Dallas Clark, John Dutton, and Jay Novacek are some of the most notable NFL alumni from South Dakota, but the legendary kicker Adam Vinatieri has to hold the crown as the Mount Rushmore State's best NFL player to date. Vinatieri is also the second kicker to make our 50 greatest NFL player list from state to state. Vinatieri is responsible for making some of the most crucial field goals in NFL history and is arguably the greatest NFL placekicker of all-time. The future Hall of Fame kicker from Yankton, South Dakota began his college football in his home state at South Dakota State and later transferred to San Diego State where he holds the school's all-time leading points record with a total of 185.
After going undrafted in the 1996 NFL Draft, Vinatieri headed across the pond to play for the Amsterdam Admirals in the NFL Europe league. That same year, Vinatieri was signed by the New England Patriots where he played ten seasons. Vinatieri currently is on his 14th season with the Indianapolis Colts and the NFL's oldest active player at 46-years-old. Throughout his legendary and lengthy career, Vinatieri is a 4x Super Bowl Champion, holds the record for most Super Bowl wins by a kicker, the most field goals made with 585, and holds the NFL record for most points scored all-time with 2,612 points through the third week of this current NFL season. You can't front kickers are responsible for putting up major numbers and Vinatieri is living proof of that.
Most of your favorite celebrities either studied acting in college or went straight from high school into a life of the arts. But, hey, not all of them. Some celebrities actually have advanced college degrees.
Turns out Mayim Bialik is just as much of a genius as the one she plays on The Big Bang Theory. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, focusing on obsessive compulsive disorder among people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare condition in which the hypothalamus malfunctions.
Little known fact: Natalie Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Phantom Menace because she was studying for her high school exams. She had two papers published in scientific journals while she was still in high school, and graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Psychology.
Before he was looking for answers on X-Files, David Duchovny was just trying to find the answers for English finals at Princeton University90. David graduated from Princeton in 1982 with a B.A in English. He continued to feed his love of literature by receiving a master’s degree in English Literature at Yale University. David was an excellent writer and poet. His work consistently received praise by his fellow classmates and teachers at Yale. His writing was even nominated for a college prize by the Academy of American Poets.
Sigourney Weaver graduated from Stanford University in 1971 with a bachelor’s in Literature. It was while studying at Stanford that Sigourney realized her true passion in life was to become an actress. Shortly after graduation, she attended Yale for their well-known drama program. She would go on to receive a master’s in Acting from Yale University and become friends with fellow famous actress Meryl Streep.
Meryl Streep is considered one of the most successful actresses of all time. She is also one of the most highly educated. Before collecting an array of Oscars, Meryl collected diplomas. She graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in 1971. Meryl has a habit of being unsatisfied with impressive accomplishments as her acting career has shown, so she attended Yale University and earned a master’s degree in Acting.