A True Student-Athlete

Many outstanding college players – as is the case annually – recently opted to forego their final season of eligibility by applying  for early entry into the NFL draft.

There was one standout junior who also left school after three years, but not for the typical reason.  This hard-hitting safety from Florida State, projected as a mid- to late-second round draft pick, instead headed off to Oxford, England, on a Rhodes Scholarship for a one-year master’s degree in medical anthropology.

You may vaguely recall Myron Rolle.  He received lots of media attention last November when he risked missing all the Seminoles’ game at Maryland to have his final interview for the prestigious scholarship in Birmingham, Ala.

Rolle completed the interview, then was informed he had been selected for the scholarship. He received a police escort to a local airport and a private plane took him to the game, which he entered late in the second quarter. The Seminoles won, 37-3.

The New Jersey native arrived at Florida State as the country’s No. 1 prospect.  He graduated with a pre-med degree in just two and a half years while being a three-year starter on a marquee football program.

The last prominent student-athlete to win the Rhodes, the world’s most coveted postgraduate academic award, was Princeton basketball All-America Bill Bradley in 1965.

After an NBA career that included winning two rings with the New York Knicks, Bradley entered politics.  He won election as a U.S. Senator of New Jersey and, later, was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Following his year at Oxford, Rolle plans to enter the draft in 2010.  After the football thing comes an inevitable conclusion, he intends to enter medical school.   Based on his resume up to this point in his young life, I have little doubt the Rolle will attain his goals.

Want a role model for what a true student-athlete is all about?  Look no farther than Myron Rolle, former college football star and current Rhodes Scholar.