Vlade Janakievski (born April 10, 1957) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

for the

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

Buckeyes. Janakievski was born in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

while it was part of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and moved to the United States with his parents in 1967 at the age of 10. He graduated from Whitehall Yearling high School in 1976, where he was the placekicker on the football team. He was a walk-on player from the soccer team who handled the placekicking duties for the Buckeyes in the 1977-1980 seasons. During Janakievski's career at Ohio State he: # was the first Ohio State kicker to be chosen as an All-Big Ten selection, twice # is second in extra points made in a career (172) # is second in extra points attempted in a career (179) # is second in most consecutive field goals made (15) in 1979-80 season # is third for most kicking points in a career (295) # is tied for third for extra points made in a game (9 against Northwestern in 1978 and 1980) # is tied for third for extra points attempted in a game (9 against Northwestern in 1978 and 1980) # is tied for third for most field goals attempted in a single game (5) against Michigan in 1977 # is fourth for extra points made in a career (41 of 61) # is fourth in most consecutive field goals made (10) in 1978-79 season # is fifth in consecutive extra points, 45-of-46 during the 1980 season # is fifth in the Ohio State record book for points scored in a career with 295 career points # is fifth for extra points attempted in a career (61) # is fifth for field goal percentage in a single season (.857, 18 of 21 in 1979) # is fifth for field goals made in Ohio Stadium (10 in 1978-79 and 10 in 1980) # is seventh for kicking points in a single season (97) # is seventh in consecutive extra points, 44-of-44 in 1977 # is ninth in field goal percentage in a career (.672, 41 of 61) # is tied for ninth for extra points made in a game (8 against Wisconsin in 1979) # Held the OSU scoring record for 1979 (97 points) and 1980 (90) He set these numerous records during his time playing for coaches

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...

and

Earle Bruce Earle Bruce (March 8, 1931 – April 20, 2018) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Tampa (1972), Iowa State University (1973–1978), Ohio State University (1979–1987), the University of N ...

. Janakievski finished his Buckeye career second of the Ohio State's all-time scoring list (behind Pete Johnson), with 179 career points. Nearly 20 years later he remains fifth on that list. Only

Keith Byars Keith Alan Byars (born October 14, 1963) is an American sports broadcaster and former American football fullback in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets. Early life ...

, Dan Stultz, and

Mike Nugent Michael Nugent (born March 2, 1982) is a former American football placekicker. He played college football for Ohio State University, and was twice recognized as a consensus All-American. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the second round o ...

have since surpassed his career total. Janakievski was selected to the

Ohio State Football All-Century Team The Ohio State Football All-Century Team was chosen in early 2000 by the Touchdown Club of Columbus. It was selected to honor the greatest Ohio State Buckeyes football players of the 20th century. No effort was made to distinguish a first team or s ...

in 2000, and was inducted into the

Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame The Ohio State Varsity "O" Hall of Fame is the athletic hall of fame for The Ohio State University. Its purpose is to recognize individuals who have contributed to the honor and fame of the university in the field of athletics. An athlete must hav ...

in 2004. Janakievski currently owns and operates a deli named "Easy Living Deli", located at 1355 W. Lane Ave, Columbus Oh., just a few minutes from The Ohio State University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janakievski, Vlade 1957 births Living people American football placekickers Ohio State Buckeyes football players Macedonian players of American football American people of Macedonian descent Yugoslav emigrants to the United States Ohio State Buckeyes men's soccer players Footballers who switched code Macedonian footballers American soccer players Association footballers not categorized by position Players of American football from Columbus, Ohio Soccer players from Columbus, Ohio People from Franklin County, Ohio