Ryan Pretorius
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Ryan Pretorius (born 2 May 1979) is a South African former rugby union player and American football place kicker with the Ohio State Buckeyes.[1][2] He was raised in Durban, South Africa, and played rugby union professionally before attending Ohio State University to play American football.
Early life
Pretorius was born in Rhodesia and is the grandson of Joe Pretorius, a rugby player who played internationally for Rhodesia and was part of their 1949 10–8 victory over the All Blacks. Pretorius and his family fled to Durban, South Africa, in 1983 after a Zimbabwe Republic Police officer threatened him and his father with an AK-47.[3] He settled with his family in Durban and was educated at Westville Boys High School.[4]
Rugby
After finishing school, Pretorius moved to England and joined the academy of Bath Rugby.[5] He made his one and only appearance for Bath as a scrum-half against Saracens in 1999.[6] He then moved to play rugby in France. For Christmas he got a laptop and looked at American football kickers seeing how far they could kick and then went on holiday to the United States and filmed himself kicking field goals from Script error: No such module "convert"..[7] After encouragement from fellow South African former NFL kicker Gary Anderson,[8] Pretorius sent copies of the tape to several American universities and was invited to join Ohio State University as a walk-on.[9] When told he would have to pay his way there, he sold his car to his father.[10]
American football
When Pretorius kicked, he wore cleats that were two sizes too small to replicate the feeling of kicking barefoot as he had done when younger practising rugby.[11] He made his debut for the Buckeyes in 2005.[12] In 2006, he was awarded a scholarship to Ohio State.[13] At the time, he was the oldest member of the Ohio State team.[14] In 2007, with a 96% extra point percentage,[15] he was nominated for a Lou Groza Award.[7] He also played in Ohio's 2008 BCS National Championship Game loss to LSU Tigers.[16] In his 2008 season, he scored all but one of his point after touchdown attempts and was a part of Ohio State's 2009 Fiesta Bowl game, a loss to the Texas Longhorns.[17]
References
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- ↑ Biography Script error: No such module "webarchive". OhioStateBuckeyes.com
- ↑ ESPN.com profile
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- Pages with script errors
- 1979 births
- Living people
- American football placekickers
- Bath Rugby players
- Ohio State Buckeyes football players
- Rugby union scrum-halves
- South African expatriates in the United States
- South African players of American football
- South African rugby union players
- Sportspeople from Durban
- White South African people
- Alumni of Westville Boys' High School
- South African expatriate rugby union players in England
- Rugby union players from Durban
- Rhodesian rugby union players