Of all the criteria the late Cecil Rhodes set forth for determining the winners of the prestigious scholarship that bears his name—academic achievement, integrity, leadership potential, and so on—there is one for which college athletes appear to be particularly well-prepared: physical vigor.
The Rhodes Trust this week named 32 scholars from the United States. Nine are athletes, including one from Ursinus College and one from the University of California at Irvine, who are the first students from those institutions to win the scholarship.
Aakash Shah, a former Division III track athlete who graduated in May with a degree in inequality studies, biology, and neuroscience, is Ursinus’s first Rhodes Scholar. Megan Braun, a former goalie for Irvine’s Division I water-polo team, who graduated last month with a degree in history, is that university’s first winner.
The other new Rhodes Scholars who compete or have competed on NCAA teams are:
Caroline Barlow, a senior cross-country runner and member of the 2009 national-champion triathlon team, who studies oceanography at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Tamma Carleton, a cross-country runner who competed at Lewis & Clark College, a Division III institution, before graduating last year with a degree in economics—and a conference title in the 10K.
Gabrielle Emanuel, a Dartmouth alumna who was a member of the college’s equestrian team before graduating this year with a degree in history.
Andrew Lanham, a cross-country runner at Haverford College who graduated last year with degrees in English and philosophy.
Laura Nelson, a senior at the University of Virginia who plays field hockey and studies political and social thought.
Baltazar Zavala, a senior football player at Harvard who studies engineering sciences and neurobiology.
William Zeng, a member of the lightweight crew team at Yale, where he is a senior majoring in physics.
5 Responses to 9 Athletes Are Among Newly Named Rhodes Scholars
oldcommprof - November 23, 2010 at 4:21 pm
The one football player is from…Harvard. Where they don’t care about Bowl appearances, of course. Wish my second-tier regional state school would eschew such nonsense as well.
rmelton5 - November 23, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Look at the two winners from District 13. Wow, what’s in the drinking water in Sioux Falls, South Dakota?
20ahabs - November 24, 2010 at 10:22 am
Former safety Myron Rolle from FSU was a Rhodes Scholar in 2008–he attended a school that did care about bowl appearances. One recent exception doesn’t really prove anything, but not all football players at “football factories” are made the same, a fact I wish more people understood.
goxewu - November 29, 2010 at 8:06 am
* “The exception that proves the rule.”
* Would FSU have more Rhodes Scholars if it weren’t a football factory?
* Sure, not all football players at football factories are “made the same.” But the percentages suggest that a) athletic ability trumps academic ability with them, b) a good many, especially the stars, were admitted though academically substandard, c) the time they spend on football practice, travel, and games exceeds time spent on study (i.e. players at football factories are players first, students second and only to the degree that they stay eligible), d) football players at football factories who achieve academic excellence are trotted out–by their schools, by ESPN, by the press–as inspiring exceptions, like courageous kids who beat cancer, abused single mothers who succeed in business. Lots of people say, “Gee, did you hear about the D-I football player who won a Rhodes Scholarship?” Hardly anybody says, “Gee, did you hear about the cross-country runner who won a Rhodes Scholarship?”
dmmowers - December 2, 2010 at 10:11 am
Speaking as a cross country coach, that’s because Americans don’t give a rip about cross country, especially compared to football.