Years after Janikowski's father emigrated from Poland, his parents divorced and Henryk married an American citizen.

Rossi was also the soccer coach at Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach, and convinced Henryk that his son would be better off there.

After being heavily recruited by some of the top collegiate football programs, Janikowski decided on Florida State University.

In 1999, he won the Lou Groza Award for a consecutive year, an honor given annually to the nation's top collegiate kicker.

In August 1998, he got into a fight outside of a Tallahassee bar and was charged with failure to leave the premises; he pled no contest to the misdemeanor offense.

[citation needed] That same year, the night after a season-ending win over rival Florida, Janikowski got into a fight at a local bar and was charged with battery.

[4] In his final game for FSU, Janikowski converted 5-of-5 PATs and kicked a 32-yard field goal, helping the Seminoles win their second national championship.

Janikowski, who later said he was thinking he could save everyone paperwork and the trouble, approached the arresting officer and asked how much it would take to let his friend go.

Janikowski claimed that he thought he could pay a fine to have his friend released, but the officer interpreted the action as an attempted bribe.

He had testified on his own behalf, stating that he was simply trying to pay his friend's fine (as opposed to bribing the arresting officer).

Just eight days after his acquittal, Janikowski and two friends were arrested in Tallahassee on suspicion of felony possession of the drug GHB.

[16] On November 4, 2007, he attempted to kick a 64-yard record field goal before halftime against the Houston Texans on a windless Oakland afternoon in McAfee Coliseum.

[17] On September 28, 2008, Janikowski unsuccessfully attempted a 76-yard field goal against the San Diego Chargers into the heavy wind right before halftime.

On September 12, 2011, as a rainy first half against the Denver Broncos came to a close, Janikowski made a 63-yard field goal and tied the NFL record set by Tom Dempsey in 1970 and previously tied by Jason Elam (1998) and afterwards by David Akers (2012), but which was subsequently broken by Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos and Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens.

[21] He attempted a record-breaking 65-yard field goal on December 18, 2011, against the Detroit Lions, but Ndamukong Suh blocked it to end the game.

[30] In Week 12 against the Carolina Panthers, Janikowski made all three extra points and three field goals, including a 31-yard game winner as the Seahawks won 30–27.