North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Learning to be Role Models
11/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
BY TIM PEELER
Whether they know it or not, that’s an unstated part of the deal when they sign scholarship papers to join any particular program: to represent their school, their families and themselves in a way that positively affect others.
For some, it’s an unwanted responsibility. NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley famously said he didn’t want to be a role model. And there are unlimited examples of people, in amateur, college and professional athletics that clearly have no business influencing the lives of impressionable younger people.
For most, however, the opportunity to show others the right footsteps to follow is the final, and perhaps most important, achievement that goes along with the awards, the certificates and the trophies. It’s the chance to say ‘Be like me’ or ‘Don’t make the same mistakes I have made.’
But with all of the hours that student-athletes put into practicing and perfecting their particular sports, how do they go about learning to be a role model?
Part of the experience of being an NC State athlete includes multiple learning opportunities, from watching teammates and coaches to participating in the ImPACK program, which has a variety of community outreach projects and valuable seminars that are designed to develop a student-athlete’s awareness of what is going on around them. Assistant Athletics Director Tonya Washington has organized the program’s third seminar of the fall semester for Sunday, a program on gambling that will feature former Mafia crime boss Michael Franzese.
Previous seminars have discussed alcohol awareness, featuring a speaker who killed his three best friends in an alcohol-related car accident. And there was a seminar for women only discussing sexual assault and date rape.
Last week, more than 400 student athletes attended the inaugural NC Student-Athlete Convocation, sponsored by the Academic Support Program for Student Athletes, to hear former NC State track and football star Danny Peebles talk about his life in – and after – athletics.
Peebles is a
And throughout his college career, Peebles played the dual role of student-athlete and husband-father, helping with the raising of his two children while juggling his class and practice schedule.
But in 1991, while playing for the Cleveland Browns, Peebles suffered a devastating hit while catching a pass. He broke one vertebra in his neck and displaced a couple others, immediately ending his NFL career. He was paralyzed for nearly two months. When he was well enough to go home, he attended a press conference to discuss his injury.
“What are you going to do now?” a reporter asked.
“I don’t really know,” Peebles answered honestly. “But I think I can fall back on the two degrees I earned at NC State.”
He immediately began to get job offers, and he joined the accounting firm of Ernst & Young shortly thereafter. He’s worked for Smith Barney on Wall Street and is currently in regional sales for RWD Technologies in
Never satisfied to do only one thing, Peebles is also a minister for the church he and former teammate Rodney Frazier began in their neighborhood,
Needless to say, Peebles held the attention of the crowd when he asked “What are you going to do when the cheering stops?”
In his 45-minute presentation, he told the athletes that “there is no reason not to be successful” with all the opportunities that have while in college.
“Sometimes, when we have reunions, I see my former teammates,” Peebles said. “Not a lot of them have degrees. They aren’t doing the things they want to be doing now. I hope all of you are successful and go as far as you want to go in your chosen sport, but my question for you is: ‘What if you don’t?’”
Afterwards, dozens of athletes visited with Peebles to talk about his experiences. Sure, they were impressed that he now has a job that pays a six-figure salary and that he drove to campus that evening in his Lexus. But they also seemed to get the message that you have to plan for a life after athletics.
“He left a very strong impression – they were all still talking about it the next day,”
Finally, the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes also sponsored a book drive and reading contest for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Raleigh called “Booking with the Pack.” It was a 10-week reading and book-gathering that culminated on Oct. 24, when many athletes delivered the books to the two clubs in downtown
Athletes also assisted in building bookshelves for the Boys Club to store its books, with a donation of materials from the Lowes Home Improvement store in
“It was such a great experience to do that, seeing the looks on all the kids’ faces,” said senior softball player Miranda Ervin. “It was almost like they didn’t even care about the books, they were just excited about the opportunity to see and spend time with us.
“We signed a lot of autographs. It was just a touching experience to go help someone else out and be a role model for someone else. That’s why I play here at NC State, so I can impact kids so that they will want to grow up and do the exact same thing. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything else I have done here.”
And that, in some small part, is Wolfpack athletes are learning to be role models.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
