KICKING AROUND

The kicker from Birmingham High was a little teed off.

John Wall thought he had signed a letter of intent to play this fall at San Jose State.

He had a copy of it. San Jose State had a copy. It was a deal.

But something was missing.

There was no attachment detailing the school’s commitment to Wall.

Such omissions can prove costly, as San Jose State has learned.

With only a one-sided agreement, Wall was not bound to the pact, which called for him to walk on at San Jose State and possibly earn a scholarship next spring.

When that became clear, USC and Fresno State offered scholarships. Only then did San Jose State offer him one. Wall said the coaches previously told him there were none available.

“Suddenly, they had a scholarship,” said Wall, who will play tonight in the first CaliFlorida All-Star football game at the Rose Bowl. “That kind of bothered me.”

Wall accepted the offer from USC, which struggled with its kicking game last season.

“Looking at everything now, I’m very happy,” he said. “I’m glad things worked out the way they did.”

As a junior at Birmingham, Wall led the nation with 15 field goals and built a reputation as one of the Southland’s best long-range kickers.

Of his 24 career field goals, 19 were at least 40 yards. He kicked four from at least 50 yards. In practice, he once connected from 65 yards.

“He’s probably the best high school kicker I’ve ever seen,” said Dave Lertzman, his former coach at Birmingham. “I don’t think he’s reached his potential yet.”

Wall had few opportunities to show his ability as a senior, playing for a team that finished 2-8 and was winless in the West Valley League.

He was seven for 12 and averaged a region-best 41.8 yards as a punter.

Not bad for a 5-foot-8 kid who was not even allowed to play football until his sophomore year, when Lertzman recruited him off the soccer team.

“He’s not very big,” said Jodi Knapp, Wall’s mother. “I didn’t want him to get smooshed.”

Knapp knows a little about football. Wall’s father, also named John Wall, was an All-City quarterback at Birmingham in 1969.

He died of liver disease when his son was about 11.

It would be difficult to find a more well-rounded athlete in the region.

He was only the third Birmingham player ever to be selected All-City in consecutive seasons, and he accomplished that in football and as a goalkeeper in soccer.

A B-plus student, Wall is fluent in sign language, is a member of the International Thespian Society, works as a guard at a roller-skating rink and hopes to restore a 1957 Chevrolet.

“Sometimes, I don’t have time to do everything,” Wall said. “But I don’t want to miss out on life. I don’t ever want to look back and regret opportunities missed.”

While classmates took Spanish and other language classes, Wall followed the lead of his older sister, Tami, who studied sign language.

He has volunteered as an interpreter for the many deaf athletes who competed for Birmingham’s track and field team, often communicating between them and coaches and officials.

Wall believes he benefited from the experience as much as the deaf athletes.

“It gave me a chance to learn a lot about a different culture,” he said. “I feel now like I have a better understanding about what they have to go through and how they live.”

At an airport recently, Wall witnessed a deaf woman struggling to communicate with a ticket agent. He stepped in and helped.

Wall was also a member of a Birmingham drama group that finished third among 50 Southland high schools in a Shakespearean festival. He played multiple parts during the group’s performance of a scene from Macbeth.

An avid reader of hot rod magazines, Wall helps his stepfather, Hank Knapp, restore a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

That ’57 Chevy still might be in Wall’s future, but he’ll have to settle for his 1990 Toyota Tercel to get him to USC.

Gene Vollnogle, California’s coach in the CaliFlorida game, originally had no interest in Wall as a member of his team.

UCLA-bound kicker-punter Chris Kluwe was already committed to the game and played for Vollnogle at Los Alamitos High. Last month, Kluwe kicked the game-winning field goal for California against Texas in the Shrine game.

“Kluwe was going to do everything,” said Vollnogle, who has served as an assistant the last nine seasons at Los Alamitos. “I told the [organizers], ‘Well, does [Wall] understand he’s going to be on the bench with me? Because Kluwe is the best damn kicker in the nation.”

During practice this week, Wall has earned admirers, including Vollnogle and Kluwe.

Wall will handle the kickoffs tonight, with Kluwe doing the punting. They will alternate on extra points, but Kluwe is likely to get the call for field goals.

“Wall is good,” Vollnogle said. “I didn’t expect anybody that good.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

* WHAT: California vs. Florida All-Star game

* WHEN: Today

* WHERE: Rose Bowl

* KICKOFF: 7 p.m.

* TV: Fox Sports Net 2

* PLAYERS TO WATCH: Patrick Norton of Hart (linebacker); Manuel White of Valencia (tailback); Matt Cassel of Chatsworth (quarterback); Scott Vossmeyer of Crescenta Valley (quarterback); James Bethea of Cleveland (defensive back); Keary Colbert of Hueneme (receiver); John Wall of Birmingham (kicker); Adrian Ayala of St. Bonaventure (offensive line); Steve Nevarez of San Fernando (offensive line); Gregg Guenther of Taft (defensive end).

D.J. WILLIAMS IS CREAM OF CALIFORNIA CROP

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