Kicking down the door

Brad Maynard leaned over the cue ball, emptied his cluttered mind and prepared to pocket a shot on a pool table that stood in the middle of a packed Fast Freddie's Pizzeria.

Told he would be selected as early as the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft, Maynard, along with his family and a small group of friends, rented a banquet room in the Westfield restaurant. Before he struck the ball with his cue stick, Maynard heard the restaurant explode with raucous cheers.

With three picks remaining in the first day of the draft, the former Ball State University punter's life had changed forever.

"You never want to feel like an idiot when you're not drafted, so I had given up," Maynard said. "I was playing pool, getting ready to shoot, and the whole place just erupted. I looked at the TV, and my name was flashing on the screen - 'New York Giants select Brad Maynard.' I had an idea it would happen but until it does you just don't know."

Almost 11 years later, the two-time pro bowl punter has been inducted into the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame.

CHOOSING BSU

Growing up in central Indiana, Maynard lived and breathed Indiana University sports. When it came time to make a college decision, however, the Hoosiers didn't offer him a scholarship. Instead, Maynard's decision was narrowed to Ball State and Purdue University, Indiana's archrival.

Despite his natural dislike for the Boilermakers, Maynard decided to give them a legitimate look and took an official visit to check out the campus in West Lafayette. Maynard arrived at Purdue with the best intentions, but the trip never really had a chance after he saw a sign that read: "What have you done to beat IU today?"

"I don't think he ever got past that sign," Maynard's father, Dan Maynard, said. "He just couldn't handle playing at a place where your goal every day was to beat Indiana."

There were other aspects that led Maynard to shy away from Purdue, especially because it had already offered a scholarship to a punter that year. The bottom line, however, was that he couldn't stomach playing for the Hoosiers' archrival.

Maynard sat down with Ball State coach Paul Schudel and assistant coach Billy Lynch, who became head coach during Maynard's junior and senior season, and he had his options laid out for him. Ball State's starting punter was a senior, and its other punter was entering his junior season. Even though the Cardinals couldn't offer Maynard a scholarship, Lynch said the coaching staff placed a high priority on luring Maynard to the program.

"I remember sitting in a room under the home side of the stands with Brad and his dad," Lynch, who is currently the head coach at Indiana, said. "We knew he had a chance to be something special, particularly when you look at his upbringing and pedigree, coming from one of the richest high school football programs in the state. We really tried to explain to Brad the opportunity he had, and he took it."

At Sheridan High School, Maynard was involved on every down, whether his team was on offense, defense or special teams. When he came to Ball State, Lynch recruited Maynard as an athlete rather than a full-time punter. However, it didn't take special teams coordinator Scott Pethtel long to realize Maynard had a special gift for punting the football.

Pethtel, currently the head coach at North Park University in Chicago, said Maynard was unlike any punter he had ever seen. Like Maynard, most punters he saw had the desire to participate with teammates during practice drills. The difference was Maynard actually had the athletic ability to not only compete but to win most drills against teammates who played on either the offensive or defensive sides of the ball.

"He was just an outstanding athlete and he had tremendous competitiveness," Pethtel said. "Not only did he want to win every drill, he could win every drill. We knew we were going to find a place for him to excel at."

THE LEGEND GROWS

Dan Maynard sat in the stands of the Carrier Dome, and while fans saw a young Ball State punter trot out to boot the ball back to their Syracuse University football team, he had a different perspective.

Instead, Dan Maynard saw his son on the field in front of 30,000 screaming fans, preparing to kick his first college punt.

"I can still see that punt," Dan Maynard said. "I had some nervous feelings for Brad. I knew he had practiced exactly what he was about to do thousands of times and he would handle it just fine, but it was still a moment where I kept my fingers crossed. At that time, I knew it was the start of something big."

Maynard used separate drills to hone his two biggest strengths - accuracy and power. For accuracy, he would stand at the hash mark of the 50-yard line and boom punts high into the air. His goal was to land the balls inside a trash barrel that replaced the pylon, right on top of the goal line and sideline.

"I'd say he probably made about half of the balls in the bucket," Pethtel said.

When he had finished working on his precision punting, Maynard would pivot toward the sideline and face the press box at Ball State's stadium. Still standing on the hash mark at the 50, Maynard would focus on the power aspect of his craft.

"He punted the ball out of the stadium … and into the parking lot," Pethtel said. "It was just really impressive."

Maynard's fame soon grew to the point where he was recognized everywhere he went, both on and off Ball State's campus. He was the most popular Cardinal to cheer on at home and the target of ridicule on the road.

Regardless of the location of the game, one thing remained consistent - everybody wanted to see Maynard punt the ball.

"He was recognized by everybody wherever we went to play," Pethtel said. "The stands would always fill up in warm-ups before games just so fans could get a look at Brad. I've never seen that kind of excitement generated by a punter."