Noel Prefontaine (born December 23, 1973) is a professional Canadian football punter / kicker with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.

[edit] Early years

Prefontaine ("Pre") was born to a Canadian father and a Vietnamese mother at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. His father was born and raised in Verdun, Quebec and Noel lived with his grandmother in Verdun as a child, which enables him to be considered a non-import for CFL purposes. He returned to the United States and attended El Camino High School in San Diego County, California.^[1]

Pre played baseball, soccer, and played offensive tackle in American football as a child and continually trained himself to improve as an athlete and at high school, he played quarterback as well as punting and placekicking.^[1] He was named San Diego Tribune Athlete of the Year for North County as a senior and led El Camino High School to a 22–2 record and a CIF Championship as their starting quarterback.^[2]

Prefontaine hoped to find play quarterback in college football but could only obtain a scholarship as a punter at California State University, Fullerton. His punting average led the state his first season but the football program folded at the end of the season and Pre had offers to play for multiple college football teams including Michigan, Michigan State, Georgia, LSU, and Texas but chose to go to Arizona State University because it was close to his family and friends. He was unhappy there, however, and left to go to San Diego State University. After a required redshirt year because of his transfer, he was named All-Conference as a punter in his junior year and first-team All-American as a punter in his senior year.^[1]

[edit] Professional career

Prefontaine began his CFL career in 1998 with the Toronto Argonauts and spent the next ten seasons with them before getting traded to the Edmonton Eskimos on May 31, 2008 for a first round pick in the 2009 CFL Draft and a conditional draft pick in 2010.^[3][4]

In 2001, Prefontaine also played in the XFL with the Los Angeles Xtreme as their punter/kicker. He went on to play in the one and only XFL championship game on April 21, 2001 with the Xtreme, with his team ultimately winning the championship.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Stats and bio at CFL.ca
• Prefontaine's Eskimos biography
• Prefontaine's Argonauts biography
• One on one with Noel Prefontaine (Slam.ca article)