More News

With a booming voice, serious demeanor and a captivating story, retired professional football player Cliff Crosby talked with nearly 100 senior student athletes at Largo High on Nov. 12 about translating their high school success to college as part of the school's college application week.

"I prepared myself for now, for life after the NFL, [and now] you're preparing for life after high school," said Crosby, 34, of Accokeek. "If you think you're having fun now, wait until you get to college."

Crosby was a four-year student athlete at the University of Maryland, College Park and graduated in 1999 with a degree in family studies. That summer, he signed with the National Football League's St. Louis Rams and in his rookie season in 2000, the team won Super Bowl 34. From 2000 to 2004 he played with the Indianapolis Colts and in 2004 he played with the Kansas City Chiefs. He played defensive back with each team.

Since March, Crosby has been a school partnership manager for the National Capital Region of College Summit, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that gives schools strategies and tools to increase college enrollment.

College Summit began in 1993 with four students at a teen center in Washington, D.C. The center's director, J.B. Schramm, wanted to see students go on to college. A system was implemented to help intelligent, low-income students move their lives in a positive direction. Since 1993 College Summit has worked with schools, school districts and colleges to formulate a way to raise college enrollment rates, according to the College Summit Web site.

During the interactive lecture Nov. 12, Crosby talked to students about selecting a college, balancing a college social life with sports, succeeding in academics and graduating from college. He also talked about making the transition from high school to college athletics and how GPA, SAT and ACT scores correspond with Division I and Division II NCAA eligibility requirements.

He asked the students on their futures: "What are you doing to prepare yourself for college? What do you think you know about being a student athlete in college? What motivates you to go to college?"

He also tried to dispel or confirm what students have heard about being college athletes, like professors giving student athletes "A's" and "B's," even if the student didn't produce those grades on assignments or tests.

"If you think you're going to walk on [the field], just try out and start playing, [it's unlikely] but I'm not saying it can't be done—it's just a bigger challenge," Crosby said. "The reality might be that the sport is over for you. You have to be at peace with that. You have to start preparing yourself for the next level [college]."

Senior Ehijele Olumese, 17, of Largo was inspired listening to Crosby.

"He gave me stuff to think about," said Olumese, a basketball player at Largo. "He inspired me. He was successful in the NFL, and the stuff he did I want to do in the future."

Crosby decided to retire from the NFL in 2004 and worked at The National Center for Children and Families' Greentree Shelter in Bethesda as a program coordinator and then an adolescent program team leader from 2004 to September 2007. He worked at the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless in Rockville as a case manager for single, homeless men from November 2007 to March and since 2007 has been doing motivational speaking with the Caron Treatment Centers in Wernersville, Pa.

"[Motivational speaking] helps me and the students," Crosby said. "Athletes have a hard time expressing how we feel because we're taught to be confident [not emotional]. With me they get it raw. I don't sugarcoat it."

Largo High is the only school in the county to hold the college application week, said Principal Angelique Simpson-Marcus. College application week, from Nov. 8 to 14, which included lectures, a scholarship and financial aid information inquiry session and college discussion activities to promote a college-bound culture.

During the week, Largo seniors were required to submit at least one college application, and throughout the year students must submit four college applications, she said. About 80 percent of Largo graduates go on to a two or four year school. The class of 2008 surpassed the norm; 85 percent of students went to a two or four year school and received $2.1 million in scholarships.

The school is one of at least six county high schools in the Washington, D.C. area in the College Summit program, Simpson-Marcus said. She met Crosby at the College Summit Institute in Baltimore over the summer and asked him to speak.

The institute is a professional development experience that unites counselors, teachers and administrators from across the U.S. who believes young people must continue their education after high school, according to the College Summit Web site.

E-mail Liz Skalski at eskalski@gazette.net.