Rolle named Rhodes Scholar

By Andy Staples, SI.com

Myron Rolle joins a club that includes former President Bill Clinton. Ken McKimm/Icon SMI

MOUNTAIN BROOK, Ala. -- Florida State professor Sally Karioth bought two cards to give her prized pupil Saturday; one for good news and one for bad. Had Myron Rolle opened the bad-news card, it would have played the old Band-Aid jingle.

That card will remain stuck in its envelope. When Rolle, FSU's starting free safety, opened the good-news card, it blasted that Tag Team classic, "Whoomp, There It Is." And that probably marked the first and last time Tag Team will serenade a freshly minted Rhodes Scholar.

Rolle, a junior who earned his bachelor's degree in 2 1/2 years, now has the opportunity to join a club that includes former President Bill Clinton and former New York Knicks star and U.S. senator Bill Bradley. He was one of two Rhodes scholars selected from 13 candidates in District 7, which comprises Florida, Alabama and Tennessee. There are 32 Rhodes Scholars elected each year. Rolle is the first BCS conference starter to win a Rhodes Scholarship since Stanford tight end Cory Booker in 1992. Booker now is the mayor of Newark, N.J.

Rolle said he wasn't nervous for his interview early Saturday afternoon.

"It's almost like a game," he said. "You practice, practice, practice, and when the lights come on, you show what you're made of."

The scholarship will pay for two to three years of tuition, room and board at Oxford. Rolle has said he likely would study medical anthropology at Oxford.

After hearing the good news, Rolle hopped into an SUV, which took him to Birmingham International Airport. There, he boarded a jet bound for Baltimore. Upon landing, Rolle will travel to College Park, Md., where he will hopefully arrive in time to play the remainder of the Seminoles' game against Maryland.