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Orlovsky Makes A Difference At Home
Authored by Andrew Perna - 31st December, 2007 - 6:20 pm
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The negatives have far outweighed the positives in the NFL this season. We’ve had to endure the SpyGate scandal in New England, Kevin Everett’s freak injury in Buffalo, the legal woes of Michael Vick in Virginia and the loss of Sean Taylor’s life in Miami.
The resurgence of Brett Favre’s career in Green Bay and the sight of Everett upright and walking in Buffalo are the only real feel-good stories the league has enjoyed this year.
Another tale exists, but it has never been told.
The story begins in Shelton, Connecticut. Dan Orlovsky is leaving town for college. He’ll attend the University of Connecticut in Storrs like a majority of the kids in Shelton which is roughly an hour’s drive from the famous campus.
However, there is a big difference between Orlovsky and his classmates. You see he’s just a few months removed from leading Shelton to its second consecutive Class LL state football title. As a starter he went 29-3 in his career, including a 12-0 run that capped a 2,400 yard, 24 touchdown senior season.
Orlovsky was able to accomplish all of that while growing up in a broken home, which has become commonplace in America these days. “We as a society have become so comfortable with broken homes. It’s no longer thought of as selfish for parents to split up,” Orlovsky admits.
The commitment Dan chose to make to his family and the state of Connecticut, was evident when he made the decision to attend UConn despite receiving a few more high-profile scholarship offers. You can attribute that to the relationship Orlovsky had with his father while growing up.
“I was lucky enough to have parents that put their children first even through the divorce. I’m not saying it was easy at all, or that mistakes weren’t made, but I know in the grand scheme of things my father always did what he thought was best for us,” says Orlovsky.
After helping put Connecticut on the map as a legitimate Division 1-A football program, Dan was taken by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Despite playing hundreds of miles from UConn’s campus during the busy NFL season, Orlovsky keeps in contact with many of the people who he became friendly with during his time in college.
“I talk to Coach [Rob] Ambrose, the offensive coordinator, who was the quarterbacks' coach when I was there, every day. I talk with Coach [Randy] Edsall once a week, and I still talk to a lot of the guys I played with as well,” said Orlovsky. Despite his professional status, he has still had a significant effect on the team’s current quarterbacks. “I’m very close with D.J. Hernandez and Tyler Lorenzen,” he added.
He may have left Connecticut back in 2005 when he departed for Detroit, but his presence can still be found in the state. Immediately upon entering the NFL as the Lions’ backup quarterback, he founded The Dan Orlovsky Foundation. The foundation’s initial goal was “to enrich the lives of children raised in single parent households and direct them to a better future by providing leadership, guidance and opportunity.”
Since its inception nearly three years ago the foundation has altered its focus. “We are growing as a foundation, and we’ve adjusted what our set of goals and outreach is going to be. We are in the process of establishing a new mission statement, which will basically be to help all underprivileged children,” Orlovsky said.
The shift in focus comes as a result of the foundation’s substantial growth over a very short period of time which has brought tremendous pride to its members. “We’ve grown, and we want to be able to grow as large as possible. In order to do that we have to reach out and help as many people as possible,” Dan added.
It’s refreshing to hear such dedication, from not only an athlete in today’s volatile professional landscape, but from a man that is just 24-years of age as well. He’s genuinely interested in the impact his foundation has on the community, refusing to rely on the foundation’s other executive members to carry the work load.
I asked him if he could give me a rundown of the foundation’s upcoming events, expecting that it would be difficult for a guy trying to keep up with the detailed-nature of an NFL playbook to remember things like dates and locations, but Orlovsky didn’t even flinch. “We have a lot of events planned. At the end of January we are hosting a bowling event at Valley Bowl in Southwestern Connecticut. Details haven’t been finalized, but it’ll be another fundraising event,” he responded.
“February 19th is really going to be a blockbuster day for us, as well. We are hosting an event up in Hartford, Connecticut, that will lead up to one of the UConn basketball games. We are going to try and tie ourselves back with the University of Connecticut, in hopes of broadening our reach,” he added.
If I hadn’t set up the interview myself, I would have thought I was speaking with the foundation’s public relations director, not an NFL quarterback.
Even before I could thank Dan for his time, he began praising the people behind the scenes at the Orlovsky Foundation. “I have to thank the members of my foundation because they have done a tremendous job. The foundation has my name on it, but it’s a group effort and I can’t thank them enough for everything they do,” Orlovsky said sincerely.
He has helped the foundation grow in leaps and bounds while trying to make a name for himself in the NFL, as well. He has not played in a game for the Lions this season with Jon Kitna having a firm hold on the team’s starting gig and J.T. O’Sullivan competing with him for snaps.
Orlovsky last played for Detroit in 2005 against the Falcons. He played well, going 5-for-11 with 43 yards in a 27-7 loss. Judging from the success he enjoyed in high school and college, there’s no doubt that he could more than hold his own in the ranks of the NFL.
All he needs is an opportunity.
He has a pretty good teacher in Kitna, who has been through ups-and-downs as both an NFL quarterback and a man. When I asked Dan to comment on what Kitna has meant to him during their two years as teammates, he paused in an attempt to find the prefect words to personify his mentor. “He’s taught me everything that it takes to be a quarterback in this league. More importantly though, I’ve been able to learn from him off the field like what it’s like to be a man, and a leader in the locker room,” Orlovsky praised.
Based on his past: a pair of state titles in high school and an MVP trophy from the Motor City Bowl in 2004, and the effect he’s had on the community, it’s only a matter of time before Dan Orlovsky’s reach goes beyond his hometown of Shelton, Connecticu,t and reaches across the NFL.
