- Why the Perth-born gambler is nicknamed ‘Boomin’ Onion’
- How he went from making $1,000 a week to having a $19 million contract
- Why he stopped playing Aussie Rules before the code was changed
Mitch Wishnowsky has come a long way from working as a tradie in Western Australia to the brink of Super Bowl glory with the San Francisco 49ers.
The 31-year-old gambler was drafted by the five-time NFL champion in 2019 after a fluke put him on the path to earning megabucks in American football.
After leaving high school at the age of 16, he apprenticed as a glazier. At the time, he was attracted to the idea of making $1,000 a week, but later admitted, “Mom told me it was a stupid decision.”
Wishnowsky tried his hand at Aussie Rules but gave up the sport after suffering a shoulder injury that hampered his ability to work.
However, fortune smiled on him when he met one of Gridiron’s leading lights down under, Craig Wilson, while playing football with some friends in a park in his home town of Perth.
Wishnowsky (pictured with his wife Maddie) would have been happy making $1,000 a week when he was a tradie. Now he has a $19 million contract
The Perth native (pictured playing for the 49ers when they defeated the Packers in this year’s play-offs) credits his start in the NFL to a chance encounter in a park in his hometown
Wilson saw his talent for punting and recommended him to John Smith and Nathan Chapman of the Prokick Australia academy, which trains Australian athletes aspiring to college football and the NFL.
Wishnowsky uprooted himself and left for the academy in Melbourne, where at one point he thought he would have to sleep in the 24-hour gym he belonged to because he was having so much trouble finding accommodation.
He worked as a bartender to support himself at the time and quickly caught the attention of Prokick trainers, who loved his athleticism and his unusual size and strength for a gambler.
From there, he attended Santa Barbara City College in California in 2014 to meet the academic standards needed to move on to a major football school in the United States.
In 2016, he moved to the University of Utah, where he won the Ray Guy Award as the best punter in college football in his first season with the team, and followed that up with stellar play in the next two campaigns.
San Francisco selected Wishnowsky in the fourth round of the 2019 draft – which is almost unheard of for a punter – but they loved what they saw when he worked out for them.
Wishnowsky, wife Maddie and their daughter Bowie are pictured signing the contract that made his long struggle to break into the gridiron more than worth it
The 31-year-old won the Ray Guy Award as college football’s top punter in his first year playing for the University of Utah (pictured)
It was an ideal match.
“A lot of those teams (interested in him) were in cold places and I thought, I’d like to end up in San Francisco,” the Australian said.
His wife Maddie – who gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Bowie, just before a big game in October 2021 – said of her husband’s big break: ‘That was definitely one of the times I’ve seen the most emotion from him. This was something he had been working towards for a long time.”
Many Niners fans were upset that the team drafted him so high, but they quickly changed their tune when he flattened Denver Broncos star Devontae Jackson with a huge tackle during a preseason game in August 2020.
At 188cm and 100kg, the Aussie is unusually big and strong for a punter – and he put his physicality to great use in a highlight-reel tackle against the Denver Broncos in 1990 (below)
Wishowsky has won numerous awards and accolades with the five-time Super Bowl champion team, including two NFC Special Teams Player of the Month awards, and was named a Pro Bowl player in 2022 and 2024.
It is also called the ‘Boomin’ Onion’ – a variation on the famous ‘Bloomin’ Onion’ dish from the American restaurant chain Outback Steakhouse with an Australian theme.
In September 2022, the Niners signed him to a four-year contract extension worth $20 million in Australian money – well and truly eclipsing that $1000 per week he coveted in his tradie days.
Barring injury, he is certain to line up for the NFC champions against the Kansas City Chiefs when the Super Bowl comes to Las Vegas on Monday, February 12 (Australian time).
That makes him the second straight Aussie punter to play in the biggest game of the year, after Arryn Siposs dropped out for Philadelphia last year.