Mitch Wishnowsky, one of the men who could win or lose the Super Bowl on Sunday, was out fishing when he got the phone call that changed his life.
He was then a 20-year-old glazier in Western Australia, slowly recovering after suffering from dengue fever in Bali.
The voice on the other end of the line had little sympathy, though.
“Mitch, are you done messing about in Bali?” John Smith asked. “Stop wasting your life!”
It was the first time Wishnowsky had spoken to Smith, the head coach of Prokick Australia. It was an organisation set up to help good kickers from Down Under find a career in American football.
“He was yelling at me, basically,” Wishnowsky recalled in a recent interview with Omnisport.
“He told me he could change my life”
“Told me he’d change my life if I quit my job and moved to Melbourne. I was sold.”
His parents, at least initially, were not. Little did they know then that come Sunday, their son would be punting for San Francisco in Super Bowl LIV.
It will be the realisation of a life-long dream to be a professional sportsman.
He had grown up playing soccer and Australian Rules football, though shoulder injuries meant he had to give up the latter.
Because of his kicking prowess, Wishnowsky had been urged to try American football by some friends. It was when he was “messing around” punting that he caught the attention of someone who knew Smith. He also knew Nathan Chapman who like Smith had spent time in the NFL and worked for ProKick.
“I always dreamed of being a pro athlete,” Wishnowsky added. “I was 20 when I had to give it [Australian rules] away. I was devastated. I’m 20, I said to myself, and I’m not going to be a pro athlete. Time to move on.
The offer came out of the blue
“Randomly, this (Smith’s offer) came out of the blue, this was my last chance.”
From Melbourne, Wishnowsky went to a junior college in Santa Barbara and onto college in Utah, and in 2016 he won the Ray Guy Award. It is given to US college football’s best punter of the season.
The NFL beckoned. Wishnowsky was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He was the first of the two punters to be selected that year.
He signed a four-year contract with the 49ers on 30 April 2019 and wasted no time. Soon he and had establishing himself as the team’s starting punter in their storied run to the Super Bowl.
In Week 9 he earned the ‘NFC Special Team Player of the Week’. This was for successfully nailing 5 punts inside the 20-yard line along with a 50 yarder. In the end his vital contribution saw the Niners squeeze home to a 28-25 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
The team they face Sunday, are the New Jersey sportsbook favourites, Kansas City Chiefs, and Miami is the venue.
Aussies in the NFL are mostly punters
Wishnowsky is one only a few from his country playing in the NFL. But like most of them, he is a punter.
Michael Dickson, Lachlan Edwards, Jordan Berry and Cameron Johnston all hold NFL starting jobs in that position. Wishnowsky puts this Australian strength down to their grounding in Aussie rules.
“We just grow up from whatever age – five, four – punting a football,” Wishnowsky added.
“If you ask us to throw it, we’re pretty useless because we didn’t do it.”
Aussie hopefuls Jarryd Hayne and Valentine Holmes were not required to throw the ball, just to run it. Neither, however, was able to replicate the type of success they had as NRL players.
Rugby league star Hayne impressed enough to make the 49ers’ roster in 2015 but lasted only half a season, Fellow Australia rugby league international Holmes didn’t do much better. He returned to the NRL in November after a year on the New York Jets’ practice squad.
Even incredible Australian athletes struggle in the NFL
“Even when Jarryd Hayne came over, I thought while there are incredible athletes in Australia, [but] he’s going to struggle here, so just to do what he did was incredible,” Wishnowsky said.
“Some of the athletes that are over here are incredible, so fast, so quick, cut up.
“They will eat pancakes and maple syrup every meal and they will just be cut. They are just different. I think it is a tough thing to get into.”
Wishnowsky, now 27, has had no such problems making the transition, though, and on Sunday he will achieve something beyond even his wildest dreams.
“I didn’t even consider this,” Wishnowsky admitted. “My dream was to play in the NFL, it’s almost a new dream to play in the Super Bowl.”
Thank you to the 49ers coaching staff for the opportunity to live my dream and play NFL football. Thanks to Utah football, Nathan Chapman, John Smith, my mum dad and sister Sam, and my beautiful girlfriend Maddie and everyone that helped. Thanks for the warm welcome #NinerNation pic.twitter.com/TBClxu6PZu
— Mitch Wishnowsky (@mitchwish) April 28, 2019