeier, a Houston native, is already the Owls' all-time kick scoring leader with 217 points, including a career-high 91 points last year as a junior. During his career he has converted on 154 of 155 point-after tries including all 73 of his attempts in 2008. Fangmeier enters his senior season having converted 86 straight PATs going back to the 10th game of the 2007 season.

He currently has the highest career PAT percentage (.993) among all Conference USA kickers who have at least 130 attempts. He will begin the 2009 season ranked second in both PAT conversions and attempts in Conference USA history.

Fangmeier has also connected on 21-of-33 field goal attempts. Last year he was 8-of-11.

Academically, Fangmeier carries a 3.33 grade point average in Mathematical Economic Analysis.

The Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award is named in honor of one of the all-time great kickers in football history. Groza was a six-time all-pro tackle but earned his fame as a kicker. In 1950, he won the NFL championship game for the Cleveland Browns by kicking a field goal with 28 seconds to play. He would play 21 seasons with Cleveland until his retirement in 1967.

His 1,608 career points is still a Browns' franchise record and he ranks third all-time in NFL history. A nine-time all-pro player who was a member of eight championship teams, Groza was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974.

The Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award committee will announce its 20 semifinalists in early November. A panel of NCAA Division I coaches, sports writers and broadcasters will then select the top three finalists for the award in late November and the national winner, who will be announced during the Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show in early December.