It was at Stanford Stadium that Valerie Karty told her husband Joel that she was pregnant with their first child. Two decades later, they will be in the stands on Saturday night as Joshua Karty concludes what may be the best season for a kicker in Stanford history when the Cardinal hosts BYU.

Karty is 40-for-40 on kick attempts this season, with 24 extra points and 16 field goals. That includes a school-record 61-yard field goal on the final play of Stanford’s 27-20 Big Game loss last week – the second-longest field goal in Pac-12 history, and the longest by an FBS kicker this season by five yards.

Warming up at Cal, Karty made a 58-yarder against the wind, so he told the coaches his range was 63-65 in the other direction, where Stanford would be going in the second half.

Even when the outcome was no longer in doubt, he continued warming up on the sidelines. So with five seconds left, he was prepared when Stanford chose to kick a long field goal down 10 points — even if it meant ending his perfect season.

“You think about the what ifs and you fear what could go wrong, that’s normal for anyone who has a streak going,” Karty said. “But I saw it more as an opportunity. Because those kicks are low-risk, high-reward, just let it fly, let it rip, and see what happens.”

The kick went through as time expired and Cal immediately started celebrating, so Karty initially thought he missed.

“The entire stadium started cheering, so I was like, ‘Shoot, it’s short,’” Karty said. “But then I saw the ref’s signal. It was weird for sure. Really wished it could be under different circumstances to help impact the game a little more. It was definitely awkward.”

The kick tied for the sixth-longest in FBS in the last 25 years. The school record had been 59 yards, set by Rod Garcia in 1973 and matched by Mark Harmon in 1981.

Karty’s Stanford career is a full-circle moment for Joel and Valerie, who attend every home game.

Joel was a rower at Stanford and was back on The Farm to receive his Ph.D. in physical and organic chemistry. The stadium used to be open to the public before it was renovated, and Joel and Valerie would run around the track and up and down the stadium stairs for exercise after Joel was done working at the chemistry lab.

As soon as Valerie found out she was pregnant, she asked Joel to meet her for an early workout and told him the news.

“Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would be giving birth to a football player,” the 5-foot-3 Valerie said. “It doesn’t surprise me (Joshua’s) at Stanford. It does surprise me he came back as a football player.”

Concerned about head injuries, Valerie only signed the form allowing Joshua to play high school football because he told her that kickers weren’t allowed to get hit. It was two games into the season before Valerie thought to ask what happens if his kickoffs don’t result in a touchback.

That’s rarely been an issue for Karty. He has 38 touchbacks on 50 kickoffs this year, and the Cardinal ranks sixth nationally in kickoff return defense (16.1 yards per return).

Joshua’s origin story might make it seem like he was preordained to play football at Stanford. But growing up, his dream was to play soccer. Two weeks before entering Western Alamance High School in Burlington, North Carolina, he agreed to help train with a friend who wanted to try out for football.

On a lark, Karty attempted – and made – a 30-yard field goal on his first try. Then a 40-yarder, and a 45-yarder. His 50-yarder was just short, but it was enough for his friend to suggest playing football as well.

Karty made the varsity football team as a freshman, but he still preferred soccer – he even showed up at halftime to a few football games because of soccer conflicts. But he focused solely on football after his sophomore season and was eventually the consensus No. 1 kicker in the 2020 recruiting class.

A down year for the Cardinal (3-8) would have been even worse without Karty, who kicked the winning field goal in the fourth quarter in both of Stanford’s wins against FBS opponents. The junior is one of two kickers nationally with 16 field goals without a miss, and that includes a nation-best 12 field goals of more than 40 yards.

It’s his field goal prowess that led Karty to win the Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week award four times this season.

He didn’t attempt a field goal in the team’s first three games, but made a 53-yarder in the fourth game against Oregon, Stanford’s longest field goal since 2009.

He then scored 25 of the team’s 31 points in Stanford’s two wins against FBS opponents this season. His 43-yard kick with 10 minutes left was the final score in Stanford’s 16-14 win at Notre Dame. And he made all five field goal attempts, including the go-ahead 47-yard kick with 6:28 to play, to account for all of the Cardinal’s points in a 15-14 win over Arizona State.

Karty should be named a finalist on Tuesday for the Lou Groza Award, which goes to the nation’s top kicker. His main competitor is reigning winner Jake Moody of Michigan, who currently has an FBS-best 122 points and is on pace to be the first kicker in 12 years to lead the FBS in scoring.