The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Thursday, November 16, 2006 - SA
LONG SHOT
By Scott Bell I Daily Sports Editor
How punter Zoltan Mesko has gone from
dodging bullets in Romania to booming
punts on college football's grandest stage.
ullets flew through their apartment in Timiso-
ara, Romania.
It was 1989, and the Meskos sat right in the
middle of the crossfire spurred by the fall of commu-
nism in Romania.
Three-year-old Zoltan Mesko ducked under a table
with his parents, Michael and Elisabeth.
Because he was so young, Zoltan doesn't remem-
ber all of the horrific details. But his parents often
remind him of some of the haunting memories from
that bleak winter in Romania.
"There was a revolution, and there were stray bul-
lets flying through our apartment, so basically, we
spent our Christmas Eve on the ground just dodging
bullets," Mesko said. "I remember they halted the
shooting on Christmas Day so everyone could deliv-
er their presents. My grandma walked through that
winter snow to our apartment to give us our pres-
ents."
Mesko has come a long way from being that kid
ducking under a table in that Romanian apartment.
His name means king in Hungarian - and why
not?
It seems that Mesko, now Michigan's starting
punter, sits atop a throne overlooking his special
teams kingdom on Saturdays.
Pre-game kicks into the stands, big booming punts
during games and student section hysteria are all a
part of Mesko's everyday life now.
But the journey he has taken to get where he is
today transcends a simple sport like football.
Don't be shocked if the word "Zoltan" translates to
perseverance in English.
The journey begins
Michael stormed into the family's living room with
an envelope in his hand.
"Hey come over here, I have to show you some-
thing," he said as he entered the room.
Elisabeth wasn't immediately excited by her hus-
band's behavior.
"My mom just thought there was another cock-
roach in the apartment that my dad wanted to show
her," Zoltan said.
But it wasn't any sort of a pest. Instead, it was the
Meskos's opportunity for a better life.
Eight years after the peak of conflict, the family
had finally gotten their chance to leave Romania.
Michael won a green card through a lottery
- something just 55,000 lucky people receive each
year.
They had just a few weeks to decide whether or not
to go to America. When 11-year-old Zoltan was asked,
he didn't think twice.
"I had no doubt in my mind," Zoltan said. "I was
a little kid, so I was like thinking America - I get to
have video games and stuff."
After choosing to leave, the Meskos had to pre-
pare for life in the United States. Zoltan began taking
extensive English classes, and his parents faced the
tough choice of what to bring to the United States.
"We had to sell everything," Zoltan said. "We got
six bags to bring over here, and that was basically our
life in those six bags. We built up everything from
right there."
The building process began in New York City. For
six months, the Meskos lived in Queens with the aid
of family members. The America Zoltan saw wasn't
* exactly what he expected.
One of Zoltan's earliest memories after moving to
the United States was also one of his more confusing
ones. Eleven-year-old Zoltan flipped on a television
and began watchingit for about a half hour. He didn't
understand a word anyone said and thought that his
English lessons had been all for naught - until he
realized that the show was in Spanish.
Once the Meskos got on their feet in New York,
they uprooted once again. Family and friends in Ohio
offered Michael, an engineer, a job. The cozy security
the position gave and the much lower cost of living
in Ohio were enough to get the Meskos to move once
again.
Zoltan had another culture shock in store.
"At first I had to get adjusted to the culture, so
I didn't know who was rooting for who," he said.
"When I first moved near Cleveland, I bought a Pitts-
burgh Steelers jacket because I liked the colors. I
didn't know who the Pittsburgh Steelers were. Guys
were shouting at me 'Go Browns."'
Despite the occasional embarrassing incident,
Zoltan and his family adjusted to American culture
faster and easier than expected. The Meskos's will-
ingness to uproot for the benefit of their son not only
paved the way for a better life for Zoltan, but also
brought on boatloads of praise and respect their way
from Zoltan's peers.
"It's an incredible story," Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr said. "The sacrifices ... that those people were
willing to do to give their son an opportunity, it's
heartwarming."
A light goes out ... and a star is born
Usually a broken light gets you punished. For
Mesko, it got him a new uniform.
That's because in ninth grade, an innocent game of
kickball steered Mesko, then a diehard soccer player,
toward a new sport.
Mesko's fate was determined in gym class one day,
when he tried booting the ball as hard as he could.
"I was playing kickball in the gym one day, and I
knocked down a light and the gym teacher said, 'Well
you have a leg, I'm going to talk to the football coach,'
" Mesko recalled.
The coach talked the strong-footed freshman into
switching sports.
But the words of encouragement from coaches
and faculty weren't what caused Mesko to make the
tough decision.
The bigger influence that swayed Mesko was the
opportunity to play in front of a big crowd.
Mesko, a self-proclaimed ham, said the exposure
he got from football was far greater than that from
soccer.
"That's probably what prompted me first to do
football," Mesko said. "In high school, seeing a co,'-
ple thousand people at the football games on Friday
nights, and during the soccer games, there were only
like 30 people around."
It's only fitting that Mesko chose Michigan, the
school with the nation's largest stadium.
But if you told the kid who grew up in Twinsburg,
Ohio, and idolized Ohio State for his seven years liv-
ing there that he'd choose maize and blue over scarlet
and gray, he'd probably have laughed in your face.
"It was kind of weird, because I grew up an-Ohio
State fan, a diehard," Mesko admitted.
The Buckeye loyalty that seemed ingrained since
Mesko moved to Ohio apparently wasn'tpermanent, as
Carr changed the punter's mind almost immediately.
"I switched my mind within a matter of seconds
when coach Carr offered me a scholarship, and I
accepted right away," said Mesko, who is now enrolled
in Michigan's prestigious Ross School of Business.
"From then on, I became Michigan all the way."
Ohio State offered Mesko a scholarship a few days
after the Wolverines did, but Mesko didn't even con-
sider reneging on his commitment to Michigan.
A humbling experience
After everything Mesko went through during his
trek to the United States, a setback like being red-
shirted wouldn't seem like a big deal.
But for someone as competitive as Mesko, the 2005
season was hard to swallow.
"Coming in, I expected to start," Mesko said. "I
ended up redshirting, and it was really a humbling
experience."
Mesko competed with walk-on Ross Ryan for the
punting duties upon Mesko's arrival at Michigan.
Even though Mesko had all the tools to contribute
right away, the coaching staff didn't feel he was ready
to handle the speed of the game.
"I took it kind of personally at first, but then I was
thinking about it, and the coaches made the right
decision," Mesko said.
Mesko admitted it took him half of the season to
get adjusted to the vast difference between the high
school and college game. He originally struggled try-
ing to handle a quicker rush from the opposition, and
TOP: Punter Zoltan Mesko begins the process of puntingthe ball at Michigan Stadium. After competing for the starting job at the
beginning of the year, Mesko has taken over as starter. BOTTOM: A Michigan student displays the signature 'Z' fans do for Mesko.
had a difficult time getting punts off quickly enough.
Now a redshirt freshman, Mesko relishes the fact
that he'll get three more years to punt'after this sea-
son comes to an end.
"I'm in college, playing for the greatest team, and
I'm loving the experience," Mesko said. "I want to
appreciate every moment that I'm here."
Moving forward
Now, with all of his trials and tribulations behind
him, Mesko has finally found his role on the Michi-
gan football team.
After losingthe job as a true freshman, Mesko rose
to the occasion this season and wrestled the start-
ing punter honors away from Ryan, now a fifth-year
senior.
It was an accomplishment Mesko strived for since
enrolling at Michigan, but was hard to enjoy consid-
ering the circumstances.
"I wanted to be the punter from day one, but it's
kind of hard because Ross is one of my better friends
on the team," Mesko said. "It's kind of hard compet-
ing against him, but you have to separate business
from friendship."
Now that he has the job, Mesko must keep it. Even
with Ryan, a more experienced punter, chomping at
the bit behind him, Mesko has managed to manufac-
ture the results to validate the coaches' decision to
start him.
The 6-foot-4 Mesko averages more than 40 yards
per punt, which puts him in the upper tier of Big Ten
punters. But what's really turning heads in the col-
lege football words is Mesko's ability to bringspecial-
ization to different situations.
"The ability to get the ball high in the air and cover
it and knock some inside the 20 plays to the strength
of our defense," Carr said. "I think it's a very impor-
tant thing as we go forward."
Mesko has always had the leg to boom punts, but
the addition of pooch punting to his repertoire has
made him much more of a dual threat.
"I started using more touch, more than just bomb-
ing every kick," said Mesko, who credits a change of
his grip before punting as the key to his improved
spin control. "I developed this new style of punting
before the Michigan State game, which helped us pin
them down a little bit, avoiding those touchbacks.
I can now be certain that I can check the ball back
inside the ten and help my gunners down it inside."
His maturation on the field has been evident as the
season has progressed. His maturation off the field
had already been noted.
See MESKO, Page 8A
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