Sports feeds
E-mail sports alerts
DDN sports mobile
Sports TwitterFrugal punter thankful for his old truck
Larson's 1994 vehicle is symbolic of his reputation as 'Cheapest Bengal.'
Thursday, November 22, 2007
CINCINNATI — GMC Denalis, Cadillac Escalades, Hummers and other expensive luxury vehicles populate the Cincinnati Bengals players parking lot at Paul Brown Stadium.
And then there's Kyle Larson's 1994 faded blue-and-silver Chevy S-10 pickup truck with the Nebraska plates.
Extras
Which brings us to Thanksgiving Day. The Bengals' fourth-year punter from Funk, Neb., is thankful for his job, his wife and his meager means of transportation. He calls his truck "ol' faithful" because it gets him where he wants to go — home and the stadium.
"That Chevy pickup's been good to me over the years," Larson said. "I imagine it'll go out on me one of these days. But until it does, there's no use getting rid of it. I like it. It's nice and broken in."
Former Cincinnati safety Kevin Kaesviharn carried the banner as the "Cheapest Bengal" until he bolted to New Orleans in free agency. He'd make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at training camp and always stayed holed-up in his hotel room on the road.
"Now it's Kyle Larson," defensive end Justin Smith said. "He still drives his old truck from college and lives ... I'd call it real responsible, but a lot of other guys would call it cheap."
Word around the locker room is that Larson banks three of every four paychecks.
"I try to think about the future," he said. "Down the road, my wife (Lindsay) and I want to have kids some day. All that kind of stuff takes money, and it's best to put it in the bank."
Larson may be cheap, but he's smart. And his teammates believe he's worth emulating.
"When he gets his paycheck, it's not a chance for him to go buy something nice," kicker Shayne Graham said. "He puts it away. He's a guy that when he's got a family and he's got things to take care of down the road, he'll have it. He'll never have to worry about that account being overdrawn."
Long-snapper Brad St. Louis smiles when asked about Larson, who is averaging 42.2 yards per punt and has dropped nine of 37 kicks inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
"Kyle is probably the nicest guy in the NFL," he said. "The guy's from Funk, Neb. That's just him. I wouldn't expect anything else. It's kind of cool just to be at your roots — to be comfortable with yourself. Some guys would be embarrassed. But he's from the Midwest. That's just what your roots are."
Kyle Larson file
Position: Punter
College: Nebraska
Height/weight: 6-1, 204
Season: Fourth
Noteworthy: Averages 42.2 yards (34.0 net) on 37 attempts, with nine inside-the-20 punts. In 2006, he broke into the NFL's top 10 in two major categories, ranking fifth in net (38.6) and eighth in gross (44.5). His 26 punts inside the 20 were a personal best.
