Chris Carr reflects on American values, Boise State beginnings

Carr at a football game in 2003. Photo provided by Boise State Special Collections and Archives

Before Chris Carr was cornerback and return specialist for the Boise State Broncos, and long before he was a Virginia-based immigration attorney and father of three, he was a kid from Reno, Nevada, moving to Boise to play football and pursue a political science degree. He didn't start with a plan to play for the NFL or attend law school. But he did know, from the beginning, that he "needed to take school very seriously."

"I didn't come from money," he explained. He wanted a stable, fulfilling job. At the time (Carr attended Boise State from 2001-2004), the Boise State football team was on the rise to elite status but hadn't yet established a track record of sending players to the NFL.

"Football really was like, 'Well, if that works out, that's a temporary thing,'" Carr said. "You can't play sports forever." Instead, Carr eyed a career in politics. He'd enjoyed his high school government classes and figured becoming a politician could be a natural next step.

Carr eventually realized that being a politician would require too many speeches, too much attention on him all the time. "But I'm very happy that I chose political science," he added, "because I had a constitutional law class, and that is what motivated me to become an attorney."

How one Boise State class sparked a career shift

Carr during his Boise State years.
Photo provided by Boise State Special Collections and Archives

Todd Lochner, now a professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, taught the constitutional law course.

"I just remember we would have a topic, whether it was procedural due process or First Amendment law, and [Lochner] would take one constitutional view and really challenge everyone on it. We would leave the classroom convinced his view was probably correct," Carr said. "And then he'd come in the next day, and he would take the opposite view. He would just destroy everything, all the arguments that he had presented the day before."

The class introduced Carr to the complexities of law.

"It was something the first time in my life where I actually realized I like something more than sports," he said.

Lochner also recognized Carr as a standout talent.

"One of the things I noticed about Chris was that even as an undergraduate, his ability to analyze case law, reason through the case law, was as good as first- or even second-year law students that I knew," Lochner said in an interview for The Washington Post's 2017 profile of Carr.

An NFL career, out of The Blue

Carr (left) with fellow player Ryan Dinwiddie at a press conference after the Fort Worth Bowl in December 2003.
Photo provided by Boise State Special Collections and Archives

Focused on law, but still passionate about sports, Carr balanced a full course load with a spot on the Boise State football team. His senior year, he took the LSAT and prepared recommendation letters for law school applications. The Oakland Raiders signed Carr as an undrafted free agent in 2005.

"It was kind of an advantage, a blessing in disguise," Carr reflected on the lack of pressure he felt to pursue an NFL career. "It was kind of like, 'I can just give [football] my all, and if it just doesn't work out, I'll just go to law school.'"

Carr played on NFL teams as a cornerback and kick returner until his retirement in 2014.

Fulfillment through service

The NFL took Carr to "every corner and region of the US." There was lots to love, he said, about his football career: the memories, the sense of community with his teammates, and getting to travel. He even appreciated the difficulties.

"There's a lot of disappointment in sports," he said. "That's the great thing about it." Pushing through disappointment made him a more perseverant and confident person, abilities that bolstered him during law school.

But Carr said he doesn't think about football much anymore. Carr has called Arlington, Virginia, home since his 2014 NFL retirement. In 2017, he graduated from The George Washington University Law School. He works as a partner at Murray Osorio, PLLC, a full-service immigration firm.

"It's a pleasure to be able to help people," Carr said. "Even if it's kind of a non-dramatic case, if it's a business owner that's trying to come to the United States, or it's a sports visa - it's still daunting to come to a new country and find your way. … Helping someone navigate that is very gratifying."

What does Carr value, and why?

Carr with his wife and three children. Photo provided by Chris Carr

Like Lochman in the constitutional law class all those years ago, Carr values a diversity of opinions - listening to people who are different from himself.

"Social media has made us short-sighted and less thoughtful, less willing to think about the human aspect of discussion," Carr said. "Any civic aspirations where we try to engage with each other and listen, it's good for the nation."

The event grew out of Idaho Listens, a Boise State initiative launched in 2022. At America Listens, speakers from across the country from different backgrounds will respond to the question, "What do you value and why?"

Share This

• Share on Facebook
• Share on X
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share through Email