The saying goes that one should never meet their heroes.  The reason being that the person on TV is more often than not, not the person they are in real life.  That’s certainly not the case with former Washington Husky Joe Jarzynka.

The fearless Washington Husky punt returner was larger than life to me. From 1996-1999 he delighted Husky fans with his unmatched on-field versatility—and guts.

Uponmeeting Jarzynka in 2016, he humbly embraced the role of being a huge part of Husky lore.

He loved telling the story of the day he as a small kid from Gig Harbor, Washington walked on the storied Washington Husky Football team.

At one of his first practices a teammate asked him to get him some water.

“I’m 5-7, 175 and I looked more like a waterboy than his teammate,” he recalled.  “I said, ‘I’m a football player,’ and the guy looked me up and down and said, ‘sure you are’.”

He also looked like a movie star—of sorts.  With his legendary flowing shoulder-length blonde mane Jarzynka looked like the character Jeff Spiccoli from the 1980’s teen movie, Fast Times are Ridgemont High.

“I just called him Spiccoli,” said his teammate of one season Jason Chorak.

Even with just the short time they shared the football field, Chorak said that Jarzynka left an indelible mark on him.

“Joe was a special person, it always brought a smile to my face when I heard his voice,” Chorak said.

The two grew up miles from each other.  Jarzynka in Gig Harbor and Chorak on Vashon Island, separated only by Dalco Passage and a short ferry ride.  For the last couple of years the Husky Legends ended up living close to each other again.

“He lived three miles away from me,”  Chorak said.   “He will be missed by many.”

Jarzynka felt early on in his career, as he was not a scholarship player, that if he didn’t play fearlessly he be demoted.

”I wasn’t far from being a water boy already,” he joked.

However, in one game after he fair-caught a punt he looked in front of him and there was a lot of room to run with the ball has he fielded it and ran.

”It well-blocked and I had a lot of green in front of me,” he recalled.  “As I got back to the sideline Lambo (coach Jim Lambright) let me have it.”

In the next day’s next film session Lambright let him have it again.

”He has one of those laser pointers and when he got to the point where I fair caught the ball he stopped the video,” Jarzynka said with his signature smile.  “‘Yellow Brick Road!  YELLOW (expletive)-ing  BRICK ROAD’, Lambo yelled.”

It was that moment that Jarzynka knew his role: be fearless.

”He used the laser pointer on the screen to show me how much room I had,” Jarzynka recalled.

From that point on Jarzynka would blow people away not with his speed but with his guts.

“It’s impossible to describe the buzz that ran through the stadium when he dropped back to return a punt,” said Husky historian Mike Gastineau, and author of the story of UW’s 1991 National Championship season, Fear No Man.  “He wasn’t going to fair catch. He knew it. You knew it. The opposing team knew it. And he almost always pulled it off.”

The faith that Lambright showed in Jarzynka was contagious for his teammates.

”You never knew if your block was going to be the key one to spring him,” said teammate Spencer Marona.  “He was someone you didn’t want to let down.”

But when his Huskies struggling with place kicking he traded in his “Spiccoli” nickname and became “Joe the Toe”,  taking over the place kicking duties for one season.

It wasn’t exactly a new gig for him as he was the kicker for Gig Harbor High School, as well.

He was well-used to triple duty as a defender in one game as a freshman he 9 tackles, a sack, and an interception, and handled the kicking duties.  He also carried the ball 15 times.  The week before he went 3-3 on PATs.

But his skill and guts all came to a head when he returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown against Cal.  After a wild celebration he had to catch his breath in order to kick the extra point.

Had they asked him to bring that water he’d have done that too.

In everything he did, he it fearlessly.  When it came to being a husband and dad he that very seriously.  He happily missed Husky games to cheer on his kids in sports.

Often, in 2022 I’d update him on the score and the big plays as he had family that he was with during several games.  Occasionally, he’d catch highlights on the radio.

And he took having fun very seriously.  Playing guitar, fishing, playing soccer, water sports— he did it all fearlessly.

He told me that when Coach Lambright yelled at him he also freed him.  He was no longer worried about losing a spot because he was the smallest player on the team.

He started 3 off the 30 games he participated in—despite  the team’s kicker for a season he was not officially credited a start in any of those games.

After the Cal game where he returned the punt 91 yards (he had 166 punt return yards that game) he was awarded Special Teams Player of the Week.

In 1997 he converted 19 of 21 PATs and six of eight field goal attempts.

He was also honored by All-Pac-10 as an All-Purpose player following. In 1998 he was voted the team’s MVP.

When Lambright was let go Jarzynka’s kicking days were over and moved to the offensive backfield.  New coach Rick Neuheisel joked that Jarzynka “doesn’t realize that he is
too small to play this game.”

Jarzynka was also nominated as Seattle Male Sports Star of the Year in 1998.

Many teammates have reached out to me with kind word and memories.  Joe was respected and loved by his teammates and family.