When it came to kicking field goals, Jake Bundrick of Cairo High School didn’t miss a beat. He earned the GHSA career field goal record from 1998-2001 with 46 goals. Jake has held the top spot for 13 years now, so any kicker trying to top his record is “Miserable at Best”. Today, as the lead drummer of Mayday Parade, Jake still doesn’t miss a beat.
It’s not a frequent thing to break a state football record. It’s certainly not a frequent thing to break a state football record and end up in a punk band that tours the world and debuts albums entering the Billboard Top 200 at number 12. But for Jake, he always knew music was what he loved.
“Even when I was on the field waiting for my turn to kick, I was drumming on my thigh pads, as if I were in our high school band,” Jake said.
Jake still gave college sports a shot. Jake was recruited by his dream team, Florida State University, but was only offered a walk-on roll because they already had their maximum number of kickers on scholarship. The expenses of going to college out of state without a scholarship were not an option for him and his family at the time. Excelling in baseball as well, Jake got a full ride to play in-state at Pensacola Junior College. It didn’t work out either.
“I ended up hating playing for the coaches at PJC and told them I was going to pursue football—when I knew it was music I was going to pursue,” Jake said.
Jake moved back to Cairo to attend Bainbridge College and began working at his family’s tire business. Several years later, Jake began rehearsing with a band in a warehouse in Tallahassee, Florida, where he met the rest of the members that would later become Mayday Parade.
“We were two separate bands that ended up practicing in the same warehouse,” Jake said. “Some of us decided to write together to see what happened, and the rest is history.”
Mayday Parade is a band of five. To date, their album sales have exceeded 600,000 while track sales surpass 3,000,000. A few of their top songs include: “Miserable at Best”, “Terrible Things”, “Stay”, and “Jamie All Over”. They are currently on tour and will return to their starting point to perform in Tallahassee on November 13.
Every now and then, a fan will mention Jake’s football record on Twitter. Jake’s father, a lifelong football fan and the reason Jake got started on the field in the first place, talks about it often.
Even today as a 31-year-old punk band star, Jake remains humble and still sees his football feat as a great accomplishment.
“I was just fortunate to play with an amazing team and the best field goal unit in Georgia high school football,” Jake said.
Jake is thankful for all of the support he has received throughout his career from his hometown in Cairo and says he can always go home where he is “respected and wanted.”
As an FSU and Atlanta Falcons fan, Jake still watches football regularly and says he actually likes it more now than he did when he played.
“I even started playing fantasy football; the kickers on my team are legit,” Jake said, followed by a laugh.
Jake encourages all kids today to try everything, do what you love, and, most importantly, have fun. For Jake, he believed that football even helped him in the music world as it taught him patience and how to work well with others. Although he is thrilled with his career choice and the success he has gotten from it, Jake is still mindful of his skill set at a kicker.
“It’s kind of fun to know I can hang with most kickers in college football, if not possibly the NFL,” Jake said.
Where are they now? Special Feature/South Georgia/November 2014
Jake Bundrick
Cairo High School
Cairo, Georgia
Sarah Turner
The story behind Jake Bundrick: GHSA record holder, Mayday Parade drummer
