What does it take to change a life forever?

For Jason Chaffetz, it was a high school vice principal asking a group of Chaffetz's high school soccer buddies if any one of them would try out to be the football team's place kicker.

That brief conversation led Chaffetz to Brigham Young University, where he met his wife, changed his religion and got involved in politics.

Now Chaffetz, 41, seeks the Utah Republican Party's 3rd Congressional District's nomination. If he wins the June 24 primary, Chaffetz will oust six-term GOP incumbent Chris Cannon and face a relatively-unknown Democrat. The 3rd District is heavily Republican, and the primary winner is likely to go to Washington, D.C., next year.

"Place-kicking and coming to BYU changed (the direction of) my life more than anything else," says Chaffetz. It was a road the young Arizona high school junior would never have predicted.

The high school official "came up to a bunch of us soccer players at lunch — we were sitting on a picnic table — and asked if any one of us would like to try out as the football team's place kicker. No one else tried out. I did. I got the job and everything changed."

His senior year, Chaffetz went to live with his divorced father in a small Colorado ski town, with only a few hundred kids in the school. He signed up with a place-kicker coach and got some serious training and coaching. And he had the chance to attend several colleges on a place-kicking scholarship. Through various contacts he got the chance to try out for legendary BYU football coach LaVell Edwards.

And in the summer of 1985, Chaffetz rolled into Provo, driving his Honda CR-X hatchback with all his possessions in the rear.

Chaffetz says he's the kind of guy who is willing to try things — things he has never done before — work hard, learn from experience and take advantage of openings.

"People say things get done in this world by the people who show up. Well, I raised my hand at that picnic table. I learned how to place kick. I got a college education. Everything came from that."

During college, Chaffetz got internships at Nu Skin Enterprises, a cosmetic firm that started in Utah County. He got internships at KUTV, Ch. 2, working as a sports reporter/commentator.

(His most embarrassing moments on camera: Sitting in a hot tub with Dave Fox during the 1989 Holiday Bowl for a live shot, sweating and stammering uncontrollably the one time they let him anchor a weekend sportscast.)

His father had been married to Kitty Dukakis as a young man. That marriage ended in divorce. His dad married his mom, while Kitty married Michael Dukakis, who would become the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee.