Trading His Football for a Scalpel

After a month without football, Myron Rolle was flailing.

At 25 years old, his pro football career as an N.F.L. safety looked grim: He was released in 2011 after two seasons with the Tennessee Titans and had failed in his attempt to make the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster. Without the structure and rigor of a football career, Rolle struggled to make sense of what would come next.

But Rolle had always had a plan B. He grew up in New Jersey, the son of immigrants from the Bahamas. At 11, he’d read Gifted Hands, Ben Carson’s popular 1990 memoir that detailed how Carson went from being an inner-city youth with poor grades to the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. After reading it, Rolle started chasing two dreams: being a pro football player and becoming a neurosurgeon like Carson.

For years, the neurosurgeon dream lay dormant while he pursued football glory. Rolle flourished playing as a defensive back for Florida State University (F.S.U.), and the Titans drafted him in 2010.

After a month without football, Myron Rolle was struggling.

When he was 25 years old, his pro football career as an N.F.L. safety looked grim. He was released in 2011 after two seasons with the Tennessee Titans. And he had failed in his attempt to make the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster. Without the structure of a football career, Rolle struggled to make sense of what would come next.

But Rolle had always had a plan B. He grew up in New Jersey. He was the son of immigrants from the Bahamas. At 11, he’d read Gifted Hands, Ben Carson’s popular 1990 memoir.  It detailed how Carson went from being an inner-city youth with poor grades to the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. After reading it, Rolle started chasing two dreams. He wanted to be a pro football player and a neurosurgeon like Carson.

For years, the neurosurgeon dream lay dormant. He was chasing football glory. Rolle flourished playing as a defensive back for Florida State University (F.S.U.). The Titans drafted him in 2010.

But the football dream didn’t go as planned. Rolle played in no regular-season N.F.L. games, and the Titans parted ways with him in 2011. The Pittsburgh Steelers gave him another chance, but the team cut him before the 2012 regular season. He returned home to New Jersey, where he languished until his mother shook him out of his funk.

She showed him his grade-school notebook, where he’d written both goals. “She looked me straight in the eyes and pointed at the first one,” he recalls. “She said, ‘This one’s done.’ And she looked at the second one and said, ‘Now we need to do this.’”

Today, at 36, Rolle is in the seventh year of his neurosurgery residency at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Those words of encouragement, her belief in me, her thoughtfulness, her disposition during that moment was just what I needed . . . to move forward to the next chapter in my life,” he says.

But the football dream didn’t go as planned. Rolle played in no regular-season N.F.L. games. The Titans parted ways with him in 2011. The Pittsburgh Steelers gave him another chance.  But the Steelers cut him before the 2012 regular season. He returned home to New Jersey, where he sank into a funk until his mother shook him out of it.

She showed him his grade-school notebook. He saw where he had written both goals. “She looked me straight in the eyes and pointed at the first one,” he recalls. “She said, ‘This one’s done.’ And she looked at the second one and said, ‘Now we need to do this.’”

Today, at 36, Rolle is in the seventh year of his neurosurgery residency at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Those words of encouragement, her belief in me, her thoughtfulness, her disposition during that moment was just what I needed . . . to move forward to the next chapter in my life,” he says.

It was the most frustrated I’ve been in my life, the most disappointed, the most downtrodden—the time where I felt like I failed, and I let people down.

It was the most frustrated I’ve been in my life. I was also the most disappointed and the most downtrodden. It was the time where I felt like I failed and let people down.

There’s the 2 percent philosophy that I picked up from my football coach at F.S.U. Can you be 2 percent better than you were yesterday? You can if you take small steps every single day toward a larger goal. It helps me make more sense of the challenges, the tasks, responsibilities that I have.

Any goal, short or long term, doesn’t feel daunting or debilitating. They feel manageable. I appreciate and I pat myself on the back for the small gains, the small wins that I get every single day.

There’s the 2 percent philosophy that I picked up from my football coach at F.S.U. Can you be 2 percent better than you were yesterday? You can if you take small steps every single day toward a larger goal. It helps me make more sense of the challenges, the tasks, and responsibilities that I have.

Any goal, short or long term, doesn’t feel hard or debilitating. They feel manageable. I appreciate and I pat myself on the back for the small gains.
I celebrate the small wins that I get every single day.

There are so many people who sacrificed for me—names that I know, names that I don’t know—to be where I am right now. Who have given up their lives for me to be able to vote, to have an education, to attend certain schools, to have certain jobs. It’s our job now to repay that debt by being the best we can be in everything that we do. I take that very, very seriously.

There are so many people who sacrificed for me. Some names that I know and some names that I don’t know. They have given up their lives for me to be able to vote, to have an education, to attend certain schools, and to have certain jobs. It’s our job now to repay that debt by being the best we can be in everything that we do. I take that very, very seriously.

One: It’s never too late. Two: You’re still needed in this life. Your lane can be yours, and it’s for you. What God has for you is going to be for you. Perfect it. Hone it. Be a master of it. Love it. Do it well. Impact people when you do it, and help bring somebody up with you.

It’s never too late. You’re still needed in this life. Your lane can be yours. It’s for you. What God has for you is going to be for you. Perfect it. Hone it. Be a master of it. Love it. Do it well. Impact people when you do it. Help bring somebody up with you.

My long-term goal is to practice neurosurgery in America for most of the year and then spend a portion of the year back home in the Caribbean developing neurosurgical services in the Bahamas and in other Caribbean countries.

My long-term goal is to practice neurosurgery in America for most of the year. I also want to spend a part of the year back home in the Caribbean developing neurosurgical services in the Bahamas and in other Caribbean countries.

If you look at the outside, you will see my story as maybe something that is unattainable, right? I played in the N.F.L., Rhodes Scholar, now neurosurgery. But feeling doubts and uncertainty really permeated throughout my life. Feeling like an outcast. Handling issues with violence. Dealing with work-life balance issues or challenges in your workplace. And I just found ways to overcome or mitigate these challenges through the 2 percent process.

I don’t think success looks like any particular person. I believe every
individual has something brilliant in them and has a responsibility and a purpose that they were placed here on this Earth for.

If you look at the outside, you will see my story as maybe something that is unattainable, right? I played in the N.F.L. I was a Rhodes Scholar and now neurosurgery. But doubts and uncertainty really permeated throughout my life. Feeling like an outcast. Handling issues with violence. Dealing with work-life balance issues or challenges in your workplace. I just found ways to overcome these challenges through the 2 percent process.

I don’t think success looks like any particular person. I believe every individual has something brilliant in them and has a responsibility and a purpose that they were placed here on this Earth for.

Elena Bergeron is a sports editor at The New York Times. This interview has been edited and condensed.

Elena Bergeron is a sports editor at The New York Times. This interview has been edited and condensed.