Grant Halverson/Getty Images
In a February 2018 poll, half of retired athletes have concerns over mental and emotional well-being post-retirement. That’s why some questionable decisions—like Mike Tyson becoming a pigeon trainer. Or Tonya Harding taking up boxing. Or Jason Witten becoming a broadcaster.
Myron Rolle, who was referred to in the Titans locker room as “Doc Brains,” is one of the few former professional athletes whose second act is more impressive than his first.
Rolle, who was drafted in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Titans, is now a neurosurgeon at the famed Massachusetts General Hospital and resident at Harvard Medical School. In 2010, the 33-year-old was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and chosen as the second-smartest athlete in sports by the Sporting News, behind baseball player Craig Breslow, a Yale grad and major in molecular biophysics and biochemistry.
Rolle’s typical job tasks—procedures on benign brain tumors and treatment for chronic degenerative spines—have taken a backseat in the midst of a global pandemic.
According to the Tennesseean, Rolle’s floor at Mass General has been completely transformed into a COVID-19 only floor.
As soon as he enters the building to begin his 24-hour shift, he’s funneled through an airport security-type line. At the end of it, he’s checked for COVID-19 symptoms and has his hands sanitized.
“Obviously, neurosurgery is not directly connected to this upper respiratory illness,” Rolle said. “But just like in football, if you’re called to do something different that you weren’t expecting, you adjust. You adapt. They’re showing us a new formation that we didn’t see on tape? You’ve got to hunker down and get the job done. In my opinion, this novel disease is something like that. A formation, a personnel package that we haven’t seen before. We have to meet the challenge, and I’m happy to be able to join the fight.”
The former Florida State star spent two seasons with the Titans, never playing in a game, but claims his time in the NFL has shaped how he approaches his current career.
“The Titans continue to shape who I am,” he said. “Certainly the aspect of being a team player and the focus, the discipline, the communication, and then managing pressure — there’s nothing I’ve done outside of neurosurgery that can compare to preparing for an NFL game.”
Rolle, who has witnessed some of his colleagues have end-of-life discussions with loved ones, claims the pandemic is as dangerous as advertised.
“The hype is real, and it’s not done for hysteria,” Rolle told the The Tennesseean. “It’s not done to scare or to frighten anyone. It’s really done to make you aware that there are stories and cases here that will change lives, and would shock people, to the point where if this is your loved one, you’d say, Yeah, I want everyone to take this as serious as I’m taking it, because I’m seeing firsthand what’s happening. And the ideology that we have an important role to play. Social distance, physical distance, lifestyle modifications, staying home, doing everything you can to kind of flatten this curve — all of that is crucial.”
Stay home, folks.
[h/t The Tennesseean]