Notre Dame’s Zorich Finds Mother Dead

Before his final football season at Notre Dame, All-American nose tackle and co-captain Chris Zorich was given a list of questions by the university’s sports information office. The answers were to be given to the media in an effort to attract national attention to Zorich.

Among other things, he was asked to name the most impressive person I’ve ever met.

“My mother,” he answered.

On Wednesday, after Zorich’s final game, a 10-9 loss to Colorado in the Orange Bowl, he returned to his Chicago home to find the body of his mother, Zora Zorich, in their one-bedroom apartment, the victim of an apparent heart attack, according to Notre Dame sports information director John Heisler.

“Everybody went home from Miami individually (rather than as a team),” Heisler said. “An uncle was going to pick up Chris’ mother and take her to the airport to meet him. The uncle called the apartment and no one answered, so he went to the airport alone. When the two of them got back to the apartment, they found her.”

Zora Zorich suffered from diabetes. It is unknown if that contributed to her death.

After his father left the family while Chris was an infant, Zora Zorich raised him in a tough Southside neighborhood. He had looked forward to taking her out of the neighborhood with the money he would get from turning pro.

“They were very close,” Heisler said. “He did seem to know that she had had a chance to see him play in the Orange Bowl before she died.”