Football Across Minnesota: Chip Lohmiller, our most-famous kicker, now plays quarterback

FOOTBALL ACROSS MINNESOTA | Week 2

CROSSLAKE, MINN. – Chip Lohmiller’s office features no football memorabilia. There’s not even a hint he was once an All-State kicker at Woodbury High, an all-Big Ten performer for the Gophers and an All-Pro selection in the NFL for Washington.

His desk doesn’t include photos of his magical moments at the old Metrodome — a 62-yard field goal against Iowa in 1986 (a Gophers record) and three field goals in Super Bowl XXVI to help Washington secure a 37-24 championship over Buffalo.

That was a different time in his life. Back then, he was Chip Lohmiller, the kicker.

Today, he’s Chief Lohmiller, fire chief of Crosslake in the Brainerd Lakes Area.

“It’s everybody’s dream: playing professional football and being a fireman,” he says. “I’m living it.”

He joined the Crosslake Fire Department in 1997 only months after calling an end to his nine-year NFL career. His father had been a firefighter, and he felt that same calling.

Now 58, Lohmiller has climbed the ranks to full-time chief overseeing a department of 25 paid on-call firemen. He also owns a company that trains firefighters across Minnesota. Lohmiller and his 54 instructors teach 30 to 40 classes per week in the winter.

Lohmiller also serves on the Minnesota All Hazards Incident Management Team, providing logistical assistance in special events such as natural disasters and civil unrest.

He has traded one uniform for another, but he finds commonalities in his two careers.

“The adrenaline rush and the team aspect,” he says. “I have a passion for fire like I had a passion for football.”

* * *

His passion for kicking took root in the front yard of his childhood home in Woodbury. The property had pine trees separated roughly the same distance as uprights on a goal post. The family lived on a corner lot, which allowed Lohmiller to line up 50 yards back and work on kicking footballs between the two pines.

His dad would catch them and toss them back. Over and over, hours at a time.

“It’s kind of like hitting a good drive when you golf,” he says.

Lohmiller was known for his leg strength. Former Iowa coach Hayden Fry was standing near midfield during warmups before the 1986 battle for Floyd of Rosedale. Lohmiller was hitting field goals from 65 yards, which caught Fry’s attention.

“He was like, ‘You’re not going to do this to us, are you?’” Lohmiller says.

He did, right before halftime on a 62-yarder. That record-setting kick came one week after Lohmiller’s 30-yard field goal at the buzzer gave the Gophers a 20-17 win over No. 2 Michigan in front of 104,864 stunned fans at the Big House.

“It was dead silent after I kicked,” he said.

His calm under pressure and big leg convinced Washington to select Lohmiller with the No. 55 overall pick in the 1988 draft.

Washington was coming off a Super Bowl win with a star-studded roster that included Doug Williams, Art Monk, Darrell Green and The Hogs. The Hogs was a nickname given to Washington’s offensive linemen. They became famous and beloved during Washington’s Super Bowl years. The Hogs were tough dudes.

Lohmiller’s first practice after being drafted began with field goals. The Hogs had their trucks parked along a fence near the field. Lohmiller worried he might hit the vehicles with his kicks. His coaches didn’t share his concern until …

“One after another landing on their trucks,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m like, this is a great way to meet The Hogs. I got a lot of grief from them on that.”

They came to love him. Lohmiller was such a good athlete that coach Joe Gibbs allowed him to play scout team quarterback in some 7-on-7 drills. The Hogs invited Lohmiller into their circle and included him in social gatherings.

“I was their driver,” he says. “I was the young rookie. It was so much fun.”

One of his lowest moments came that rookie season in a 24-23 home loss to the Giants. Lohmiller missed an extra point in the first quarter, then a 36-yard field-goal attempt with less than three minutes left.

He leaned on something he learned from his grandmother, great-aunt and Gophers coach Lou Holtz: Positive imagery. He prepared for games by visualizing kicks in different scenarios splitting the uprights.

“If you don’t believe in yourself,” he says, “you’re not going to accomplish anything.”

He made the Pro Bowl three years later. He flew to Hawaii for the game the morning after kicking two field goals in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl win in his hometown.

Positive imagery and endless hours kicking balls between pine trees had paid off.

* * *

Lohmiller had “a million different things in my head” when he retired from football in the late 1990s. He joined the fire department, started a property management company and coached high school football.

He had purchased a cabin in Crosslake early in his pro career after visiting the area multiple times with a college teammate. He served as head coach at Pequot Lakes from 2004-17, guiding the Patriots to the only state tournament appearances in school history in 2009 and 2017. They lost in the Class 3A semifinals in ‘17.

“[Coaching] was a blast,” he says.

Life got hectic balancing different jobs and a family. He devoted himself to being a firefighter.

Crosslake has 2,500 full-time residents and swells to 10,000 people on summer weekends. The fire department received around 50 calls a year in Lohmiller’s first year, 1997. In 2009, the call volume increased to 140 calls. They average 600 calls a year now, the majority of those requiring medical attention. The call load includes assisting neighboring towns.

House fires have become less common as older cabins have been knocked down and replaced by modern lake homes with better protection.

“I could say my fire prevention is just great,” Lohmiller says with a laugh.

Lohmiller’s expertise shows as he explains the different functions of each engine and piece of equipment. A main duty of his today is coordinating firefighters at a scene “like a quarterback.” He assigns tasks and roles and goes through a checklist to make sure “everything is going correctly and that nobody gets hurt. Everybody’s got to go home.”

His football career occasionally comes up when he’s out in public. He was doing a home inspection recently when the owner remembered him as the Gophers kicker. They talked about Saturday’s rivalry game against Iowa for a few minutes.

Back in his office at the station, Lohmiller finds a few of his greatest kicks on YouTube, per a guest’s request. He keeps his football memorabilia in storage. The videos are the only traces of his career found in here.

He watches the 62-yarder against Iowa, the game-winner against Michigan and the game-winner against Philadelphia as a rookie in ‘88.

The wind was howling that December day. Lohmiller drilled a 44-yarder into the wind at the buzzer to give Washington a 20-19 win over its rivals. He chuckles as he watches the ball cut through the wind and split the uprights.

“That was one of my favorites,” he says.

He closes YouTube and heads back into the firehouse. The building is quiet, but the next call for help could come at any time.

. . .

WEEKEND REWIND

The five best things we saw on social media this weekend:

“This football team is not a joke.”

— Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell after his team opened eyes with 23-17 win over the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers to improve to 2-0.

. . .

UP NEXT

Gophers vs. Iowa, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Huntington Bank Stadium. Floyd of Rosedale is up for grabs. The rivals are meeting in the Big Ten opener instead of late in the season. And just a hunch that the phrase “invalid fair catch signal” will be mentioned once or perhaps a million times this week.

. . .

DAILY DELIVERY + FAM

Each week this season, my colleague Michael Rand and I will talk FAM together and post our chat to YouTube. This week, I shared more about my visit with Chip Lohmiller in Crosslake. Watch our video right here.

. . .

A FAM FINAL WORD

The Gophers have posted consecutive shutouts and the Vikings are swarming all over the field in defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ creative, aggressive scheme. It’s enjoyable watching a defense wreck an offense’s game plan.

. . .

Thank you for reading Football Across Minnesota (FAM), my weekly column that tours football topics in our state from preps to pros. I’ll publish this column on Tuesday mornings. I appreciate feedback, so please reach out anytime. Thanks again — Chip (@chipscoggins on X; email me at anthony.scoggins@startribune.com)

. . .

Want more Football Across Minnesota? Read Week 1′s column right here.