Slippery Rock University Athletics

NOTE: The following feature story appeared in the Sept. 2, 2010 Rock Football GameDay (home game program)

By BILL ALBRIGHT
Special to Rock GameDay

Slippery Rock University senior football student-athlete C. J. Bahr has literally gotten his kicks from athletics while playing both football and soccer for much of his life.

Since enrolling at The Rock, though, Bahr has concentrated his efforts solely on football.

“I still have a passion for soccer,” he said, “But for me to try and play both in college might have been a lot for me to handle at one time. I just wanted to focus on doing the best that I could as a kicker in football.”

Mission accomplished.

Bahr, who enters his fourth season as The Rock’s kicking specialist, has firmly established himself as the one of the best kickers to ever wear the Green and White.

He enters his final collegiate campaign ranked second on SRU’s career extra points kicked chart with 112, third on the career field goals list with 25 and seventh in career scoring with 187 points. He is also coming off a second straight season as The Rock’s leading scorer and a 2009 campaign in which he was a finalist for the inaugural Fred Mitchell Outstanding Place-Kicker Award and earned first-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division and third-team Don Hansen’s Football Gazette all-region honors.

The latest addition to his collection of awards was a third-team Preseason All-America honor from D2PRODAY.COM.

The soft-spoken, easy-going sport management major takes it all in stride.

“To be honest about it, I don’t even think or know what records I have or where I rank in certain categories in the record book,” he said. “I really don’t want to think about it because all it could be a distraction. All I am concerned about is concentrating on what I am doing and getting better, one kick at a time.”

One area in which Bahr has made the most progress is the distance of his kickoffs and field goals. That came as a result of a lot of hard work to build up his leg strength year by year.”

“I have developed a ton of leg strength and I also put on some weight, which might be the biggest thing that has helped as far as increasing my distance,” he said. “Both my dad and uncle have kicked in the NFL, so they know what type of strength and how to work on developing that as far as a kicker is concerned.”

Although C. J. has done a lot of work off the field to improve his distance, his father also feels part of his improvement has come naturally.

“I think a lot of his increased strength is due to natural maturation,” Chris said. “He is a young kid who just turned 21, so he was pretty young coming out of high school. As he gets older, he gets stronger, but make no mistake about it, he has put a lot of work into improving his strength.”

SRU head coach Dr. George Mihalik is happy to see the added distance that comes as a result of Bahr’s improved leg strength.

”Each year he’s been here, C.J. has improved his leg strength and, as a result, he has established himself as one of the premier kickers in all of Division II football,” Mihalik said.

“If a game is on the line, I have total confidence in C.J. to put the ball through the uprights,” he added.

Like most athletes, there are a couple of people who have been very instrumental in the development of Bahr’s career: His mother and father.

“I can’t say enough about them and the support they have given to me during my career,” he said. “They have to drive 2.5 hours one way to see me play when we are home, but they never miss a game, both at home and on the road.

“It is really a nice feeling to be able to look up in the stands and see both of your parents there. They have meant a lot to me, not only as parents, but as supporters of everything I have done in my life.”

Even though he’s the latest in a long line of successful athletes in his family (see Page 40), there has been little if any pressure to excel.

“I definitely come from a family of athletes,” C.J. said. “It has been pivotal in my success to have been exposed to that type of situation. The fact my whole family played one sport or another has helped me out a lot.

“It has been encouragement from them more than anything else,” he continued. “As far as kicking, it has been my dad (Chris) and my uncle (Matt) who have provided any coaching for me.”

Knowing his father has always been there to help him when asked, C. J. was quick to point out Chris never pushed him to the point of being a meddling father.

“Although he pushed me a little bit, he was never the crazy dad who is going to make you go out there and work out five hours a day,” C.J. said. “What I really respect him for is that he does a good job of keeping his distance from the program so that it doesn’t appear he is trying to influence any of the coaches’ decisions.”

Chris is quite comfortable being on the sidelines watching.

“I only help him when he asks for my help,” he said. “Basically, what I do is go out and hold for him. We try to get to every game and we have been fortunate to get to every one for the first three years. Just getting a chance to watch him is the biggest thing for me.”

Chris prefers to think his son is merely doing what he enjoys more than carrying on the family tradition.

“If he doesn’t enjoy it, it isn’t worth it,” Chris said. “So it’s nice to see him doing what he enjoys and not feeling pressured to do it.”

“I don’t think Chris ever pressured or even encouraged C. J. to become a kicker,” said the family patriarch, two-time soccer Hall of Famer Walter Bahr, who is Chris’ father and C.J.’s grandfather. “To go out and be a placekicker, that is something a kid either wants to do or doesn’t want to do.

“[C. J.] has the right attitude because when he has missed, he has shown the ability to come back and make the next one,” his grandfather continued. “He hits a good ball by making solid contact with it, and you can’t ask for more than that.”

Walter hasn’t seen his grandson play as often as he might have liked, but he likes what he’s seen.

“I think he has a real good attitude about kicking and he conducts himself quite well, Walter said. “You can’t hang your head when you miss one and you can’t cheerlead when you make them. ”

Actually, the elder Bahr finds it quite interesting his grandson would be interested in being a kicker.

“Placekicking is a different type of job,” Walter said. “You find out rather soon if you can do it or not.

“To be a good kicker, you have to make good contact with the ball consistently. Secondly, and probably the most important thing is, you really want to do it.”

A lifelong follower of soccer, Walter sees the kicking of a football field goal or extra point quite similar to that of converting a penalty kick in soccer.

“I have known a lot of guys who can consistently make the penalty kick from 12 yards out in practice, but in a game, if they miss one, they don’t want any part of taking another one,” he said.

“With all of the placekickers I worked with, I told them they had to have the right attitude and ability, but also understand sometimes you are going to miss. Whether it’s because of weather conditions, field conditions, a bad snap or even a bad hold, it is going to happen. Five minutes after you miss, you might be asked to do it again or you might have to wait two weeks to do it again. Those are some of the things you have to wade through.”

As much as he would have preferred to follow the trail blazed by his father and Uncle Matt as a kicker at Penn State, C.J. decided to go where he was wanted.

“Actually, in my senior year, Slippery Rock wasn’t on my radar screen as a school that was a possibility for me,” he said. “The first time I had any interest in SRU was when their coaches visited my high school. I participated in the visitation, they left me a pamphlet, [then-special teams coach] Rob Keys started calling me and my interest to come here just grew from there.

“I really would have liked to go to Penn State because my father (Chris) and uncle (Matt) both kicked there,” C.J. admitted, “but they didn’t show any interest in me. After the SRU coaches visited my school and came to my house to talk to me, I knew Slippery Rock was where I wanted to go.”

Like many student-athletes who have their hands full with academics while their sport is in season, C.J. realized he needed to find time to excel in both the classroom as well as on the football field.

“Outside of actually competing, the most difficult thing I faced during my freshman year was balancing the academics and the sports,” he said.

“I take my planning day-by-day or week-by-week depending on what my school work happens to be at that time,” he said. “I never plan out too much, like I am going to do this at this time and that at that time. If I have something that needs to be done, I take care of it.”

Planning study time in college is a lot different than in high school, he added, “because you are out on your own. At times it’s a difficult adjustment to make.”

He has made the adjustment from high school quite well, as evidenced by his having earned PSAC Scholar-Athlete status each of his first three years at SRU. He is a Rock-solid candidate for Academic All-America honors.

Rock head coach Dr. George Mihalik had no problem putting into words what C.J. has meant to The Rock program since making his way from Happy Valley (State College High School).

“It`s not often a true freshman can come into the college game and make a positive and immediate impact,” Mihalik said. “C.J. was able to do just that and start in his first year. This was in large part due to his excellent technique and knowledge of the kicking game.”

Away from the football field, Bahr is involved with numerous community activities. He tutors underprivileged youth at the I Care House in New Castle and assists with YMCA youth soccer and football clinics in the State College area.

He also served as a volunteer at the 2009 State Cup youth soccer competition and developed a marketing plan for the State College Spikes minor-league baseball team while serving as an team intern last summer.

“I enjoy working with young kids and that gave me an opportunity to do something for them,” he said about his experience at the I Care House. “I also had the opportunity to work with young kids in soccer camps and that also gave me an opportunity to share my skills with them. As for the marketing plan, that is something that I had to complete as part of a course requirement, but it was also fun to work on it.”

C.J. doesn’t yet know what awaits him down the road of after-college life. He is currently on the radar screens of NFL scouts, so he may get a shot to follow his father and uncle into the NFL.

Wherever the road leads him, one thing’s for sure: C.J. Bahr’s outstanding character and work ethic will make him a success in whatever field of employment he finds himself.

Just like success has been a constant companion throughout his Rock career.

“C.J. has been a great kicker for us,” Coach Mihalik said. “But more than that he’s a great young man and has been a great member of our program, on and off the field. He will be a success at whatever he does.”