CPT Names Kansas City Chiefs John Dorsey NFL General Manager of the Year

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Earns Prestigious "Golden Crab" Honor

for Survival & Exceptionalism

In a rare move for the Coltons Point Times, so rare it never happened before, we have initiated the first "Golden Crab" honor and bestowed it upon John Michael Dorsey for the incredible success he had his first year as General Manager of the Kansas City Chiefs NFL team.

There are many parts of John's story, the stuff legends are made of, that the world needs to hear because this is not just a story of success in football, nor about landing a critical position in one of the best franchises in professional football after two decades at the most legendary franchise in professional football history, the Green Bay Packers.

I mean how many professional jock stories can say the subject has direct ties to the 1634 landing of English settlers in Maryland?  How many can say his family is one of a handful of original pioneers, get this sports fans, from the oldest continuously occupied chartered community in the original 13 colonies?

It gets better.  Not only can John's ancestry be traced back to the landing at St. Clement's Island in 1634, that was 380 years ago for those of you short on math, but his family has lived there the entire time since.  Since St. Clements was just the 3rd settlement in America (only Jamestown and Plymouth Rock preceded it and both of them disappeared by the late 1600's) this apparently qualifies John Michael as a true Colonial Blue Blood.

Fast forward to the 20th century.

Phil, Helen, Walt & John Dorsey 

John was born in 1960 in Leonardtown, Maryland into a family headed by patriarch Walter B. Dorsey.  When his father died in 2009 it was the end of a tumultuous yet golden era in Southern Maryland and statewide politics as this third generation public servant put his indelible stamp on history and left a rich legacy of service, a shrewd record of political survival and a mosaic of interwoven personal experiences that made Walter bigger than life.

Then again, it was only appropriate that Walter, the son of a son of a son of an Irishman would use his Irish wit, his Leprechaun mischief, his command of language and gift of storytelling to mesmerize juries, outwit the opposition and more likely than not aggravate the judges while amassing a stunning record of victory in court and politics.

Walter was first and foremost a people person with a love of knowledge, a hunger for defending the little people and a panache for competition and controversy.  He came from two generations of political activists, a heritage in Southern Maryland transcending centuries and a desire to fight for what was right.

Before that the ancestral family came from Ireland by way of England, France and Nordic countries with the name changing from D'Arcy in France to Dorsey in Ireland.  It was Ireland where John Dorsey, NFL football star met the Mayor of Dublin, John Dorsey, on a trip.

Fate put him in a family where politics ran in the blood.  His great, great grandfather was Philip Dorsey, born in Calvert County but an adventurer who was part of the 1849 gold rush in California.  Walter once told me family lore says his great grandfather Philip found gold and once owned a claim to what became San Francisco.  Then he caught a ship for home that sailed around South America

Family legend has it the ship wrecked rounding Cape Horn off Chile and Philip was lost at sea and given up for dead.  More than two years later he showed up in Maryland saying he walked all the way up the Amazon through South, Central and North America to St. Mary's County, Maryland.  As for his claim for San Francisco, he probably lost it in a poker game.

John's great grandfather, Walter B. Dorsey, was first elected to the Maryland House of delegates in 1911 while his grandfather, Judge Philip H. Dorsey was a Circuit Court Judge who was elected Senator in 1926 and to the House of Delegates in 1930 and 1934.  His father Walter was first elected State Attorney in 1954, then elected to the State Senate in 1958, the third generation Dorsey to serve in the state legislature.  He was then elected State Attorney again in 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994.  From 1962-66 he served as Assistant Attorney General for the state and in the 1970's he served as the Deputy Maryland Public Defender.

During the three generations of Dorsey politicians Southern Maryland became a hotbed for statewide politics and many a weekend was spent at the Dorsey home with whoever the presiding governor of Maryland might be.  You see, in those days the Democrats controlled the Baltimore area and the Republicans controlled the Washington suburbs.  To win you often needed St. Mary's County and that meant the Dorsey family.

Needless to say the Dorsey DNA from the swashbuckling colonial pioneers to the rough and tumble world of Maryland and national politics was well suited for young John Michael Dorsey as he excelled in football in high school then was off to the University of Connecticut.

At U Conn he was a four year starter at linebacker while he earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Economics.  Twice John was named Yankee Conference Player of the Year and capped his collegiate career by being named NCAA Division 1AA All American.

As if there was any doubt as to his talent, he was drafted in the 4th round of the NFL draft by the storied Green Bay Packers and played five years before knee injuries ended his playing days.  His thirty-five special teams tackles for the Packers in 1984 is still a team record. Dorsey totaled 130 tackles and two fumble recoveries during his five-year career.

After his playing career ended, Dorsey chose to remain in football, taking a job as a college scout for the Packers in May 1991. He was later promoted to Director of College Scouting for the team in February 1997.  In January of 1999, Dorsey followed former Packers coach Mike Holmgren to the Seattle Seahawks assuming the role of the team's Director of Player Personnel but after just over a year in the Pacific Northwest, Dorsey resigned and returned to the Packers.

He served as Director of College Scouting and remained in that position through 2011 when he was named Director of Football Operations for Green Bay. Dorsey is credited with making the Packers one of the best drafting teams in the NFL, helping choose star players like Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews and Greg Jennings.

John left behind an amazing history with the Green Bay Packers where he was part of a group that made 15 playoff appearances and won two Super Bowls in 21 years.

On January 13, 2013, news broke that Dorsey had agreed to become the new general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs.  The move reunited Dorsey with new Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.

Talk about challenges.  The year before John arrived the Chiefs were 2-14 and that was the team the new GM inherited.  In his first year Kansas City partisans were stunned when the Chiefs won their first three games, more wins than the entire previous season.  They were the only team in NFL history to win 2 or fewer games the previous season and then win the first four games the next season.

On October 13, 2013 Chiefs fans broke the Guinness World Record for loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium with 137.5 decibels, a record later reclaimed by the Seattle Seahawks, but the Chiefs record was a precursor of good things to come.  When the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Payton Manning led Denver Broncos in week 7 of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs were the final undefeated team in the NFL.  As if that was not enough, the Chiefs clinched a playoff berth but lost to the Indianapolis Colts in one of the wildest Wild Card shootouts in playoff history 45-44.

When the dust finally settled the Chiefs had a season record of 11-5, finished 2nd in the AFC and made the playoffs.  All in all it was an amazing first year as General Manager after inheriting a team that was 2-14 the previous year.

John has another connection to Kansas City besides being GM.  He first met his wife Patricia in Kansas City while on a scouting trip for the Packers and married her after a couple of years of dating.  Patricia Sexton-Dorsey already had ties to the Kansas City area prior to her husband's hiring as the Chiefs General Manager. She is an attorney and partner in a large Kansas City-based law firm who worked from her Wisconsin home while they were in Green Bay.  She is a native of Abilene, Kansas and attended both the University of Kansas and Washburn University in Topeka were she earned her law degree.

As for living in middle America, John had this response to a reporter's question if there were similarities between Green Bay and Kansas City.

“Absolutely. In the people. It’s the Midwest. Work ethic is huge. Principle is big. Those traditional Midwest values that I have grown to love and respect.”

For a lifetime of professional football experience at the highest levels of the sport, a stunning first year as General Manager of the Chiefs, for returning to Kansas City so his wife didn't have to commute from Wisconsin and for recognizing the value of living in the Midwest (the CPT publisher is from neighboring state Iowa), John Michael Dorsey is awarded the CPT "Golden Crab" honor and is forever a member of the Secret Society of Golden Crabs but please don't tell anyone.

What's the story on the Golden Crab?

Since hardly any of my readers are from Southern Maryland you should know Maryland is the Mecca for Atlantic crabs along with oysters, clams, eels, and all that other stuff you find in the Atlantic, the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay where John was also big in swimming, fishing, boating and water skiing.

The crab, or crustacean as it is known to the local Watermen, is the most valuable species harvested from the Chesapeake Bay.  As a result it is the state "Species" whatever that means since I never got past state mottos, songs, flowers and animals.  Technically the Blue Crab or Callinectes sapidus Rathbun is the official Maryland State Species.

By the way, John did leave behind on the East Coast a brother, Phil and sister, Helen to preserve the family ties to the Colonial Blue Bloods.

Congratulations John Michael Dorsey for giving hope to the Chief's fans and don't forget to drop by your family roots on the banks of the Potomac when you can where you can still catch your own blue crabs.  Hummm...  Blue crabs and Blue Bloods...

John, your "Golden Crab" will be delivered as soon as we can get it back in the truck.  

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