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A
Golden Bear
by Kelly L. Martinez
The
University of California at Berkeley has built a reputation for
being a melting pot of liberal ideas and even more liberal behavior.
Berkeley’s extant liberal mindset has survived the wear of
time and, in some ways, is more liberal than ever. A returned missionary,
it could be assumed, would not find Berkeley appealing, yet, that
is exactly where returned missionary and current place-kicker Mark-Christian
Jensen is making an imprint in the sporting world.
A Road
Less Traveled
Mark-Christian
Jensen’s road to Berkeley began on July 11, 1976 in Oregon
City, Ore. The fourth of six children, he was born to Lee and Pia
Jensen, who also are parents to Christopher, 30, Shawn, 29, Kristy,
24, Lena, 21, and Dane, 15.
The Jensen family
is a sports-oriented unit. Christopher played collegiate basketball
at William & Mary for two seasons then transferred to the University
of Utah, where he played one season before opting to forego his
senior season of eligibility. Dane won the Utah state high school
golf title as a freshman in 2001 and Lee, the Jensen patriarch,
played semi-pro basketball in Europe.
From Oregon, the family
– who lived for a short time in Denmark, Pia’s native
country – moved to Salt Lake City when Mark was 13. A couple
of years later, the family relocated once again, this time about
35 miles south of Salt Lake to Pleasant Grove, Utah.
In addition to football,
Mark played basketball and soccer early in high school, but opted
for life on the gridiron the better he got at booting the pigskin.
By his senior year, football was the only sport he competed in.
As a junior, Mark kicked
a 32-yard field goal that earned Pleasant Grove High the state’s
4-A championship. He was named to the all-region first team after
that season and, as a senior, earned all-state and all-region first
team recognition.
Flying
the Hive
Though
he enjoyed playing high school football in Utah, he did not want
to play college football in the Beehive State. “My father
lived in the (northern California) Bay Area,” said Mark. “He
raised us to be 49ers and Giants fans. I have always loved the Bay
Area.” It was that love of the Bay that kept Berkeley in his
college football plans.
Things weren’t
so clear-cut for Mark in the decision-making process of which school
to choose. He was being offered scholarships by several Division
I schools and was very excited at the expectance of taking his kicking
game to the next level.
Mission:
Possible
After his senior season, Mark, for the first time, began to wonder
about serving a mission. “I had been taught all of my life
that a mission was something I should do when I turned 19,”
he said. “However, earning a college scholarship to play football
was something I had worked a very long time for. I didn’t
want to give that up to go and do something I wasn’t 100 percent
sure was right. I fasted and prayed earnestly until I felt like
I received an answer. Once I felt that confirmation, there was no
looking back. A mission was what the Lord wanted me to do at that
time.”
With his decision firmly
made, Mark informed every school that recruited him that he would
be serving a mission instead of playing football for the next two
years. Most of the schools told him to contact them upon his return.
Mark received his mission
call to the Leipzig Germany Mission during spring break of his senior
year in high school. He left for his mission in July, 1995, merely
weeks after his high school graduation.
While in Germany, Elder
Jensen attended a regional conference in Berlin where President
Gordon B. Hinckley spoke. Pres. Hinckley held a missionary-only
fireside while there and the impression left on Elder Jensen has
lasted to this day. “It was the first time I had ever been
in the same room as the prophet,” he said. “The Spirit
was so strong at that meeting. I had a testimony of the prophet
before then, but to be able to hear and see him firsthand was such
an awesome experience.”
A Change
of Heart
 When
Mark returned from his mission in July, 1997, his stand on not playing
college football in Utah had changed. Impressed with the images
painted by his mission companions that had attended BYU prior to
serving, Mark enrolled at BYU for the fall semester. Not wanting
to lose any athletic eligibility, and realizing that he was in no
shape to begin competing so soon after his mission, Mark decided
to focus on his studies only. At the time, the Cougars had a kicker
that was doing well but was undecided about a mission. Eventually,
the kicker opted not to serve and it became clear to Mark that he
would be on the bench for the next three seasons if he stayed in
Provo.
While at BYU, Mark maintained
contact with Cal’s head coach Tom Holmoe. He went to Berkeley
for a visit and realized right away that it was where he belonged.
He dropped out of BYU in the spring of 1998 and began working to
save up money. He went to Berkeley that summer as a walk-on and
chose to redshirt that season.
“I was just terrible,”
he recalled. “I hadn’t kicked a football for nearly
three years at that point. I really struggled to get back into the
form that I was in high school. It was a real test for me.”
Told by his teammates
that he would never kick for the team, Mark endured ridicule while
working through the frustration of trying to regain his form. “I
never doubted myself,” he said. “But I had certain expectations
for myself and was not meeting them.”
He worked hard and, still
without a scholarship, earned a starting spot on the kickoff team
his redshirt freshman season in 1999. Two other kickers were on
scholarship that season and were sharing the field goal and PAT
kicking duties. Happy to be on the field regularly, Mark never questioned,
believing he would eventually get his chance at placekicking. That
chance came during the fifth game of the 1999 season ... against
BYU in Provo.
Hometown
Debut to Success
The
kicking duo for Cal that season was a combined 1-for-6 in field
goal attempts during the first four games of the 1999 season and
had missed a field goal attempt early in the BYU game. Holmoe put
Mark in the game.
“The first
game I had the chance to kick a field goal or PAT,” he recalled,
“was in front of my hometown crowd; in front of my friends,
family and high school coaches. It was just an amazing story. One
that was meant to be.”
 BYU
won that game, but it was the start of Mark’s reign as the
starting kicker for the Golden Bears – a position he has held
ever since. In spite of his success, Mark was not awarded a scholarship
until after his sophomore season in 2000 – over a year after
his placekicking debut.
His career at Cal has
produced some very impressive achievements. In 2001, he was named
to the All Pac-10 honorable mention team, making 11-of-14 field
goal attempts and 22-of-22 PAT tries. Additionally, he earned All
Academic Pac-10 honorable mention status. This season, he has connected
on 11-of-14 field goal attempts (including a 51-yarder), 32-of-32
PAT attempts and is one of the nation’s top scorers.
Currently, he is seventh
on the all-time scoring list at Cal and holds five all-time Golden
Bear kicking records. Amongst them are: most field goals in a game,
most PAT’s in a game and most consecutive PAT’s. He
earned a bachelor’s degree in international studies in three
years and has been pursuing a graduate degree in education since.
From
Blind Date to Eternal Mate
 Mark
and his wife of four months, the former Kelly Anderson, met on a
blind date. Mark’s sister-in-law’s sister was a close
friend of Kelly’s. Combining their matchmaking abilities,
connections were made and Mark began corresponding with Kelly on
the phone during the fall of 2001. Their first date was during early
December, 2001, and their engagement was announced in early January
of this year. The couple was sealed for time and all eternity in
the Salt Lake Temple on June 18, 2002, and were immediately called
to serve in their new ward’s nursery in Berkeley.
“I’ve never
been a Primary teacher,” Mark said. “To see the love
the kids have for life and for each other is so much fun.”
Kelly, an accomplished
businesswoman, gave up her graduate studies at BYU and the business
that she and her sister ran together to become Mrs. Jensen, a fact
that puts Mark in awe of his bride. “You can see,” he
added, “that when I met Kelly, I was just blown away by what
a truly wonderful woman she is.”
In Closing
...
To
LDS athletes that are struggling with whether to serve a mission
or not, Mark added, “Going on a mission was the best decision
I had made to that point in my life. It’s helped make me who
I am now. I wouldn’t be as successful as a kicker or as a
person if I had not served a mission.”
To LDS athletes that
are struggling to find their place, Mark advises to always remember
who you are and what you believe in. “Through athletics,”
he said, “you’re afforded many wonderful opportunities;
but you’re also put into challenging situations. Just remember
what you’ve been taught and what you believe in. When you
have a testimony of the gospel, it changes your whole outlook on
life and of what is and isn’t important.”
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© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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