[Vision2020] Rhodes Warrior

[Tom Hansen]

HKere is a refreshing comforting reminder that not all student-athletes 
possess the same attitude concerning their academic responsibilities as 
those previously expressed by former Boise State safety Marty Tadman at:

http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2008-November/059682.html

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>From the December 1, 2008 edition of the Sport Illustrated magazine at:

http://tinyurl.com/56otu9
  
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Rhodes Warrior
Myron Rolle gets a scholarship—and a win
Andy Staples, SI Reporter

After A grueling interview and a two-hour wait last Saturday, the real 
torture began for Myron Rolle. The Florida State safety was sitting in an 
office in Mountain Brook, Ala., waiting to hear if he had been awarded a 
Rhodes Scholarship. Drayton Nabers Jr., chairman of the District 7 
selection committee, was announcing two winners chosen from the 13 
finalists interviewed that day. Nabers paused after the first name, 
Harvard's Parker Goyer. The three-second wait, says Rolle, "felt like an 
eternity."

For Rolle, a junior from Galloway, N.J., who finished his premed degree in 
2 1/2 years and received a grant for cancer research last summer, the wait 
was worth it. When Nabers announced him as one of the 32 U.S. Scholars who 
can study at Oxford, Rolle bowed his head and thanked God—briefly: He had 
a plane to catch. In 2 1/2 hours his team would face Maryland in College 
Park, and Rolle wanted to help keep the FSU's ACC Atlantic Division title 
hopes alive.

A Ford Excursion carried Rolle to Birmingham International Airport, where 
a jet on loan from Outback Steakhouse cofounder Bob Basham awaited. (The 
NCAA allowed Basham to give the flight as an in-kind donation to FSU's 
booster club.) Rolle settled in and discussed his Rhodes interview with a 
small group of reporters. Then he clicked on his iPod and allowed Frank 
Sinatra and Ice Cube to sing/rap him to sleep. By the time the jet touched 
down in Baltimore, the Seminoles and the Terrapins had kicked off. Rolle 
hopped into a University police pickup bound for Byrd Stadium, and FSU 
fans gave him a standing O when he appeared late in the first half. After 
Rolle's third play, back judge Tommy Pace walked over and shook his hand.

Rolle made two tackles, and FSU cruised to a 37--3 win. Afterward Rolle—
still chilly from the Gatorade bath his teammates gave him—had a hug-heavy 
reunion with his parents and four brothers. Rolle's dad, Whitney, wore the 
biggest smile. "Myron," he said, "has always been exceptional. Always."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"For a lapse Lutheran born-again Buddhist pan-Humanist Universalist 
Unitarian Wiccan Agnostic like myself there's really no reason ever to go 
to work."

- Roy Zimmerman


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