Antrel Rolle enjoys giving back to those in need

Football free safety Antrel Rolle may be getting ready for another season with the Arizona Cardinals -- but he's also hard at work helping his hometown.

He has set up scholarships and given $30,000 to the athletic department at his alma mater, South Dade High. He's also given scholarships to Homestead High and helped sponsor a Florida City youth baseball team. And he's paying for Southridge High's new football jerseys.

Coming up: A football camp.

''If you are blessed -- and I am -- you should give,'' Rolle said in a telephone interview. ``It's the right thing to do.''
Next Tuesday, South Dade High formally will rename its weight room ''The Rolle Room'' at a 2 p.m. ceremony to honor the 26-year-old for helping pay to renovate it.

''He came to us -- we didn't have to ask him. He has always been generous and given to us,'' said South Dade High Athletic Director Joel Furnari.

''It is the case of local man who does well and doesn't forget where he came from,'' Furnari added in an e-mail.

''Antrel is aware of high school athletics,'' said his father, Alexander E. Rolle, who also happens to be the Homestead police chief.

``He knows it's really difficult raising money.''

Indeed, his son's giving is a family affair.

His mother, Armelia Rolle, a Homestead High career counselor, helps scout worthy charitable projects for his Antrel Rolle Make a Pledge for Change Foundation.

She came up with the foundation's name while listening to a Barack Obama speech before he became president.
She was moved by Obama saying that all should pledge to make a change -- no matter how small an effort.
'I called Antrel and said, `Hey, I've got a name for your foundation' '' she said.

Rolle likes to help out in the neighborhood he grew up in -- and still lives in.

He looked at homes in Pinecrest and Miami Beach, his mother added, but eventually settled on a house blocks away from his alma mater, South Dade High. ''He jogs by the school,'' his father said.

His new home also is not too far from his parents'. ''I'm a big-time momma's boy,'' Rolle said.

Plus, he said, he's got ''a million little cousins'' and other family members whom he wants to stay near. ''I want to make it convenient for everyone,'' he said.

While Rolle keeps a high profile in his neighborhood, he has kept a lot of his charity work off the radar.
''He's kept quiet over the years,'' his father said.

Lately, he has decided to be more public about his giving because of the sour economy and trying to encourage others to give.

''He thinks it is so important during the budget crisis to help the kids out,'' his father said.

That has meant giving to schools not in his immediate neighborhood.

Southridge, for example, needed new jerseys, his mother said.

They cost $4,000. His uncle, Harvey Clayton Sr. -- who also played pro football -- is Southridge's athletic director.

At South Dade, Rolle's mother said she remembered how her son trained on South Dade High's rusty weight equipment, so part of his $30,000 donation to the athletic department is helping renovate the weight room.
Rolle also has been focused on encouraging kids to excel in academics. Rolle graduated with honors from South Dade High and UM.

He has given tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships to South Dade and Homestead students, his mother said.
This spring, his foundation gave $2,500 scholarships to three South Dade seniors and to six Homestead High seniors.

Rolle said he looks to help motivate kids who have ``that extra push and motivation.''

In Florida City, Rolle also helped this spring as many as 140 kids by helping sponsor of the newly created Florida Marlins RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) team.

He knows the need firsthand: He grew up playing sports in Homestead and Florida City.
Rolle started playing football as a 6-year-old at Harris Field.

That's where he met another future football star -- the late Sean Taylor, who played for the Washington Redskins before he was murdered at his Palmetto Bay home in 2007.

The two learned the beginnings of football in Homestead before then playing for the Florida City Razorbacks.

They went to different high schools. Rolle was a Parade All-American high school player at South Dade.

However, the two reunited at the University of Miami where they were both stars and recruited to play for the pros.

Since then, Rolle has earned a hefty salary playing for the National Football Conference champion Cardinals ''but everybody has told me: He hasn't changed -- he's the same kid who went to South Dade and the University of Miami,'' his father said.



(miamiherald.com)