Collegian Magazine: How were you able to become a lawyer while still kicking in the NFL?

Chris Bahr: I went to law school in the off-seasons, basically. And I went to occasional classes during the season. There are certain classes that are fall/spring sequence -- so I had to take them at night.

CM: What law schools did you go to?

CB: I started at Chase Law school in Northern Kentucky (while playing for Cincinnati) and then I finished the second half out at Southwestern, so I graduated from Southwestern in Los Angeles (while playing for the Raiders).

CM: How long did that take you?

CB: It took me 4½ years of actual schooling; it took me 5½ years from the time I started. I missed a year; when I transferred I only took one class over the course of the year.

CM: Did you think Penn State prepared you well to go to law school?

CB: Well, I was a biology major, (laughter), so I don't know. Yeah, I mean the schooling certainly prepared me. I didn't go to law school until four years after I left (Penn State), and I had no intentions originally of going to law school. So I can't say I prepared for it while I was in college.

CM: Why did you go to law school?

CB: I went to law school because I was unsure of what I wanted to do and I didn't want to waste all of the off-season. Ken Anderson, the quarterback at Cincinnati was just finishing up school at the time I was playing at Cincinnati. I went over and talked to the dean there. I actually went to law school just to keep busy, originally. In essence it was out of boredom, out of fear of letting everything slip away. You can play too easy in the offseason and you can do nothing. You've made enough money during the season. Law school pretty much kept my feet on the ground.

CM: How did you land a job here at Mitinger?

CB: I talked to Bob (Mitinger) about a year ago when I bought the house here; he helped me close on the house. I kind of offhandedly said I was looking for a job. He said when you are ready to look, come talk to me.

CM: Is this your first law job?

CB: Not really. I worked some of the off-seasons in California. I was licensed in California in 1986. Now, I consider myself a "new" lawyer. My duties here (at Mitinger) are basically whatever they put on my desk. I'm getting my feet wet in Pennsylvania law; we've done a little bit of criminal work.

CM: What lured you back to State College?

CB: I like the area. I talked about it for a number of years, coming back and maybe getting some property and just moving back here and trying it. I was able to find some land (in Boalsburg) and move back with my family.

CM: How has Penn State and State College changed since you were here? Did you come back intermittently?

CB: Not as much as I would have liked to, but you know, more than anything else, (the biggest change) is the increase in people. There's certainly a lot more development around. There seem to be more people in the town that aren't connected with the University today as opposed to when I was here. Having spent the last seven years in Los Angeles, it still looks like a small town. I haven't noticed the growth as much because of where I've been. I know there are certain buildings that weren't here before, but I haven't noticed that much.

CM: I'd like to switch the subject, to the student-athlete. First, what was your situation at Penn State? How were you able to coordinate the academics with your play on the soccer and football fields?

CB: For football and soccer teams; you travel on the weekends. Anybody that tells you they don't have enough time to do their school work because of playing a sport are lying! I mean, it's because they (athletes) choose to, when they are not playing, have a good time as opposed to taking a little time for studying. There's plenty of time to do everything.

CM: What can be done to improve this situation?

CB: There's not a whole lot you can do in the big-time athletics. I think the smaller programs tend to have a better graduation rate, but in the big-time athletic programs, a lot of these kids are coming to school with one idea. And that's to prepare themselves to play professional football, baseball or basketball. The sad thing about it is, very few of them get to do that. So they are basically cheating themselves. I don't know that raising the standards will necessarily correct it; any student can skate through school if they want to. I don't care who you are. It doesn't matter if you play a sport or not.

CM: Now, when you came to school, did you have a professional football or soccer career in mind?

CB: I never really thought about it one way or the other. I always conducted myself in sports with the idea to just enjoy it while I'm playing. Things just happened to work out. I guarantee you, I never thought about professional football until after my junior year.

CM: The college recruiting process is a very controversial area in intercollegiate athletics. Many say that the situation has gotten way out of hand. What do you think is wrong with it, if anything?

CB: The recruiting has gotten out of hand to some extent, but what's gotten out of hand is the NCAA enforcement of certain rules and regulations; I mean, some of the rules and regulations seem to be so archaic, that they need some revamping of the system. When you can't lend a kid $150 so he can go home to see his parents on the holidays, and he can't get there, something is wrong. Or you can't help him out and buy him a pair of shoes. It's different when they are getting bought Trans-Ams and Corvettes. You have to enforce that. But some of the rules are so crazy that nobody can comply with them or you could put every school in this country on probation.

CM: I was looking through past Collegians and I read that one time immediately after a soccer game in 1973, you took a charter flight from the soccer game to a football game. I know there are a lot of two-sport athletes today, but how did you manage to play two sports during the same season?

CB: Well, kicking was a position I didn't practice as much as other players. Even my last year there, when I was there full-time; I kicked the football maybe ten minutes a day. When I was playing the two, I'd leave soccer practice a few minutes early and come over for the last 15 minutes of football practice; we'd do the kicking at the end.

CM: Who brought up the idea of you trying to kick for Joe Paterno's team?

CB: It was brought up when I was being recruited out of high school (Neshaminy, Pa.). I was looking for a school where I would be able to do both.

CM:What was it like playing soccer for your dad (Coach Walter Bahr) and with your brother Matt?

CB: I had always wanted to play for my dad later on. To me, it was no different than any other coach other than I thought he knew more than other people.

CM: How did your dad influence you?

CB: I don't know. I guess any influence he had on us growing up was something we were never aware of. He obviously taught us things, and obviously probably all we know playing soccer was from him. We never knew we were getting taught or influenced so to speak. I guess the fact that he let us play was the biggest thing he did.

CM: How was the transition from the college football game to the pro game?

CB: The biggest transition that you have going from college to professional as a kicker, is in college, a kicker can be important, in terms of public perspective. In the NFL, no matter what you do, you are just a kicker. And also that's what you are kicking for, money as opposed to the glory of Old State. It affects more people, so you are a little more aware of that. That's the maturity. I know I struggled a little bit the first year.

CM: Here's a hypothetical situation: You're kicking a field goal, late in the game at RFK Stadium in Washington, in front of 50,000 loud fans who all want to see you miss. You need the three points to tie and you're 43 yards out. How would you deal with the pressure mentally and physically?

CB: Same as the way you'd prepare for one 20 yards in the first quarter with the score tied. Just go out and block out everything else and concentrate on just making a good swing at the ball. And relying on the fact that you've done it thousands of times in practice and you want to duplicate a swing.

CM: How were you able to overcome the nerves?

CB: I'm not sure that you overcome them. I think if you come in with that temperament, that you're going to be a nervous person you don't. Because as a kicker, you don't ever get that chance to alleviate the nerves by hitting somebody. In kicking it's always the beginning of the game when you go out. I don't know that you can develop a temperament for it. Sometimes, people get hot and that helps alleviate some of the tension, but as soon as it goes bad, it's right back there. My (temperament) was fairly even-keeled. I don't think I let the bad kicks affect me that much and I don't know that I let the good kicks affect me that much either. I think you have to be that way. Look at my brother Matt's reaction (after he kicked that winning kick versus San Francisco). There's none. Mine probably would have been a bit different.

CM: Would you say your two careers have paralleled each other?

CB: We've done virtually the same thing. We did the same thing in high school, we did the same thing in college, we did the same thing of one year of professional soccer, and than we went on to football.

CM: Moving back to your NFL career to the Raiders, where you enjoyed the prime of your career. Let's go to the Super Bowl, your first one in Super Bowl XV against the Eagles. Describe your emotions before kicking off in front of the millions in the TV audience.

CB: People never bothered me. The only people that make you nervous are the people on your own sideline that you don't want to let down. I think we are all showmen; the more people, the better I play. We're all showoffs to a certain extent. The larger the crowd, the better I'd play, the bigger the game, the better I played, which was a bad habit of mine, not concentrating all the time.

CM: Describe some of the Raiders.

CB: They were a group of characters. Plunkett, Hendricks, Matuzsak, Lester Hayes. They were different guys. We were a team of 45 different people and they never tried to clone us. Look at our boss (Al Davis). He lives, sleeps and walks a Raider. He likes to think that once you're a Raider you're always a Raider, and I don't know that that's too far off.

CM: How did you feel after you won the two World Championships?

CB: Having played on championship teams; that kind of hits you later on, like weeks, months later. After the game, to me, I was just happy that it was over. It was fun to be the focus of attention for a week.

CM: After your year in San Diego, when did you make the decision that your NFL career was probably going to come to a close?

CB: I haven't made it yet. I would still like to play. I think I can still play, but it's not going to kill me if I don't. I just want someone to take a look.

CM: What advice would you give to current kickers, let's say Penn State's Craig Fayak. What kind of advice would you give to him?

CB: Oh, I don't know. That's a question, people ask me all of the time. I'm not sure there's any answer for it. He (Fayak) turned into a better kicker. I really don't have any advice for him other than to not take it too seriously.

CM: How would you like to be remembered by the NFL?

CB: I'd like to think that people thought I was good in the clutch, you know, good when the pressure is on. I really don't care -- like everybody else, they'll forget me. I was a part of some great teams.