The need for a dry shirt on a rainy day back in October ended up getting Missouri freshman Patrick Remis a new truck and more than $120,000 in prizes on New Year's Day.
Remis won the "60 Seconds of Mayhem Sweepstakes" in New Orleans on Tuesday by successfully kicking a 25-yard field goal as time expired. His prize package includes a 2013 Chevrolet Silverado truck, a Tahoe speed boat, a Victory Judge motorcycle and a Forest River Flagstaff V-Lite 32-foot travel trailer.
And the whole thing happened because the Mizzou student wanted a dry shirt before the Missouri-Alabama game on a rainy October afternoon.
"I was just walking around some tailgates and I saw the Allstate booth set up and they said take this little survey and get a free t shirt," Remis said. "I knew it was about to pour that game so I was like, ‘Sure I'll do it for the free t shirt.' I had no idea it was a contest or anything.
"Then about a month ago on December 1st, I was sitting in my dorm room and they called me and said we picked you out of 35,000 people, you and someone else are our winners and you'll be kicking field goals for all these prizes down in New Orleans."
Remis first thought the whole thing was a scam but began realizing it was real when flight and hotel arrangements arrived in his email a short time later. The whole trip was completely free.
Now he just had to learn how to kick. Remis had never attempted a field goal in his life and had never played soccer. He was admittedly facing an uphill climb.
That's until Mizzou punter and kicker Trey Barrow, who competed his senior season with the Tigers in 2012, was put in contact with Remis and agreed to meet with him and give him some pointers. Barrow was the Tigers' punter the last two seasons and went 7-for-9 on field goals and 23-for-23 on extra points in 2011.
The two met multiple times at Devine Pavillion, the Tigers' indoor practice facility, to work on improving his kicking before the contest. And things didn't look good at first.
"His first few kicks weren't very good," Barrow said. "But he got better pretty fast."
The two practiced everything from his footwork, approach, placement of his foot on the ball and even the different ways of getting the ball onto the tee the fastest
"We did some ball striking drills where all you work on is the rotation on the ball and you don't worry about anything else and he picked it up pretty quick," Barrow said.
"He got a lot better actually. We started out doing a two-step field goal because we thought it would be faster, there's less to mess up as far as the mechanics and its just a 25 yard field goal so you shouldn't have any problem getting it there."
But Remis did more than just learn how to kick. He found himself a new friend.
"I give all my credit to Trey," Remis said. "He let me use his lucky cleats. He wore them during his sophomore and junior seasons so I was very honored. I can't give enough credit to him. Without him I'm nothing.
"It's crazy how cool he is. We go out to lunch, go golfing. He has taken me under his wing and it's so weird. He's been so nice. He texts me a lot and asks to go eat. He wants me to film him kicking field goals for NFL teams because that's what he wants to do."
Remis worked his way up to averaging five field goals in 60 seconds during their practice sessions in Columbia. But kicking outside with a brisk wind and about 20,000 people watching him was a different story.
The contest was set up as part of the Sugar Bowl Fan Fest the day before the game. He stood on the right hash and aimed for the same field goal as his opponent, who kicked from the left hash. Each contestant had 60 seconds to make as many 25-yard kicks as possible.
"I told him to stay relaxed and take some deep breaths and not worry about anything but that one focus point on the ball that he should be worried about," Barrow said of some last-minute advice. "Just keep your head down and look at that spot the whole time.
"I don't know what happened. He made six before in a minute so I knew he had a really good shot."
Things got off to a rough start for Revis, who struggled with the blustery conditions and missed his first several kicks. Luckily, his opponent continued to miss as well.
"I was actually getting great height and everything but the distance was just off," Remis said. "It just felt so much deeper than I practiced. Then with ten seconds left, I hit a perfect one, great height, length and everything, but it went to the right and I was like, 'Oh, dang.'
"So I said, ‘OK, I have five seconds left, just calm down, you can do this.' I stepped back and hit it and as the buzzer went off, the ball crept over the left corner. I won in the last second, literally as the buzzer went off the ball was creeping over the crossbar."
The final make was the only successful kick of the contest for either finalist. The final score was 1-0. And Barrow was the first person to find out.
"I was just sitting there waiting," Barrow said. "I couldn't look it up or anything. I told him to text me right afterward and he did and I was really excited for him. I felt like a proud coach. He's a good guy. We have a good friendship."
In addition to winning the truck, boat, motorcycle and RV, Remis won two tickets to Monday's BCS National Championship and a VIP tour with college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit. He plans to take his dad.
But the ultimate prize may have been his newly formed friendship with Barrow. In a text message to FOXSportsMidwest.com after being interviewed, Remis said, "Just make sure you praise Trey and talk about his future workouts and stuff, too."
Remis plans to film Barrow kicking in the near future and help send the tape to NFL teams. It's his turn to return the favor.
