New York Times

From the Grass Roots of Iowa Comes the Thinking Man's Passer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Oct. 12 - A nightly ritual at the
Orton household in Altoona, Iowa, prepared Purdue
quarterback Kyle Orton for both of his potential
professions.

The Orton family faithfully watched Dan Rather deliver the
"CBS Evening News" and talked about politics and current
events at dinner. Byron Orton, Kyle's father, has worked in
state government since 1975 and is now Iowa's labor
commissioner.

Growing up, Kyle Orton learned about the importance of a
strong work ethic and the fundamentals of liberal politics.

Both lessons resonate today in this election year's Heisman
Trophy campaign, and perhaps in the future, when his
football career ends. Orton plans to return eventually to
Iowa and run for Congress.

"It's definitely something that I want to do when I get
older," Orton said. "I think I'd be good at it for the sole
fact that I wouldn't be a career politician."

Orton is expected to be a first-round pick in April's
N.F.L. draft. He leads the nation with 18 touchdown passes,
and Purdue's No. 5 ranking in the Associated Press poll is
its highest since 1979. The publicity and name recognition
Orton gains from a National Football League career could
help him make the transition into the political arena.

As quickly as Orton can whisk through his pass reads on the
field, he can rattle off the names of political figures who
have used their sports fame to help their off-the-field
careers.

First and foremost for Orton is Tom Osborne, the former
coach at Nebraska. Orton's uncle Greg Orton played at
Nebraska under Osborne, which is why Kyle Orton grew up a
die-hard Cornhuskers fan. Kyle Orton watched Osborne leave
the sideline and become a Nebraska congressman in 2000.

Orton also noted that the former New Jersey Senator Bill
Bradley and two former Oklahoma congressmen, J. C. Watts
and Steve Largent, used their clout from playing sports to
help them win office.

"They've made their money and they want to help people,"
Orton said. "That's what makes them good politicians."

Orton said that his beliefs and work ethic came from his
father, who he said showed through work like enforcing
child labor laws and minimum wage requirements that
everyone deserves a voice.

"The biggest influence he had on my beliefs is that there
are people working hard every single day that don't
necessarily make a lot of money doing it," Orton said.
"There should be more people working for them."

Orton is a history major with a grade point average near
3.0, and he recently finished reading Bill Clinton's
1,000-plus-page autobiography, "My Life." Not for a class,
just for fun.

This summer, Orton approached the Purdue associate history
professor Michael A. Morrison about taking an independent
study course on postwar liberalism. Orton got to shape the
coursework, which involved reading all or parts of 15 books
about Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and John F.
Kennedy.

The independent study left a strong impression on Morrison,
who praised Orton's papers.

Morrison could also see Byron Orton's influence in Kyle
Orton's writing about the Great Depression.

"He was responsive to the plight of these people," Morrison
said. "He had empathy with the misery that many of them
were suffering. Although the paper was quite good on
policy, it had a real good feel for people."

True to Orton's modest nature, Morrison never knew about
his political aspirations until reading about them in a
newspaper article this fall. Orton's unassuming manner
makes him popular with his teammates and coaches. Orton
claims to be nothing more than a country boy who chews
tobacco, fishes for bass and drives a beat-up red pickup
truck.

His teammates tease him that he is the worst-dressed Purdue
player. Orton just shrugs, saying that his boots and
untucked shirts are part of who he is.

Purdue Coach Joe Tiller calls Orton "my kind of guy," and
has developed a deep relationship off the field with him.
Tiller's father worked as an inspector at a factory in
Toledo, Ohio, logging eight-hour shifts on his feet with
his slide rule tucked in his shirt pocket.

Tiller said that his father developed ulcers late in his
career because of the pressure to approve products and got
the "proverbial silver watch" upon his retirement.

"Maybe that's one of the reasons that Kyle and I get along
so well," Tiller said. "My dad was a blue-collar guy, a
working guy. We grew up in similar types of backgrounds,
similar types of philosophies."

Tiller and Orton often talk presidential politics, and
things can get animated because Tiller supports President
Bush and Orton supports Senator John Kerry. After Tiller
saw a speech on C-Span recently about immigration, he got a
copy of it and lent it to Orton to watch.

"He's like a friend, I guess," Tiller said. "You talk about
something that hits home and you move on."

Tiller jokes with Orton all the time that he will never
make it in politics. "He's too honest," Tiller said. "He's
an honest person and the definition of politics is playing
the system and playing the game."

Orton said that he and Tiller clicked instantly during
recruiting. He liked the coach's honest style and felt at
home in West Lafayette, a gritty town dotted with billowing
smokestacks. Both Orton's career and his relationship with
Tiller blossomed after he was benched in his sophomore
year.

Orton's big arm and high school reputation were a perfect
fit for Purdue's pass-oriented spread offense. Still, Orton
struggled to mature. Relying too much on his natural
ability, he did not study much film his freshman year. His
sophomore year, he sustained a concussion and his play was
inconsistent, prompting Tiller to sit him for four starts.

That forced Orton to develop a blue-collar edge and not to
let anyone outwork him. Over time, Orton developed into a
meticulous student of game film, and he puts in about three
hours studying it every day.

Orton watches so intently that he notices where linebackers
look on plays they blitz and analyzes a team's down and
distance, personnel and tendencies. Mastery of those
nuances allows him to call audibles on about 40 percent of
the plays.

"If you're not ready to have the ability to audible,
there's no way you can be on the football field," Orton
said. "I learned that if I didn't watch enough film I'd be
getting hit in the mouth."

Orton - 6 feet 4 and 226 pounds - is now the one delivering
the blows, and he can go a long way toward winning the
Heisman with impressive performances in the next two weeks.
Purdue is host to No. 10 Wisconsin on Saturday and No. 14
Michigan the following weekend.

These are heady times at Purdue, as a victory this week
would improve the Boilermakers to 6-0 for the first time
since 1943. Orton would be the Boilermakers' first Heisman
winner, and he certainly has the credentials: Purdue ranks
No. 4 nationally in scoring average (41.8) and second in
passing offense (351.2 yards a game). Orton, though, isn't
particularly concerned about the numbers or the trophy. He
is worried about victories.

One of the reasons he would love to be a finalist for the
Heisman is the chance to visit New York for the first time
to see some of the locations from his favorite show,
"Seinfeld." Orton is a devoted fan - his girlfriend bought
him an autographed picture of the Soup Nazi and he has a
T-shirt that his roommate got him from Tom's Restaurant. He
even named his dog Elaine after the Julia Louis-Dreyfus
character.

To earn his trip to New York, Orton is letting his play on
the field do the lobbying. He will save his stumping for
votes for later in his career.

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98920821&ei=1&en=9b53170dd103c0c9