DAVIS, Calif. -- On not one but two occasions, UC Davis provided another chance for kicker Max O'Rourke to extend his football career. 

The first such opportunity came in the wake of an injury sustained while a senior at Rocklin High, when UC Davis Health – now the namesake of the Aggies' home stadium – rebuilt his leg and allowed him to return to the game. The second circumstance takes the form of the university's Graduate School of Management, where a master's degree allowed O'Rourke to stay one more year on campus, and one more year to take the field with his UC Davis teammates.

Many an Aggie fan already knows about the injury: the initial coverage from Sacramento Bee prep sports writer Joe Davidson eventually expanded to such outlets as the New York Daily News and London's Daily Mail. During a game against Del Oro High School in October of 2014, O'Rourke suffered a broken femur, or more specifically, a fracture at the greater trochanter. Such an injury was unusual even for the rough nature of football: the physicians told him it was the type of break someone would endure when being hit by a car or from falling from a five-story building, not from an ordinary play on the football field.

"There was maybe a 15-minute period after they came in and broke the news that it was broken when I was grieving about it: senior year is over," O'Rourke recalls. "Things were going so well both for the team and for myself. I was getting a lot of college football interest and I knew that would be gone at that point."

After viewing the charts, physicians discovered grimmer news. What made O'Rourke's femur more prone to fracture was, in fact, a tumor. Or they way the doctors initially described it, his leg was "hollowed out."

"That's when it wasn't about football anymore. There were much more serious issues going on," said O'Rourke. "That's when there was kind of a reversal. My parents were even more devastated but I kind of 'sobered up' once I saw the magnitude of the event.

This diagnosis forced a move from Sutter Roseville to UC Davis Health, as the latter had one of only two orthopedic oncologists in Northern California. Fortunately, that type of tumor – known as a unicameral bone cyst – is benign. Of a 10-hour surgery, the first two were spent on removing the cyst, and the remaining eight went toward repacking the hollowed bone with healthy tissue and setting the leg with a metal plate. 

In fact, it was not until O'Rourke awoke from the surgery that he learned of his cancer-free diagnosis. "My first word coming out was 'cancer?' Obviously, it was something that was weighing on me even though I was trying to stay positive."

Despite that moment of relief, the thought of playing football still seemed beyond the most distant horizon. "When they were saying, 'you're going to be good in July,' they meant I could walk without a limp by July. The idea of using that leg to kick field goals was not what they were looking for at the time. No one could guess the time frame." O'Rourke was limited to a wheelchair, then later to crutches, for the better part of three months. He had to sit out his senior basketball season, although he did get to participate in the Thunder's Senior Night game. 

Still, O'Rourke's recovery lingered into his freshman year at Boise State. During preseason camp, the athletic trainers immediately detected an oddity to his gait ("they said I looked like I was running sideways") and he recalled feeling pain when connecting awkwardly on a kick. O'Rourke underwent what was effectively a second round of rehab to advance his leg not just back to normal health, but to football strength. He attended BSU for the remainder of the school year, and felt much more comfortable and confident during the ensuing spring ball, but ultimately chose to return home for "a fresh start." 

His playing career remained uncertain, until a phone call from American River College head coach Jon Osterhout led to an invite to join the nearby school's football team. "It was 30 minutes into that first practice when I thought, all right, I'm not done. I had worked too hard for this and I'd wanted to do this for too long."

O'Rourke scored 63 points in that redshirt freshman season, and even managed a stint under center against CCSF. He earned All-NorCal League first-team honors and helped the Beavers capture the state championship. O'Rourke completed his associate of arts degree, while his renewed college recruiting stock paid dividends: he signed his National Letter of Intent to play for UC Davis and then-new head coach Dan Hawkins in February of 2017.

O'Rourke hit a combined 21 field goals and 102 PATs during his sophomore and junior seasons, helping the Aggies to their historic Big Sky Conference crown in 2018. During that title run, O'Rourke was assembling his application for the university's Graduate School of Management. After all, he had another year of football on his eligibility lock, but only two quarters of undergraduate curriculum remaining on his scholastic checklist.

Attending graduate school was already part of O'Rourke's overall academic plan upon his arrival at UC Davis. He had completed his associate degree at ARC a semester ahead of schedule, so a communication major would allow him to finish his bachelor's degree inless than four years while also positioning him for a career in business. O'Rourke was accepted into the GSM's Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAc) program in February, then walked across the commencement stage for his bachelor's degree in June, already armed with his new opportunity to combine grad school and football.

"When I started looking at my options for graduate school, this one just stuck out," he said. "I looked at other programs but there weren't any that just fit like this one."

For what it's worth, the UC Davis GSM has celebrated its current or former Aggie student-athletes who take pursue the MPAc degree. Lauren Beyer played her final year of basketball while enrolled in the program, and her athletics journey took center stage in her student profile. Two years later, swimmer Courtney Schultz shared her story toward an accounting career, with her athletics career providing the foundation.

Most recently, O'Rourke had his moment on the GSM stage, weaving his football career with his business career in this blog post. He admits the rigors of balancing school and sports are even tougher now, especially since his class schedule consists of one four-hour class per day for four days a week. However, the subject matter is so much more interesting and applicable, O'Rourke says, that he truly enjoys the experience. The MPAc will prepare him for the exam for a CPA license, and his career plans are to enter the auditing side of accounting.

In the end, finding the right fit steered O'Rourke to this point in his career. "I bounced around a few different programs and things didn't feel right, although I didn't notice it while I was there," said O'Rourke. "It wasn't until I got to UC Davis that I knew it. I knew my teammates and my coaches were the people who I want play my last few years of football with. Listening to Coach Hawkins and Coach Creighton, I could tell this program has similar values that I do. I made some of my best friends here: Matt Blair, John Aloma, Grant Hilton, Daniel Whelan and all of those guys. I'm glad I made this decision."

The Aggies hold a 4-5 record and a strong finish to the 2019 schedule would position them for a second straight playoff run. For his part, O'Rourke ranks among the school's all-time career leaders in field goals (t7th), PATs (3rd) and total points (8th).

And sure, when those points go up on a scoreboard now branded with the name UC Davis Health, O'Rourke almost certainly feels an extra layer of gratitude.

ABOUT UC DAVIS: Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley. The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal, and among the top 10 public universities nationwide according to U.S. News and World Report, UC Davis offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.

AGGIE EVO: Established in 2017-18, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.

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