Andersen’s U.S. adventure earned Hall of Fame nod

NEW ORLEANS — Although Morten Andersen grew up with absolutely no notion of kicking an American football, he always had designs on playing sports at an elite level — albeit with his hands.

As he neared the end of high school in his native Denmark, he had an invitation to try out for his country’s junior national handball team. Instead, he heeded his parents’ wishes that he spend a school year abroad in the United States.

He opted to become a more well-rounded citizen of the world, and serendipitously put himself on a path to becoming one of the best at kicking a not-so-wellrounded ball.

“The safe bet would have been to say, ‘I’m just going to stay in Denmark, but I don’t think that was ever really in the DNA of our family to play the card that was always comfortable and safe,” Andersen said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Little did any of us know what kind of journey was ahead. And that’s what’s so interesting about life. If your ears and eyes are open to new possibilities and opportunities, they are right in front of you sometimes.”

Andersen, who began his NFL career with the New Orleans Saints in 1982, enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame as the leading scorer in NFL history with 2,544 points. He played in a record 382 games during his 25-year career.

He is only the second kicker elected to the hall. Both are Scandinavians who knew virtually nothing about American football when they arrived in the United States, but had been powerful and accurate kickers in their youth soccer days.

The first was Norwegian Jan Stenerud, who came to America after receiving a Nordic skiing scholarship from Montana State, where he was persuaded to give kicking a try. He later starred for Kansas City for 13 years before spending his last six seasons between Green Bay and Minnesota.