By Pete Donovan, The Lott IMPACT Trophy
In 2004, when the founders of the Lott IMPACT® Trophy first formulated the idea for a unique college football award, the word IMPACT was a critical inclusion in the name.
It was important that the individuals chosen were not only great players on the field, but ones who would make an IMPACT both on and off the field.
Now, 18 years later, many of those players continue to make an IMPACT, even those who have left the playing field.
Here are some of them:
*Dr. Myron Rolle (2008 Finalist from Florida State). You can now read about the remarkable life of Rolle, from a college All-American, to the NFL, to a Rhodes scholarship to the prestigious Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital. It’s all in his new book: “The 2% Way: How a Philosophy of Small Improvements took me to Oxford, the NFL and Neurosurgery.”
Before he became a doctor, Myron attended the Lott IMPACT® Trophy banquet in December of 2014, when it was noted that he had been the lead in a production of “Fiddler on The Roof.” He was then encouraged to stand and sing, Rolle stood and dazzled the audience with a rendition of “If I Were a Rich Man.”
*Derrick Brown (2019 Winner from Auburn). Now a star with the Carolina Panthers, Derrick’s Foundation recently gave out nine scholarships at his high school (Lanier) in Sugar Hill, Georgia. Brown also runs a free football clinic every June for youngsters in the area.
*Emmanuel Acho (2011 Finalist from Texas). He’s a rising media star and New York Times best-selling author who recently gave the commencement address at the University of Texas.
*Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean (2021 Finalists from Georgia). Now teammates with the Philadelphia Eagles, they were participants in the Eagles Autism Challenge.