Christopher Robert Zorich is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Zorich was the athletic director at Chicago State University from May 2018 to July 2019.

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 Lombardi" the Rotary Lombardi Award program was created in 1970 shortly after the death of Lombardi. The committee outlined the original criteria for eligibility for the award, which remained in place until this day: