Myron Rolle Article on how he came to be a Rhodes Scholar
Not really OT, as he was thought to be looking heavily at Michigan, but was lamented for choosing FSU for academic reasons. This may in fact be the first ever documented case of baseless internet conjecture being proven wrong. We knew that already, but it is interesting to get a more detailed look.
http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2014/2/12/5401774/myron-rolle-profile-…
This is my second SBNation link of the day, but I promise I don't see any kickbacks from it.
"I wanted to look for a school that I enjoyed watching [play football] first. But I wanted the school to accept all my AP credits. Also, do they have a medical school on campus?" When Rolle met Garrett Johnson, a Florida State University alum, champion shot putter and Rhodes Scholar, he found a school that demonstrated it had the capacity to allow him to do both. He graduated a semester early from Hun and started at Florida State in January of 2006.
Sounds like Michigan was probably pretty close to meeting his requisites as well. Wish we could have had a guy like him to embody the program.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:50 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 5:42 PM ^
Maybe it's just as well the NFL didn't work out - he clearly has the ability to be successful in other fields.
February 12th, 2014 at 3:56 PM ^
"But it's even bigger than that. Rolle's case illuminates how archaic and dehumanizing the NFL's narrow conception of what makes a good player can be, how it forces unique people into rigid stereotypes and makes life-changing judgments about those who are different. "
This is a fascinating piece, a great read. Thanks for sharing it!
I sat for a few moments and thought about that statement above and how it related to one of the possibilities mentioned in the article, that the NFL was "uninterested" in someone with as impressive a background as Myron Rolle. It was strange really to read the part where coaches didn't want to discuss football with him and treated him, as the article reads, as a "curious specimen" and not a player. That's sad really, and it does make me wonder if the culture of the NFL is decidedly anti-intellectual sometimes.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
wants guys who are 100% committed to their NFL careers. It's the reason they question guys who spend an extra year in college after they've been projected as 1st round picks.
Sad, but true.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:22 PM ^
February 12th, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^
Times have changed since the Lions made Byron White one of the highest paid players in league history after he was a Rhodes Scholar, and prior to his becoming a Supreme Court justice.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:38 PM ^
that a wonderful person like Rolle can get a scholarship named after a man who was an uber-racist. I sort of "fuck you" to Cecil Rhodes and his beliefs.
Very impressed with Myron Rolle...
February 12th, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^
Per Wiki:
Rhodes wanted to expand the British Empire because he believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was destined to greatness. In his last will and testament, Rhodes said of the British, "I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings what an alteration there would be if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence, look again at the extra employment a new country added to our dominions gives."
That's... something... alright.
February 12th, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^
My senior class at AFA, we were fortunate enough to have not one, but two Rhodes Scholars. One of them was a football player and was African-American. He and I were freshmen together and I was never more proud of one of my classmates than I was when we learned he was going to Oxford. I will be forever in awe of guys like him and Myron Rolle to have worked as hard on the field while achieving so much off the field as well.
February 13th, 2014 at 8:49 AM ^
defer his service commitment till he was done at Oxford?
February 13th, 2014 at 10:30 AM ^
There are several opportunities for folks to get advanced degrees before entering "the real Air Force" and to be honest, I'm not 100% certain. He ended up going to pilot training and did graduate which carries an 8-10 year commitment following training. Most guys are still in the service during that time, just not wearing a uniform, and still subject to the same UCMJ rules and regulations. I'm thinking he probably didn't HAVE to defer his commitment. His "job" was to go to school.
/insert playing skool joke here
February 12th, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^
Wasn't Rolle considering Michigan?
February 12th, 2014 at 7:40 PM ^
Yes, he was one of the first recruits I followed that talked about the importance of academics, but chose a school inferior to UM.