UT Freshman Wins $1.2M With Kick, Gives Half Away

An 18-year-old college freshman just turned two pressure kicks into a $2.2 million windfall, most of it for charity. Connor Kacena-Merrell, an electrical engineering and business major at the University of Texas at Austin, was picked for ESPN's "College GameDay" "Kicking is Easy" contest on Sept. 12. After promising on air to give half his potential winnings to his hometown's Building Tomorrow—the Indianapolis-based nonprofit backs education in East Africa—he missed his first attempt at a 33-yard field goal. Matthew McConaughey pushed for a do-over, with the actor and Kirk Herbstreit kicking in an extra $100,000 each. Kacena-Merrell nailed it, barefoot, notes WTHR: He had worn cowboy boots to the game, and figured he couldn't make it while wearing them. (Watch the kick here.)

Then the stakes got higher. The philanthropic arm of Tito's said it wanted to build upon his impact and pledged another $1 million, split between Building Tomorrow and Central Texas Food Bank, if he could hit a 35-yard kick during a first-quarter break. "I was confident in my abilities because 35, 33 yards is a feasible distance, but when you have 100,000 people in the stadium watching you and then a ton of people like family and friends back home, there's definitely that added pressure," Kacena-Merrell told KXAN. The longtime soccer player managed it on the first try. As for his own cut, it's largely earmarked for tuition and investments, with a summer trip as a possible splurge.