Igor Olshansky

Igor Olshansky (; born 3 May 1982) is a former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon and was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2004 NFL draft. He also played for the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.

He is the first Ukrainian to play in the NFL, and the first born in the Soviet Union to do so.

Early life Olshansky was born in the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR (now Ukraine). His father Yury had played basketball for the Red Army. Shortly before the break-up of the Soviet Union, he and his family moved to San Francisco in 1989, when he was seven years old. His maternal grandfather, Abraham Rubshevsky, served in the Red Army during World War II and was wounded 11 times. During his youth he attended the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy in San Francisco, headed by Rabbi Pinchos Lipner, an Orthodox Jewish day school. He then attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory on a basketball scholarship, and – already 6' 5" in the 10th grade – played basketball for the school until his junior year, while concurrently playing basketball in the Maccabiah Games in St. Louis and Milwaukee. After two years, he also began playing football in his junior year in high school. He was honorable mention All-Pac-10 as a sophomore, second-team All-Pac-10 as a junior, and recipient of the Joe Schaffeld Trophy as the Ducks' top defensive lineman after both his sophomore and junior seasons. He was used at all defensive line positions. Olshansky left school following his junior season, with one year of eligibility remaining.

Professional career

2004 NFL Combine

In early try-outs for the draft, he bench-pressed 102.1 kilograms (225 lbs) 41 times on one try, two presses short of the rookie record. In August 2004, Olshansky and the Chargers agreed on a 6-year contract, with the final year being voidable. The contract called for a $2.25 million signing bonus and had a value of $5.2 million over five years, through the 2008 NFL season. He became the NFL's first Soviet-born player.

In his rookie season in 2004, he started all 16 of the team's games.

Olshansky was ejected from a game against the Denver Broncos on 19 November 2006. He punched Broncos center Tom Nalen after what appeared to be Nalen trying to cut block Olshansky on a clock-stopping spike play. Olshansky had recently had knee surgery when Nalen went after Olshansky's knees. Two days later, the NFL fined Nalen $25,000 for the cut block, more than double the $10,000 fine Olshansky received for the punch.

With the Chargers, he had 151 tackles and 11 sacks in 75 games, starting all but 5 of them.

Dallas Cowboys Olshansky signed a four-year contract with the Dallas Cowboys on 6 March 2009. He finished the season with 76 tackles (seventh on the team), 2 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 12 quarterback pressures and 3 passes defensed.

In 2010, he started 14 games, registering 38 tackles (tenth on the team), one tackle for loss, 4 quarterback pressures and 2 passes defensed. He was released on 3 September 2011.

Miami Dolphins Olshansky was signed by the Miami Dolphins on 20 September 2011. He was waived on 30 November.

NFL statistics Year Team GP Comb Total Ast Sck FF FR FR Yds Int IR Yds Avg IR Lng TD PD 2004 SD 16 39 24 15 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2005 SD 14 29 18 11 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2006 SD 13 33 18 15 1.5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2007 SD 16 49 35 14 3.5 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 2008 SD 16 29 21 8 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2009 DAL 16 40 29 11 1.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2010 DAL 16 38 17 21 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2011 MIA 8 7 4 3 0.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Career 115 264 166 98 12.5 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 8

Personal life

He has many tattoos, including two Stars of David on his neck. He is regularly featured in Jewish news publications.