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istanbulpacker
15 years ago
There was a brief discussion about this earlier this year in regards to the draft. Peter King from SI.com tipped me off to this story. Pretty cool if you ask me. Guy (from FSU, nonetheless!!!) forgoes draft eligibility to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Truly a role model for kids to follow, in my opinion. Kudos to Peter Thamel of the NYT for keeping this kid's name in the public eye.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/sports/ncaafootball/25rolle.html?_r=1&ref=sports 

OXFORD, England Instead of chasing after wide receivers in the N.F.L., Myron Rolle came here to chase ghosts around the ancient campus of the

Rolle, 22, established himself as an elite student and athlete at Florida State, becoming a Rhodes scholar and a top N.F.L. prospect. But he temporarily said no to millions of dollars and risked his N.F.L. draft standing to study here. He is perhaps the most prominent athlete to accept a Rhodes scholarship since Bill Bradley in 1965.

I feel a little disappointed when I see guys playing on Sundays, especially guys Im friends with, said Rolle, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound safety. But when I walk out of my accommodations in Norham Gardens and spend time with my friends and go to class, I realize that I did make a good choice. Its been worth it.
Rolle walks the same streets that the future president Bill Clinton did when he was a Rhodes scholar. Rolle trains on the same grounds where Roger Bannister, an Oxford graduate, ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954. And as Rolle prepares for a life as a doctor and philanthropist after football, he aims to take a similar path as his role model, Bradley, the former N.B.A. player and United States senator.

Rolle plans to carve his own legacy after Oxford by attending medical school and becoming a neurosurgeon. He has started a foundation that is building a medical clinic and recreation center on a remote island in the Bahamas.

Although he misses football, Rolle has forged friendships that cross cultures and continents. He takes stimulating classes in which discussions and engaging classmates matter more than papers and tests.

I think its a great message for all of us, N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell said of Rolles decision to attend Oxford. Even the greatest players dont play forever. And theyre going to have to think about other careers, and hes obviously thought about that at a young age.

Football remains a part of Rolles future. He rises at 6:30 a.m. every day for two-hour workouts to prepare for this springs N.F.L. draft. Bradley, by contrast, ate five meals a day, did not exercise and gained 30 pounds in the two years he studied abroad, he said in a recent phone interview. Bradley jokingly encouraged Rolle not to follow his lead.

Bradley said he was proud that Rolle had set the groundwork for a life after sports. Rolle and his foundation have made strides toward raising the $5 million it will cost to open the clinic in the Bahamas. Rolles decision to study for a masters degree in medical anthropology here will help him build an education foundation for his medicinal and philanthropic career.

It shows real character on his part that hes giving up the chance to sign a big N.F.L. contract and going to Oxford, Bradley said. The experience hell have will last a lifetime, while the context of his experience in pro football compared to college football will not be as different as his experience in Oxford will be from the non-football life hes led.

Rolle has been here three weeks long enough that reality has overtaken expectation. He said he had no regrets. He said that nothing had better epitomized and reinforced his Rhodes experience than his unexpected friendship with Aisha Saad.

Saad, a Rhodes scholar from the University of North Carolina who is studying environmental policy, is a native of Egypt and a practicing Muslim who wears a hijab. She and Rolle agree that social constructs of undergraduate life would probably have precluded them from becoming friends in college. But on the seven-hour flight to London from Washington, linked by the serendipity of alphabetical order, Rolle and Saad talked nonstop about everything from global warming to gender equity, race, politics and family. (Saad has three younger brothers and Rolle four older brothers.) Some conversations were in English, others Spanish. There was little talk of football.

I think other people were just as surprised as we were that we got along so well, Saad said.

The two even played pranks on their fellow Rhodes scholars, making them dance to pass an imaginary toll booth, complete with beeping sound effects, in order to get to the bathroom.

We got little jigs, shoulder bops and hip wiggles, Rolle said, laughing.

Worried that Rhodes scholars would be stuffy, Rolle knew by the time he landed in London that he would fit in. Neither he nor Saad drinks alcohol, so they have avoided the popular pub scene, opting instead for four-hour debates.

You definitely see his competitive side come out, Saad said of Rolle. Some conversations, we say, Were going to table this and continue it next week.

Rolle said he has enjoyed the classroom and campus experiences as well. His home college at Oxford, where he eats, socializes and gathers his mail, is St. Edmund, also known as Teddy Hall. Typical of Oxford, the building is estimated to have been built in 1278. A chalk sign that hung in the courtyard there Tuesday advertised a hall rugby match.

Rolle has also picked up the local patois. Once I put that flame on the hob, not the stove, I knew I was officially here, he said.

Formal classes meet infrequently, Rolle said. Instead there are discussion groups built around a students interests. Rolle said his pre-med studies at Florida State left him thinking that the tenets of biomedicine were black and white. But a lecture last week on the difference between illness and disease convinced him that he needed to be more open-minded.

The fact Im getting this knowledge before med school may make me a better med student, as Im not so narrow-focused to think my way is the only way, Rolle said.

The nicest thing about Oxford, Rolle said, is that it makes him feel as if he is in no hurry. He graduated from high school early and finished his education at Florida State in two and a half years, cutting short his football career by a season. He said the pace of Oxford had allowed him to throw himself into his studies without feeling harried.

He does not miss the on-campus autograph requests or being photographed with camera phones. He has gone from a standout student and athlete to one of 83 first-year Rhodes scholars who study alongside some of the other top students in the world.

The caliber of the current scholars that Myron has the humbling opportunity to be part of is extraordinarily high, said Don Markwell, the warden of the Rhodes House. Many of them will go to become prime ministers, presidents, chief justices, senators, congressmen and the global heads of major corporations. How do I know this? This is what Rhodes scholars have done for the past 106 years.

Few, though, have the athletic commitment that Rolle feels he must maintain. He works out from 7 to 9 every morning with his older brother and manager McKinley, a predawn routine that begins in a weight room where spare rugby balls are strewn around the floor. On Thursdays, Rolle practices with Oxfords rugby team, but he has resisted overtures from the coach to play, something that the Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins did when he was a Rhodes scholar.

Pete Dawkins is a legend because he beat Cambridge by scoring the winning try, Rolle said. I learned real fast that beating Cambridge is very important around here.

McKinley Rolle, 25, counts himself among a group of people, which includes some of Rolles former teammates at Florida State, who would have preferred that Rolle had gone straight to the N.F.L. and come back to Oxford later in life.

But hes intrinsically happy, and that makes me happy, McKinley Rolle said. Myron is fulfilled.

He is also focused. Rolle will miss six weeks of the eight-week second term here to work out for and participate in the Senior Bowl and the N.F.L. combine, the top showcases for draft prospects. Rolle is projected to be selected in the top three rounds. Much will depend on his time in the 40-yard dash and N.F.L. teams perceptions of how his time away from football has affected his skills and his desire to play.

A lot of questions came out about his commitment to football, McKinley Rolle said. But this shows hes serious about playing football. Were treating the Senior Bowl like the Super Bowl.

When Rolle met Bradley last month in New York, Bradley pulled him aside and said that Rolles comments in the news media about how Bradley inspired him to become a Rhodes scholar had brought tears to his eyes. That meant a lot to Rolle, who grew up in Galloway, N.J., and attended the Hun School of Princeton. Bradley, of course, starred in basketball at Princeton.

To find someone like Myron acknowledge that I had some impact on his life was really a moving moment, Bradley said.

One day years from now, Rolle said, he hopes someone can pull him aside and tell him that he has had a similar inspirational impact on his life.

If the draft works out, I think it solidifies that my dreams are realized, Rolle said. I want a young boy or girl in inner-city Chicago or wherever to see a guy who took a year off, got smarter, got a masters degree and came back. I want to show that you can have options.



Story includes photos of Myron in a sweater vest at Oxford and some others....football player in a sweater vest? (scratches head...) Nice work, Myron!
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Pack93z
15 years ago
I applaud him for his choice.. read this prior to him choosing Oxford over the NFL.. he will still have his chance at the NFL if he wants it. This was a once in a lifetime chance.. well done.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
TheEngineer
15 years ago
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that a Rhodes scholarship approval isn't to be taken lightly. He made the right choice, of course, but really, it was the only choice. A person of his intelligence would be wasted, confined to a life of sporting entertainment quasi-celebrity stardom. So well done to him for making the most out of his abilities in life.

In any case, that's looks like a mighty fine timepiece he's wearing.
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istanbulpacker
15 years ago


In any case, that's looks like a mighty fine timepiece he's wearing.

"TheEngineer" wrote:



LOL. As a watch fan myself, that was one of the first things I noticed in the photo.
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dfosterf (2-Jan) : There was quite a bit of "chalk" matchups this year it seemed, but not this week coming up
Zero2Cool (2-Jan) : Or we got better and by we I mean everyone except me
Zero2Cool (2-Jan) : We have about six that by percent would have won nearly any season. I guess 2024 was predictable 🤷
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dfosterf (2-Jan) : Hats off to the Beast
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Zero2Cool (2-Jan) : BTW, not serious.
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Zero2Cool (1-Jan) : Jaire had surgery, season over.
Mucky Tundra (1-Jan) : I guess I need a new sig Pic. Boo
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beast (1-Jan) : Eagles are resting RB Saquon Barkley, so there is no chance he breaks the record despite being just 101 yards from it
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beast (31-Dec) : I want to them chant some songs for Daniel Whelan
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Zero2Cool (31-Dec) : Packers. Steelers. Ireland. 2025. Reports say.
Zero2Cool (30-Dec) : Matt Lafleur on if Jaire will play again this season. "Yeah I don't know... he's been dealing with swelling."
Mucky Tundra (30-Dec) : After the way they played for most of the game yesterday, I don't see how you can sit anyone for the whole game
Zero2Cool (30-Dec) : I'd say play everyone. Going into playoffs at 7th seed on two game lose streak - yucky
Zero2Cool (30-Dec) : Do the Packers have any best players?
beast (30-Dec) : Play or Rest*
beast (30-Dec) : Should the Packers play or free their best players vs the Bears?
Zero2Cool (30-Dec) : Packers should be 3 - 2 in the Division. Bonkers being swept by both Lions and Vikings. yikes
go.pack.go. (30-Dec) : All crazy stuff…and good point beast
beast (30-Dec) : Packers should be 0-5 in the division, can't say I saw that coming, even 1-4
Zero2Cool (30-Dec) : Sam Darnold 35 TD's ... another one
Zero2Cool (30-Dec) : Baker Mayfield, 39 TD's ... can't say I saw that one
Zero2Cool (30-Dec) : No matter who is playing as 7th, I think we want them to win. Get rid of 2nd seed haha
go.pack.go. (30-Dec) : That would be dhazer who was rooting for Minnesota
beast (30-Dec) : Well, Commanders are currently the 6th seed and Packers the 7th
beast (30-Dec) : Who was it in Chat, that wanted the Vikings to win (because Lions fans upset them) because Packers could not lose the 6th seed?
beast (30-Dec) : If Falcons win, Packers stay as the 6th seed and Falcons lead the NFCS, if they lose, Commanders 6th and Bucs take NFCS lead
beast (30-Dec) : Win or Loss, the NFCS is going down to week 18
Mucky Tundra (30-Dec) : if the Falcons win, how does that affect the overall NFC playoff picture? Does it mean that the NFC South comes down to week 18?
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