Myron L. Rolle (born October 30, 1986) is an American

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, ...

and former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, and was selected by the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

in the sixth round of the

2010 NFL draft The 2010 NFL draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 NFL draft, draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the first ...

. He attended the

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

College of Medicine, completed his neurosurgery residency at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...

and now is the pediatric neurosurgery fellow at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was awarded a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

and studied at St. Edmund Hall,

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

for the 2009–10 academic year in order to earn an MSc in

Medical Anthropology Medical anthropology studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives. It is one of the most highly developed areas of anthropology and appli ...

. In 2010, he was chosen as the second-smartest athlete in sports by the ''Sporting News'', behind baseball player

Craig Breslow Craig Andrew Breslow (; born August 8, 1980) is an American baseball executive and former professional baseball pitcher. He is currently the President of baseball operations, Chief Baseball Officer of the Boston Red Sox. Breslow pitched for 12 ...

. On February 17, 2021, Abiomed, a member of the S&P 500, announced Rolle as a member of its board of directors.

Early life

Rolle was born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. His family is from

The Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

; and after returning to Nassau for two years after his birth, his family then moved permanently to the United States. He was raised in Galloway Township, New Jersey, where in 2009, December 10 was decreed "Myron Rolle Day". Myron attended the Peddie School in

Hightstown, New Jersey Hightstown is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Nestled within the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region, Hightstown is an historic, commercial, and cultural hub of Cent ...

, where he played the saxophone in the school band, sang in a school play, and was the sports editor of the school newspaper as well as playing football, basketball and track. He transferred to the Hun School of Princeton and played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

and basketball. He maintained a 4.0 GPA in high school. He was an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and made 112 tackles including 14 for loss.

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's recruiting services ranked Rolle as the number one high school prospect in the country. Rivals.com rated him the 12th-best player and the top athlete overall, as well as the best player from New Jersey in the 2006 recruiting class. In 2006, after a nationwide search Rolle won the prestigious annually awarded Franklin D. Watkins Memorial Trophy, the premier African-American scholar/athlete award in America for high school males. He is an alumnus of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

College career

Aspiring to both the National Football League and medical school, Rolle played as a safety at FSU, completed all necessary pre-medical requirements, and earned his bachelor's degree in Exercise Science in just 2.5 years with a 3.75 grade point average. Rolle helped the Florida State Seminoles win on the field, and off the field, he won a Rhodes Scholarship. He postponed playing in the NFL for a year in order to study at Oxford University. In 2008, he earned Associated Press 3rd team All-American honors as well as Football Writers Association America 2nd team All-ACC and CoSIDA Academic All-America. In the 2008 season game versus the University of Miami Hurricanes, Seminoles defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews remarked that Rolle played the best and most complete game he has ever seen a safety play at Florida State University in his 25 years of coaching. Rolle had 4 tackles (2 touchdown saving tackles), 1 tackle for loss, 4 pass breakups, 1 sack, 2 quarterback hurries and 3 critical 3rd down stops. Rolle was named a finalist for one of the 32

s awarded to Americans each year. His interview for the scholarship was originally scheduled at the same time as

was to play at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, in which Florida State defeated Maryland 37–3. The

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

decided to allow Rolle to take a chartered plane from his interview in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

to College Park. He was awarded the scholarship less than three hours before the Florida State vs. Maryland game. He became the fourth Florida State student and second school athlete to receive the honor, as well as the only FSU football player to do so. Rolle announced on January 12, 2009, that he would first study at Oxford University for the 2009–10 academic year in order to earn an M.Sc. in

medical anthropology Medical anthropology studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives. It is one of the most highly developed areas of anthropology and appli ...

and would then enter the

. He was a member of

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the last ...

, commonly known as "Teddy Hall," at Oxford, living in college accommodation at Norham Gardens.

Professional career

Rolle was selected by the

in the sixth round (207th overall) of the

. He signed a four-year contract on June 14, 2010. Rolle never appeared in a regular-season game for the Titans in 2010 and 2011. He then spent a brief time with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

before the team released him in 2012.

Medical career

Rolle announced his intent to leave the NFL to attend medical school in 2013. He enrolled at Florida State University College of Medicine and graduated in May 2017. Rolle matched to a neurosurgery residency at

and

. Rolle is a Global Neurosurgery Fellow at Harvard Medical School. In July 2020, Rolle stated he felt that due to COVID-19 the NFL should delay or cancel the 2020 season.

Personal life

He is the son of Whitney and Beverly Rolle. Myron is the youngest of five: Marchant, Marvis, Mordecai and McKinley. Rolle is the cousin of former safety Antrel Rolle, linebacker Brian Rolle, and former cornerback Samari Rolle. Myron married pediatric dentist, Dr. Latoya Legrand-Rolle, in 2017. He and his wife have two sets of twins, and the family resides in Orlando, Florida. Rolle is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. He was honored with membership into

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes leadership and scholarship. It was founded in 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and has chartered more t ...

in 2008 at FSU.

Bibliography

*Rolle, Myron L. (2022). ''The 2% Way: How a Philosophy of Small Improvements Took Me to Oxford, the NFL, and Neurosurgery.'' .

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolle, Myron 1986 births Living people American people of Bahamian descent People from Galloway Township, New Jersey Players of American football from Atlantic County, New Jersey Players of American football from Houston American football safeties St. Augustine Preparatory School alumni Hun School of Princeton alumni Peddie School alumni American Rhodes Scholars Florida State Seminoles football players Tennessee Titans players Pittsburgh Steelers players