Christopher Anthony Laskowski (born September 12, 1981, in Melbourne

Melbourne, Florida

Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. As of 2009, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 78,323. The municipal area is the second largest by size and by population in the county. Melbourne is a principal city of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

) was an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 linebacker

Linebacker

A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...

 turned safety, with the Indianapolis Colts

Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....

. In August 2006, the Colts placed him on injured reserve with a sports hernia injury, then reached an injury settlement with him and released him from the team.

High School Years

Laskowski attended Rockledge High School in Rockledge, Florida

Rockledge, Florida

Rockledge is the oldest city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 20,170 at the 2000 census. As of 2008, the estimated population according to the U.S. Census Bureau is 24,747. It is part of the Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Metropolitan Statistical...

 and was a letterwinner in football

High school football

High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

, wrestling

Scholastic wrestling

Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...

, and baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

. In football, he was an All-Conference honoree and an All-State honoree. In wrestling, he was a two-time State Qualifier. In baseball, he won All-Conference honors. Chris Laskowski graduated from Rockledge High School in 2000.

College years

As a freshman at Florida Atlantic University

Florida Atlantic University

Florida Atlantic University, also referred to as FAU or Florida Atlantic, is a public, coeducational, research university located in , United States. The university has six satellite campuses located in the Florida cities of Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, Port St. Lucie, and in Fort...

, he was a walk-on to the school's first football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 team in 2000. He was named the team MVP

Most Valuable Player

In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...

 in 2002, and co-MVP his final two years, and was invited to the Hula Bowl

Hula Bowl

The Hula Bowl was an independently administered post-season invitational college football game held each year in Hawaii from 1947 to 2008. The game was last played at Aloha Stadium in the Hālawa district of Honolulu, Hawaii. At one point the longest-running sporting event in Hawaii, it had been...

as a senior. In 2005, the Colts signed him as an undrafted free agent, cut him during the preseason, and re-signed him to their practice squad. In January 2006 Chris was re-signed as a safety and began training camp in July.