.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Feature Story - A Season-Ending Injury Teaches A Princeton Captain What Leadership Means
November 05, 2019 | Football
John Orr went left, planted right – and had his senior season end in a snap, not of his fingers but of his Achilles tendon.
This was in preseason, more than a week before the first game of the 2019 Princeton football season, one in which Orr was to be a starting middle linebacker and team captain, one in which he had prepared so hard to in the exact spot he was.
And then, on one routine practice play, that all changed. What’s happened since has revealed more about John Orr than any tackle or interception would have.
“He may never quite realize just how powerful of an impact he has had on the team this season,” says Graham Adomitis, another of Princeton’s three captains, along with Orr and Jake Strain.
As the 7-0 Tigers prepare to take on the equally unbeaten Dartmouth Big Green at Yankee Stadium Saturday in a matchup of nationally ranked teams, Orr continues to do what he has done literally ever since his injury. He has inspired his teammates, led them, ridden them, cheered for them, supported them and essentially done whatever it is he could do to help the team in any way he could.
“I couldn’t be prouder of what he’s done this year,” says Princeton head coach Bob Surace. “For someone who was so ready to be an on-field leader to have that part of his senior year taken away in a blink but then respond the way he has speaks to what kind of person John Orr is. He has made such an important impact on our team this year, despite not being able to play. It’s really been inspirational to watch for everyone.”
Orr has been at every practice. He has been in the locker room to speak to the team before games and to lead cheers after them. He is constantly talking to everyone, teammates, coaches, during games, doing all this with a boot on his right foot.
Actually, at first he did this while in a motorized cart, immediately after the injury and the surgery.
“He may never quite realize just how powerful of an impact he has had on the team this season.” - Graham Adomitis.
“As we made our way through camp, it was clear that he was shaping up to have a phenomenal season at linebacker, so when he went down with his injury shortly before Week 1, it was just awful for him,” Strain says. “John keeps finding ways to power through that adversity and be the leader that we needed him to be. The way that he carries himself and his team-first mentaity have inspired all of us throughout this season, and I think we have John to thank for the identity of the 2019 Princeton defense.”
Orr tore his Achilles the Wednesday before the season opener against Butler. Before that, he was primed for a huge senior year on defense. He didn’t feel any pain, only a feeling like someone had stepped on his foot. In fact, he kept running and then jogged off the field on his own.
“Then I had no feeling in my foot,” Orr says. “I couldn’t lift up my foot or activate any muscles in my calf. Then the medical staff told me it was a torn Achilles. This was while practice was still going on. I was in shock. My first thought was that my senior season was gone. This was something I’d worked for my whole career and something I’d looked forward to forever.”
He then allowed himself to feel sorry for himself – for a few minutes at least.
“I was thinking that I’d let me teammates down,” he says. “I went back to my room, and that was when it was rock bottom. Within 10 minutes of practice being out, though, I had 20 guys in my room, checking on me. They kept my mind off it. Those guys were a huge blessing.”
It wasn’t just the current players who made sure he was okay.
“The coaches. [Mark] Fossati, [Kurt} Holuba. [John] Lovett – they all called me that night,” Orr says, referring to three members of the 2018 unbeaten team who graduated. “They all told me the same thing, that you can’t just go be a recluse. The team still needs you more than ever, and so that’s the role I took on.”
He was back at practice the next day. He’s been at lifts. Film sessions. Anything the team has done, its captain has been there.
“When you play football, you have to realize that it can be taken away from you at any time,” he says. “In a split second, that could be it. You have to cherish every chance you have on the field, and I try to get the younger guys to understand that.”
Orr’s spot in the middle has been taken by sophomore Daniel Beard, who has had a great season for a defense that has been in the top 10 nationally all year.
“We have a standard,” Orr says. “When someone goes down, that standard can’t change. Daniel Beard. Anthony Corbin. They’ve stepped right in. The bar is set for them, and it has not dropped at all. They’ve done an incredible job.”
Still, it can’t be easy to be a senior captain who can’t play.
Orr came to Princeton from Nashville, where he played football and baseball at Christ Presbyterian Academy. He was the captain of both teams, helping the football team go 42-3 and the baseball team to a state championship.
When it came time to decide on a college, he knew he wanted to go to either an Ivy or a service academy, and so he visited most of them. He was hooked immediately at his Princeton visit.
He was third on the team in tackles as a sophomore and a key part of the defense last year that helped Princeton go 10-0 for the first time in 54 years. Now a captain, he was ready for a huge senior year.
“I was in the most optimal shape I’ve ever been in,” he says. “The strongest, the fastest I’ve ever been. It was my fourth year in the program, and I was ready to step into that role as a leader. I was excited to play with these guys this year.”
Then the injury happened, and his perspective had to change.
“As a captain and leader, I knew I’d have to lead on and off the field,” Orr says. “I thought the majority of it would be on the field, being in the middle and a linebacker. I figured I’d be communicating on defense, making sure the plays got called, getting guys lined up. When this happened, that aspect of my leadership was taken away. The only way to continue to lead would be from the sidelines, in the locker room, in the meeting rooms, in the weight room. I can’t tell you how many people have helped me do that.”
And he has had a major impact on the way this season has gone.
“Whether he's harassing us from his scooter to run faster during practice, or bringing young linebackers aside to explain fits against certain looks, he has pushed us to expect more from ourselves every single day,” Strain says.
There has been one time he has been able to be on the field. The coin toss. Those have been very special to him.
Each game, it’s been the three captains and a game captain out for the coin toss. Orr has taken pride in that moment.
“We’re 5-2 in coin tosses,” he says. “I get to walk out to the 50 for the coin toss, and I do the speaking for us. I see every coin toss as my game day now.”
His actual game days have changed radically, but not all of the emotions.
“Even now, I get the butterflies before the games,” he says. “I get the pregame anxiety and excitement and the enthusiasm of what a gameday brings. I don’t have a chance to exert that energy and passion on the field, so that gets exerted from the sideline. By the end of the game my voice is completely gone.”
And no matter what, he’ll always have the distinction of having been a captain for the 150th Princeton team, the leader of the team that has been celebrating its role in having played in the first college football game ever.
“Tradition is such an important thing, especially at a school like Princeton,” he says. It makes you think about everyone whose paved the way, who did this before you, who made the program what it is. The alumni. The former players. This program wouldn’t be where it is today without all of them. This commemorative season has been a way to reflect on that and appreciate the guys who’ve gone before us.”
That’s true. It’s also that true that Orr has given it an even more special element.
“Maybe it didn’t work out the way I wanted it to,” he says. “But still. This has been the most amazing season that I could ever have imagined.”
by Jerry Price
