BRIDGEPORT — Chris Zorich, a former defensive lineman of the Chicago Bears, has a new job: athletic director at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights.
The former Notre Dame and Chicago Vocational star and current Bridgeport resident took over sports at the two-year community college on July 1.
Though Prairie State doesn’t have a football team, Zorich said his background will help him make the college’s athletic program a successful one: “The values that I believe in athletics and life align with the values of Prairie State,” Zorich, 45, said. “I really just wanted to be part of it, so I applied.”
Zorich, a defensive lineman for the Bears from 1991-1996, said the opportunity at Prairie State has given him a fresh start after a trying string of years.
In 2013, he was charged with four counts of failing to file federal income taxes from 2006-2009. Zorich was sentenced to three years probation, but on Aug. 26, 2014 — a year into his sentence — a judge terminated the remaining years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
“Did I make some mistakes? Absolutely,” Zorich said. “I feel like I have a new lease on life.”
Zorich’s new duties include planning and directing the school’s intercollegiate athletics, intramural and recreation programs.
Competing in the National Junior College Athletic Association, PSC Pioneers sports programs feature baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, tennis, cheerleading, softball and volleyball.
Going forward, Zorich hopes to share this message with the student-athletes who pass through Prairie State: If you work hard, you can achieve anything.
A College Football Hall of Famer, Zorich won the Lombardi Award as a senior at Notre Dame and graduated in 1991. After his stint with the Chicago Bears, he played the 1997 season — his last — with the Washington Redskins.
Since starting his new gig, Zorich gets up every day at 6 a.m. to make the 30-mile drive from his home in Bridgeport to his new office at Prairie State. If he gets on the road early enough, the ride takes 30 minutes.
Zorich said his days with the Bears transformed him into an early bird, which makes throwing on a suit in the morning and hitting the road a little easier. During his days as an NFL player living Downtown, he had to be at a special teams meeting every day at 7:30 a.m.
"I was never late," Zorich said. "If you were late, you got fined like $2,000."
Zorich enjoyed suiting up and hitting the field to make tackles, but he said he's big fan of the way his days end now.
"I’m not as sore after work," Zorich said.
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