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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Bruce Kozerski&#8217;s entry way into the National Football League was as a long snapper.</p><p>When he turned into a really long snapper on his first play in an NFL exhibition game, the 1980 Coughlin graduate feared the opportunity might get away.</p><p>Pat McInally, a 6-foot-6 punter, had no chance as the snap sailed over his head in the preseason game against the Jets in New York.</p><p>&#8220;It was a night game and all day long, I kept telling myself, &#8216;relax, you&#8217;ll be OK&#8217;,&#8221; Kozerski told students Wednesday morning in the Coughlin auditorium. &#8220;If you&#8217;ve never thrown a football 15 yards through your legs, you don&#8217;t realize how difficult that is.</p><p>&#8220;So, I snapped the ball from the 29-yard line and it was a missile. It sailed over his head to the end zone and on one hop it was out of the end zone. As a rookie, I thought, &#8216;I&#8217;m out of here, they&#8217;re going to cut me tomorrow&#8217;.&#8221;</p><p>Instead, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Sam Wyche talked to Kozerski before sending him out for a second chance, which he handled flawlessly.</p><p>The calm reaction to a play that had gone horribly wrong opened a door for Kozerski. He pushed another open when he filled in for injured Max Montoya, making one start in the offensive line as a rookie and putting up a good fight against All-Pro linebacker Andre Tippett.</p><p>Kozerski was on his way in what turned into a long and successful NFL career. It was a career that included a trip to Super Bowl XXIII, an event that was the purpose of his visit Wednesday.</p><p>As part of the buildup to Super Bowl 50, the NFL is presenting golden footballs to the high schools where each player and head coach from the previous 49 Super Bowls got started.</p><p>Kozerski has been working since the summer coordinating the opportunity to make the NFL presentation. After leading Holy Cross, the Covington, Ky. high school football team he coached into the second round of the playoffs, Kozerski coordinated the visit with a holiday trip that includes stops in Wilkes-Barre and in his wife&#8217;s native Massachusetts.</p><p>&#8220;The NFL&#8217;s been brainstorming this event for a long time,&#8221; said Kozerski, a calculus teacher at Holy Cross, a team he led to a 2011 state football championship.</p><p>Kozerski follows Pittston Area graduate Jimmy Cefalo and Montrose graduate Chris Snee in returning to northeastern Pennsylvania to deliver the footballs. His visit included a school assembly on the last day before the holiday break and a chance for him to step on to the auditorium stage that he last visited as a saxophone player in the school band.</p><p>J.P. Meck, John Joseph, and Ted Jackson Sr., three of Kozerski&#8217;s coaches at Coughlin sat in the front row as principal Pat Patte and current football coach Ciro Cinti joined Kozerski for the presentation.</p><p>Kozerski spoke to the students about preparing to make the most of their opportunities &#8211; or in the case of his NFL long snaps, a second chance.</p><p>From Coughlin originally, through his days as a four-year starter at the College of the Holy Cross, to his rocky NFL start in New York, Kozerski launched a career that lasted a dozen years in Cincinnati. By the time he was done, the 6-foot-4, 287-pounder had started at four of the five spots in the offensive line while playing in 172 regular-season games, including 138 starts.</p><p>Kozerski settled into the starting lineup at the start of the 1988 season, his fifth in the NFL. From that point forward, he started his final 118 NFL games, playing either 15 of 16 games in each of the next seven seasons.</p><p>The 1988 Bengals team, with Kozerski at center, had the NFL&#8217;s highest-scoring offense and made it to the Super Bowl January 22, 1989.</p><p>Cinti recalled being a &#8220;Bengals fan that day&#8221; when Cincinnati moved in front of the San Francisco 49ers, 16-13, on a Jim Breech 40-yard field goal with 3:44 left.</p><p>&#8220;Him being there, all of Coughlin was there,&#8221; Cinti said.</p><p>Cinti also remembered that Joe Montana ultimately spoiled the day with a last-minute, 10-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor for a 20-16 victory by the 49ers.</p><p>The memory was more specific for Kozerski, who interjected, that the winning score came with 34 seconds left.</p><p>Given the chance, he might have even been able to recite the other details. Montana, at his best, went 8 for 9 for 97 yards, overcoming a penalty on the game-winning, 92-yard drive.</p><p>In an interview prior to meeting the students, Kozerski said the thin line between winning and losing in the NFL sticks with him through the years.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s an awful lot of memories from that Super Bowl, from the game and from the process of getting there,&#8221; the 53-year-old said. &#8220;The Redskins missed a field goal in the last game of the season for us to clinch the home field throughout the players. I can still see that ball drifting at Riverfront Stadium with the tunnel open, the wind blowing in and the ball drifting off to the right on a kicker (Chip Lohmiller) who never missed field goals.</p><p>&#8220;I remember my son was six months old, Matthew, at the Super Bowl. When it was over, he was on the field with me. It was one of those great moments for my life. I have a picture in Sports Illustrated. &#8230; It&#8217;s quite an image in my mind.&#8221;</p><p>It is one of the memories the NFL is helping players like Kozerski share at their high schools.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Former Cincinnati Bengals football player Bruce Kozerski a Coughlin High School graduate talks with the media prior to presentiing the Coughlin football team with a golden football representing the 50th Anniversary of the NFL Wednesday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TL122415Kozerski1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Former Cincinnati Bengals football player Bruce Kozerski a Coughlin High School graduate talks with the media prior to presentiing the Coughlin football team with a golden football representing the 50th Anniversary of the NFL Wednesday morning. </caption0><photoCredit0>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL122415Kozerski2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Former Cincinnati Bengals football player Bruce Kozerski, a Coughlin High School graduate, poses with Coughlin football team Wednesday morning. Kozerski presented the team with a golden football representing the 50th Anniversary of the NFL. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL122415Kozerski2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Former Cincinnati Bengals football player Bruce Kozerski, a Coughlin High School graduate, poses with Coughlin football team Wednesday morning. Kozerski presented the team with a golden football representing the 50th Anniversary of the NFL. </caption1><photoCredit1>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL122415Kozerski3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Former Cincinnati Bengals football player Bruce Kozerski a Coughlin High School graduate greets members of the Coughlin football team Wednesday morning. Kozerski was at the school to presented the team with a golden football representing the 50th Anniversary of the NFL. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL122415Kozerski3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Former Cincinnati Bengals football player Bruce Kozerski a Coughlin High School graduate greets members of the Coughlin football team Wednesday morning. Kozerski was at the school to presented the team with a golden football representing the 50th Anniversary of the NFL. </caption2><photoCredit2>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Former Bengal and Coughlin grad takes part in Super Bowl 50 celebration</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Robinson</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Former Cincinnati Bengal, Bruce Kozerski makes golden return to Coughlin H.S.