Juntunen began his college football career nearby at De Anza Junior College in Cupertino, west of San Jose.[3] Sight unseen, he transferred to the University of Idaho in Moscow in 1976 to play for head coach Ed Troxel,[3][4] splitting time with Rocky Tuttle at quarterback for the Vandals as a junior.[5] Idaho was 7–4 that season, at the time one of the best records in school history. As a senior in 1977, Juntunen was a co-captain and the team's offensive MVP, completing 52.7 percent of his passes for 770 yards and three touchdowns.[6] He was inducted into the State of Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame and the University of Idaho Athletics Hall of Fame.[7]
At age 43, Juntunen sold a successful human resources firm in the Silicon Valley of northern California and retired in 1998, spending the next several years hanging out on ski slopes and playing golf. Following a conversation with a friend who had adopted a child from Haiti, Juntunen and his wife adopted three children from the impoverished nation and became an advocate for international adoption reform.[9] He wrote the book Both Ends Burning and produced the documentary film Stuck.[10]