An Outstanding Rolle Model

"Your life is not your own.

You're living a life of 

example for other people." 

- Myron Rolle, M.D. 

My first memory of hearing Myron Rolle's name was when he played high school football at The Hun School in Princeton, New Jersey.  Way back when, Rolle, a safety, was touted as the country's top prospect, a can't-miss kid, etc.  He was hyped from here to the opposing end zone. I have a rather vague memory of the fanfare that heralded his decision to attend Florida State University, which Deion Sanders made famous as a school that produces NFL-caliber defensive backs. 

I have zero recollection of what type of career Myron Rolle had at Florida State other than knowing that he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 2008. I did not know, until I read this piece yesterday, he had started college a semester early (having accrued 21 AP credits), he selected FSU because he already planned on becoming a neurosurgeon and wanted a school that (a) would accept all his AP credits; and (b) had an on-campus medical school, and he completed his undergraduate studies at FSU (B.A. in exercise science) in two and one-half years with a 3.75 GPA.  

As it turns out, Myron Rolle played only three seasons of college football at FSU.  He spent the autumn of what would have been his senior season studying medical anthropology at Oxford University.  Apparently, before he left the green fields of Tallahassee for the hallowed halls of Oxford, he had been projected to be drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL draft.  Instead, in 2010, the Tennessee Titans drafted him in the sixth round.  He spent two years with the Titans, never appearing in a game, before spending the 2012 season as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  

He is now thirty-three years old.  A third-year neurosurgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Rolle is on the front lines of the hospital's COVID-19 fight.  There is no place he would rather be.  

On the football field, Myron Rolle played safety.  By all accounts, he was an exceptionally-gifted safety.  An attribute common to all great safeties is the uncanny ability to know where he needs to be, to be there on time, and to do whatever must be done upon his arrival.  

Myron Rolle, M.D. has traded in one uniform for another.  Yet, there he is.  Right where he is needed most and right on time.  As always.  

Thank you, Dr. Rolle; thank you to the men and women working side-by-side with you, both at Mass. General and at every hospital across this country; thanks to the EMTs and paramedics; thanks to the first responders; and thanks to all the good people whose jobs have kept them and shall continue to keep them on the front lines of this crisis.  Each of you is a hero. 

Each of you is a shining example for the rest of us. 

-AK