Central Michigan University Athletics
Fighting The Good Fight
10/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Tough stuff happens. Everyone has their battles.
Colton Odykirk has seen it, lived it. Lived through it. Played through it.
Odykirk, a senior defensive back, is the third generation of his family to play football at Central Michigan University. He's a Mount Pleasant native, practically raised in Kelly/Shorts Stadium. He attended his first CMU football game in a baby stroller.
"We came to every game - EVERY game - never would miss a game," Odykirk said.
Maroon and gold run through the Odykirk DNA.
• Colton Odykirk's father Dan was a CMU wide receiver, teammate and one-time roommate of coach John Bonamego in the mid-1980s.
• Odykirk's grandfather, Bill, earned a letter as a running back/kicker as a Chippewa in 1958. After playing for the legendary Bill Kelly, Bill Odykirk eventually returned to CMU to coach, later served on the university's board of trustees, and helped spearhead the effort to build what is now Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
• Connor Odykirk, Colton's brother, was a three-year letterwinning tight end at CMU from 2011-13.
• Connor's uncles, Craig and Tim, were members of the cheer team and the marching band, respectively, during their days on campus.
• Colton's mother, Lora, was a member of the dance team as a CMU student and later coached the squad.
• Colton's cousin, Kate, is a member of the CMU cheer team.
Destined to be a Chippewa
Colton Odykirk came out of Mount Pleasant High School just as he went in: Destined - and determined -- to be a Chippewa.
A three-year letterwinning standout, he led the Oilers to a combined 36-5 record from 2009-11 and a state runner-up finish in '11. He drew interest from Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools, but didn't seriously consider leaving his hometown.
"To be honest, none of that ever mattered to me," Odykirk said. "Because I knew right away, growing up, I wanted to play at CMU."
Yeah, Central Michigan was interested, but to say that Colton Odykirk was a blue chipper would be a stretch. His brother Connor was on the team and his pedigree undoubtedly helped.
"Interest or no interest, I was coming here to play at CMU to play with my brother and to be a Chippewa," Odykirk said. "I had to sell the CMU staff on that, and I did. I was recruited by them, but not heavily. I had to come in here and do what I could."
Odykirk enrolled at CMU as a preferred walk-on in 2012. After a redshirt season, he gained playing time on special teams and by his sophomore season, was playing regularly on third downs on the Chippewa defense.
Making an impact
Odykirk came out of his sophomore season at CMU with high hopes, his hard work paying off as his performance was ever improving. He appeared on track to earn more playing time, perhaps even land a starting job, as CMU looked ahead to 2015.
Then, he stepped on a flight bound for Florida at spring break, 2015. When he stepped off the plane in the Sunshine State, something was wrong. Dreadfully wrong.
His body was retaining fluid and the swelling was so bad that he could not even remove his shoes. Doctors finally discovered the culprit, membranous nephritis, a disease that limits the kidneys ability to process protein.
For anybody, the disease can have serious implications. For an athlete playing Division I college football, it can be devastating, perhaps career-ending.
"That was a long road," Odykirk said. "It was a real big-time battle, not knowing what it was and the doctors were struggling with finding the medicines for me. Once we did, and once we started keeping it under control, everything started to work out."
It all happened as Bonamego - Dan Odykirk's buddy and former teammate and roommate - was taking over the Chippewa program in February 2015 and, months later, was diagnosed with cancer. CMU's Derrick Nash, like Odykirk a defensive back, lost his battle with leukemia later that summer.
The kidney disease and its symptoms kept Odykirk from contact drills that spring and throughout the entire 2015 season, and there was a distinct possibility that his football career was over. To complicate matters, he had a bout with gallstones which necessitated gallbladder removal in the fall of '15.
Tough stuff happens. Everyone has their battles.
Coping, and fighting back
But just as he did when he arrived on campus to earn a roster spot, Odykirk took a hard-nosed, pragmatic approach: He soldiered on, doing everything he could and continued as the consummate teammate.
He remained a fixture in the weight room, at practices, and at meetings. And the Odykirks frequently hosted teammates at their Mount Pleasant home, a half-mile from the CMU campus, for barbecues or to watch football and enjoy a potluck meal.
Nothing was going to keep Odykirk from his lifelong goal, being a part of it.
"He was always involved," CMU safeties/special teams coach Mike Dietzel said. "He wanted to be around every guy, every teammate, he'd come to meetings. Some guys kind of drift away when they're not involved, and that's not what he was.
"He was as engaged as anybody and always wanted to be a part of everything that was going on and still tried to do any little thing he could. Like if he was only allowed to lift with the right arm or the left arm, he'd do it. If he was only allowed to do sit-ups, he'd do them. He'd do whatever he was allowed to do. And he probably did things that he wasn't allowed to do.
"Guys like that provide such an energy and synergy to the program and everybody feeds off of his passion and his desire to play. There are other guys, and maybe they're moping around a little bit, and they'll say, 'There's Ody; man, he coulda' just said forget it.' He'll do whatever he's got to do, and they feed off of that."
Such was and is Odykirk's passion for the game, for his teammates, for the university. His focus was on football and school, and he earned his degree in communications/marketing last spring and is working on his master's.
The kidney disease? Something to deal with. Nothing more, nothing less.
"It was frustrating," he said. "I wouldn't say it was super hard. I just kind of took it in stride. Tough stuff happens, everyone has their battles, and I just kind of faced it head-on. I had no doubts in my mind that I could get through it and get better."
Senior year
Odykirk is back on the field, once again a contributing member on defense, on special teams and, as a member of the senior class, filling an all-important role as a leader.
He doesn't seek sympathy or the spotlight. He simply wants today what he's always wanted, to do what he can to help the CMU program, to be a part of it, and to carry on the family name.
"To have something taken away, and not be able to play and not know if you could even play," Odykirk said. "Then to come back, all of a sudden for your senior year, it's a blessing."
It's a blessing, too, to have a strong family to lean on, be it on the football field or in life. Colton's mother, Lora, suffered a brain hemorrhage in 2009 that has left her requiring constant care.
Football, and all that goes with it, is important - critically important - to Colton Odykirk. And there's family.
"I knew there were expectations, but I never really felt the pressure that I had to come to CMU or I had to play at a certain level," he said. "I knew that my character and the way that I held myself as a man, I had to hold up to those expectations.
"As far as football? That's one aspect, but it's not who I am as a person."
Colton Odykirk will walk on to the turf at Kelly/Shorts Stadium during Senior Day later this season. There will be a lot of people with him, both in body and in spirit, many named Odykirk, all bleeding maroon and gold.
For a young man who can't remember the first time he set foot in Kelly/Shorts Stadium because he was so young, Odykirk will never forget the final time he does in a Chippewa uniform.
"You grow up watching guys play out here and now I'm playing out here," Odykirk said. "It makes my family proud, and that's what makes me happy."
