Christopher Robert Zorich (born March 16, 1969) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

defensive tackle who played in college for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

and in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

. Zorich was the athletic director at

Chicago State University Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control o ...

from May 2018 to July 2019.

Early life

An only child of

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

and Croatian descent, Zorich was raised by his mother, Zora (1931 - 1991, buried at Saint Mary Catholic Cemetery, Illinois), on the South Side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, where he attended Chicago Vocational High School. Chris is nephew to character actor Louis Zorich and nephew-in-law to

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

College career

Zorich received a scholarship to play college football at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

in 1987 and began as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

but was moved to nose tackle early in the season and did not play. However, Zorich then earned All-American honors the following season. In his first game, he had one and a half sacks and ten tackles against the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and finished the year third on the team in tackles as Notre Dame went undefeated and won the national championship. During his junior year, he followed his initial season with a consensus

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

year in 1989 and was also one of four finalists for the

Lombardi Award The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lo ...

. Also in 1989 he was voted the

UPI Lineman of the Year The United Press International Lineman of the Year award was given annually by United Press International (UPI) to the lineman of the year in college football. With the demise of UPI in 1997, the award was discontinued. Offensive and defensive li ...

award as the top lineman in college football. As a senior, Zorich won the

and was recognized as a unanimous

. In the final game of his college career he was the Defensive Most Valuable player of the 1991

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

. While at Notre Dame, Zorich attended a class taught by now

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Commissioner Kevin Warren. Zorich eventually signed with Warren's new law firm as Warren's first client.

NFL career

Zorich was drafted in the second round of the

1991 NFL Draft The 1991 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 21–22, 1991, at the Marriott ...

by the

. He played for the Bears from 1991 until 1997, and he was named an alternate for the

1993 Pro Bowl The 1993 Pro Bowl was the NFL's all-star game for the 1992 season. The game was played on February 7, 1993, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The final score was AFC — 23, NFC — 20. Steve Tasker of the Buffalo Bills was the game's MVP ...

. On December 27, 1992, he returned a fumble for a touchdown during a 27-14 loss to the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. He also played one season (1997) for the

. In his NFL career, Zorich tallied 16.5 career

quarterback sack In gridiron football, a sack occurs when the quarterback (or another offensive player acting as a passer) is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before throwing a forward pass, when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in t ...

s and scored total one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

After football

Zorich earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

( J.D.) degree at Notre Dame and established the Christopher Zorich Foundation in 1993 to assist disadvantaged families. He is a past recipient of ''

USA WEEKEND ''USA Weekend'' was an American weekend newspaper magazine owned by the Gannett Company. Structured as a sister publication to Gannett's flagship newspaper ''USA Today'' and distributed in the Sunday editions of participating local newspapers, i ...

s Most Caring Athlete Award and the

Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifeti ...

Foundation Humanitarian Award. Zorich has also worked as a

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers ...

. On May 9, 2007, Zorich was announced as one of the specially selected inductees of the 2007 class at the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were v ...

. Not only was he one of the youngest players to ever be inducted, he is only the third defensive lineman from tradition-rich Notre Dame to call the College Football Hall of Fame home. On December 8, 2009, Zorich was also inducted into the FedEx Orange Bowl Hall of Fame for his outstanding performances in back-to-back Orange Bowl appearances (1990 and 1991). Zorich lives in Chicago and continues to be an active member of the community. From 2015 to 2018, he served as the athletic director at Prairie State College, a

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

in Chicago Heights, Ill. In May 2018, he was named the athletic director at Chicago State University. On July 30, 2019, Zorich and the university parted ways after 14 months on the job. It was unclear if Zorich was fired or if he announced his resignation.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zorich, Chris 1969 births Living people African-American players of American football All-American college football players American football defensive tackles American motivational speakers American people of Croatian descent Philanthropists from Illinois Chicago Bears players Chicago State Cougars athletic directors Chicago Vocational High School alumni College Football Hall of Fame inductees Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Notre Dame Law School alumni Sportspeople from Chicago Players of American football from Chicago Washington Redskins players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople