- Chris Zorich
-
Chris Zorich No. 97, 78 Defensive Tackle Personal information Date of birth: March 13, 1969 Place of birth: Chicago, Illinois Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight: 282 lb (128 kg) Career information College: Notre Dame NFL Draft: 1991 / Round: 2 / Pick: 49 Debuted in 1991 for the Chicago Bears Last played in 1997 for the Washington Redskins Career history Career highlights and awards - UPI Lineman of the Year (1989)
- Consensus All-American (1989, 1990)
- Lombardi Award winner (1990)
- Orange Bowl Defensive MVP (1991)
- Pro Bowl selection (1993)
Career NFL statistics as of 1998 Tackles 211 Sacks 16.5 Stats at NFL.com College Football Hall of Fame Christopher Robert Zorich (born March 13, 1969) is a former American football defensive tackle in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins.
Contents
Early life
An only child of African American and Croatian descent, Zorich was raised by his mother on the South Side of Chicago, where he attended Chicago Vocational High School.[1]
College career
Zorich received a scholarship to play college football at the University of Notre Dame in 1987 and began as a linebacker but was moved to nose tackle early in the season and did not play.[2] 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 and finished the year third on the team in tackles as Notre Dame went undefeated and won the national championship.[2] During his junior year, he followed his initial season with a consensus All-America year in 1989 and was also one of four finalists for the Lombardi Award. Also in 1989 he was voted the UPI Lineman of the Year award as the top lineman in college football. As a senior, Zorich won the Lombardi Award and was recognized as a unanimous All-America. In the final game of his college career he was the Defensive Most Valuable player of the 1991 Orange Bowl.[2]
NFL career
Zorich was drafted in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears. He played for the Bears from 1991 until 1996, and he was named an alternate for the 1993 Pro Bowl. He also played one season (1997) for the Washington Redskins. In his NFL career, Zorich tallied 16.5 career quarterback sacks and scored one touchdown off a fumble.
After football
Zorich earned a law degree at Notre Dame[2] and established the Christopher Zorich Foundation in 1993 to assist disadvantaged families. He is a past recipient of USA WEEKEND's Most Caring Athlete Award and the Jesse Owens Foundation Humanitarian Award. Zorich has also worked as a motivational speaker.
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.
On July 8, 2010, the Chicago Tribune reported that the Chris Zorich Foundation was in contravention of state and federal laws, having not filed tax returns and various forms for many years. The paper also reported that the charity was defunct, with $864,000 in funds unaccounted for. Zorich replied that he was in the process of locating bank statements and acquiring an accounting firm to audit the foundation's books.[3]
References
- ^ "The Chris Zorich Foundation - Biography". Chris Zorich Foundation. http://www.chriszorich.org/biography/. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
- ^ a b c d "Chris Zorich's College Football HOF profile". College Football Hall of Fame. http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=90130. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
- ^ "Zorich still hasn't found charity's $864,000". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-zorich-charity-20100708,0,4542642.story. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
External links
- Chris Zorich at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Chris Zorich at Pro-Football-Reference.com
- Christopher Zorich Foundation website
- Official Notre Dame bio
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football 1988 Consensus National Champions Jeff Alm | Derek Brown | Rodney Culver | Bob Dahl | Pat Eilers | Kent Graham | Donn Grimm | Tim Grunhard | Andy Heck | Raghib Ismail | Anthony Johnson | Scott Kowalkowski | Todd Lyght | Tony Rice | Rod Smith | Frank Stams | Pat Terrell | Ricky Watters | Chris Zorich
Head Coach Lou Holtz
Coaches Barry Alvarez | Vinny Cerrato | John Palermo | Jim StrongLombardi Award winners 1970: Stillwagon | 1971: Patulski | 1972: Glover | 1973: Hicks | 1974: White | 1975: Selmon | 1976: Whitley | 1977: Browner | 1978: Clark | 1979: Budde | 1980: Green | 1981: Sims | 1982: Rimington | 1983: Steinkuhler | 1984: Degrate | 1985: Casillas | 1986: Bennett | 1987: Spielman | 1988: Rocker | 1989: Snow | 1990: Zorich | 1991: Emtman | 1992: Jones | 1993: Taylor | 1994: Sapp | 1995: Pace | 1996: Pace | 1997: Wistrom | 1998: Nguyen | 1999: Moore | 2000: Reynolds | 2001: Peppers | 2002: Suggs | 2003: Harris | 2004: Pollack | 2005: Hawk | 2006: Woodley | 2007: Dorsey | 2008: Orakpo | 2009: Suh | 2010: Fairley
UPI College Lineman of the Year winners 1950: Richter | 1951: McColl | 1952: Catlin | 1953: J. Roberts | 1954: Ellena | 1955: Pellegrini | 1956: Tubbs | 1957: Karras | 1958: Harrison | 1959: R. Davis | 1960: T. Brown | 1961: Romig | 1962: Bell | 1963: Appleton | 1964: Butkus | 1965: Twilley | 1966: B. Smith | 1967: Liggins | 1968: Hendricks | 1969: McCoy | 1970: Stillwagon | 1971: Patulski | 1972: Glover | 1973: Hicks | 1974: White | 1975: Selmon | 1976: Browner | 1977: Browner | 1978: G. Roberts | 1979: Budde | 1980: H. Green | 1981: Sims | 1982: Rimington | 1983: Steinkuhler | 1984: Fralic | 1985: Casillas | 1986: J. Brown | 1987: Hennings | 1988: Mandarich | 1989: Zorich | 1990: Maryland | 1991: Emtman | 1992: Curry | 1993: Waldrop | 1994: Wiegert | 1995: Ogden | 1996: Pace
1990 College Football All-America Team consensus selections Offense QB Ty Detmer | RB Eric Bieniemy | RB Darren Lewis | WR Raghib Ismail | WR Herman Moore | TE Chris Smith
OT Antone Davis | OT Stacy Long | OG Joe Garten | OG Ed King | C John FlanneryDefense DL Moe Gardner | DL Chris Zorich | DL Russell Maryland | DL David Rocker
LB Michael Stonebreaker | LB Alfred Williams | LB Maurice Crum
DB Ken Swilling | DB Tripp Welborne | DB Darryll Lewis | DB Todd LyghtSpecial teams P Brian Greenfield | PK Philip DoyleChicago Bears 1991 NFL Draft selections Stan Thomas • Chris Zorich • Chris Gardocki • Joe Johnson • Anthony Morgan • Darren Lewis • Paul Justin • Larry Horton • Mike Stonebreaker • Tom Backes • Stacy Long • John CookByron "Whizzer" White NFL Man of the Year Award 1966: Starr • 1967: Davis • 1968: Meador • 1969: Sayers • 1970: Alexander • 1971: May • 1972: Russell • 1973: Little • 1974: Bleier • 1975: Hart • 1976: Alzado • 1977: Manning • 1978: Staubach • 1979: Upshaw • 1980: Houston • 1981: Harris • 1982: Dieken • 1983: Benirschke • 1984: Williams • 1985: Moore • 1986: Martin • 1987: Cherry • 1988: Singletary • 1989: Newsome • 1990: Kenn • 1991: R. White • 1992: Lowery • 1993: Kelso • 1994: Thomas • 1995: Brooks • 1996: Zorich • 1997: Nickerson • 1998: Carter • 1999: Pelfrey • 2000: McCrary • 2001: Brunell • 2002: Vincent • 2003: Brooks • 2004: Manning • 2005: McNair • 2006: Lynch • 2007: Dunn • 2008: Dawkins • 2009: Asomugha • 2010: Richardson
Categories:- 1969 births
- Living people
- American football defensive tackles
- American motivational speakers
- American philanthropists
- Chicago Bears players
- Chicago Vocational High School alumni
- College Football Hall of Fame inductees
- American people of Croatian descent
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
- Notre Dame Law School alumni
- People from Chicago, Illinois
- Washington Redskins players
- All-American college football players
- African American players of American football
- Players of American football from Illinois
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