Jake Olson will never forget the first time he met his favorite football player.
It was 2009, and Olson — 12 years old and the center on his flag football team — was battling retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the retina. The disease took Olson’s left eye when he was 10 months; he would later lose his right eye.
The Make-a-Wish Foundation paired Olson with USC, his favorite team. He was soon asked to name his favorite player. It was a no-brainer: Kris O’Dowd, a Salpointe Catholic graduate and USC’s standout center.
“Everyone back then would’ve thought Matt Barkley, or Ronald Johnson or Joe McKnight, or something like that,” Olson said this week, mentioning some former USC stars. “But for it to be Kris, everyone was like, ‘Who?’ Kris comes running down all happy because he was like, ‘Oh my God, this is my one moment to shine.’
“He gives me a big hug and I got to sit with him for the rest of the special teams meeting. … Kris became that player that I really loved hanging out with.”
The two instantly hit it off. Olson continued to attend the Trojans’ practices and team meetings long after his “wish” ended. O’Dowd would bring Olson to film sessions, in part because the Trojans’ offensive line coach — noting the 12-year-old in the room — wouldn’t yell as much.
Olson kept playing football; when he arrived at USC in 2015, the least likely long snapper in the history of the sport, he wore O’Dowd’s old jersey number: 61.
“Kris definitely helped me through the hard times of my life and I helped him through the hard times of his, and there’s a special bond between us that doesn’t normally happen, but I’m not surprised,” Olson said. “Back when I was 12, we knew there would be more to our relationship than just USC football.”
Salpointe High School football player Kris O’Dowd in 2006.
The two lifelong friends will share another moment on Friday. Salpointe Catholic will retire O’Dowd’s high school jersey number — 76 — at halftime of the Lancers’ home game against Sahuaro. Olson, in town for Saturday’s game between the UA and USC, will be at O’Dowd’s side.
Olson’s presence is about more than support: O’Dowd hosted a fundraiser Thursday night, with the proceeds benefiting the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. Olson will speak to ASDB students on Friday night.
“Being able to help out the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind and get this fundraiser to get the community together and help a cause, it makes it really special,” O’Dowd said. “I’m using this platform as an opportunity to help children.”
O’Dowd was arguably the best lineman in Tucson high school football history. He played left tackle at Salpointe from 2003 to 2006. Extra fans would pack in wherever the Lancers went, coach Dennis Bene said, because it’s not often a Tucson product draws attention from the best college football programs in the country.
O’Dowd earned scholarship offers from 40 of the nation’s top programs. He ultimately chose USC over Ohio State, UCLA, Tennessee and a late contender, Arizona.
O’Dowd was all smiles in 2006 when he put on a USC cap and announced he was going to be a Trojan. After his days at USC, he played briefly with the Cardinals, Jets and Seahawks for two years.
“He was the most dominant lineman in Arizona his senior year,” Bene said. “I mean he just mauled people. I can remember going down to play (Sierra Vista) Buena and there was a line of like 500 people and they were all there by our locker room just to see Kris walk by. They came to see him, and he was a lineman. He was just one of those special types of kids you get every decade or so.”
O’Dowd was too heavy to play Pop Warner football as a kid, so he gravitated to other sports. He calls basketball “my first true love,” and was set to play the sport for then Salpointe coach Brian Peabody when an injury affected his growth plates. O’Dowd was 6 feet 3 inches at the time; he would grow just 1 inch more.
“Realistically, I knew basketball wasn’t going to take me to the next level,” he said.
O’Dowd began playing football as a freshman. He chose No. 76 to pay homage to Rams legend Orlando Pace, who was one of O’Dowd’s favorites. O’Dowd played in a handful of games as a freshman and was a regular by the following year.
By his senior season, O’Dowd was Parade All-American and a second-team USA Today All-American. He also participated in the 2007 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Jake Olson, who lost his sight to a cancer called retinoblastoma, is a long snapper for USC. He wears the No. 61 jersey, the same number Salpointe Catholic graduate Kris O’Dowd wore when he was a Trojan.
O’Dowd played briefly with the NFL’s Cardinals, Jets and Seahawks in 2011 and 2012. He now lives and works in Los Angeles. When USC played Washington State last week, O’Dowd — along with former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez — led the Trojans onto the field before the game. It was a twist; O’Dowd was the inspirational leader while Olson, who once did the same, was the player.
“As much as he looks up to me, I truly believe in my heart that I look up to him more,” O’Dowd said. “That is somebody I’d like to model my life after and to wake up with the type of energy, passion and dedication that he puts into everything that he touches. …
“What ended up being one meeting ended up into a beautiful friendship and a relationship that I will hold close to me for the rest of my life.”
