(Seguin) — The words “the brain” and “the legend” go hand in hand especially when it comes to talking about what many say is “arguably the most unique and well-rounded player in NFL history.” Texas Lutheran University tonight is officially kicking off another year of prestigious speakers and special performers with John Urschel, former All BIG-10 Conference offensive lineman at Penn State and former offensive guard/center for the Baltimore Ravens.
Ashlie Ford, TLU director of marketing and communications, says Urschel is no doubt legendary in everything he has and will continue to accomplish.
“John Urschel is the first speaker in our annual Brown Series of Cultural Events. He will be here tonight. He is a former NFL player with the Baltimore Ravens and he is also a mathematician so he is somebody that has been in so many different areas and when he was at Penn State, he was actually the recipient of something called the Campbell Award which is known as the Academic Heisman and that’s given to college football players who possess the best combination of academics, community service and on field performance so he is really somebody that we think our students will identify with because one third of our students are also athletes so he understands what it is like going
to college and playing football and then being in a real unique area where he was teaching grad school courses at Penn State while he was playing football there and then also when he was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens, he continued to pursue that but then he decided to actually leave the NFL to earn his Ph.D in Mathematics at MIT and he is still there right now,” said Ford.
Urschel graduated from Penn State in four years with both an undergraduate and master’s degree and all while maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA. He also published multiple papers in prestigious mathematics and scientific journals, taught two undergraduate math classes, and anchored the offensive line, starting every game of his junior and senior years.
Ford says he is the author of “Mind and Matter: A Life in Football,” where he reveals the lesser-known passion for mathematics that inspired his double life as an athlete and scholar.
“I think one of the things that stands out most about John Urschel is the fact that he can speak to so many different areas. So, he’s appealing to all kinds of audiences whether you are a NFL fan, whether you are really into math or physics, whether you have been following the effects of traumatic brain injuries on football players. He really, in his book ‘Mind and Matter: A Life in Football,’ he delves into all of those different topics and explains how he experienced them as
an athlete and a scholar and he talks about his career after the NFL as a academic but also working with companies like Texas Instruments and General Electric. He’s been featured in Rolling Stones, on ESPN, on HBO. So, he’s somebody that I think a lot of audiences will find something appealing about and I bet there’s a lot of people where his interest in areas intersect like theirs do,” said Ford.
On July 27, 2017, Urschel, nominated for Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the Year” announced his retirement from the NFL after three seasons when The Baltimore Sun article reported about the Journal of the American Medical Association study on the prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in deceased players. Urschel is currently a Dean of Science Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) pursuing a Ph.D. in Mathematics with a focus on spectral graph theory, numerical linear algebra, and machine learning. Ford says she hopes individuals and families come out to join TLU students for tonight’s presentation. Again, she says Urschel kicks off another great schedule of presentations made possible by the TLU Jessie S. and Jack Harold Upton Brown Cultural Enrichment Endowment Fund.
“Then we have some other speakers that will be coming up this year including Actor RJ Mitte. He’s best know for his role as Walt Junior in Breaking Bad. He is going to be talking about inclusion and he is an actor with cerebral palsy so he’s going to be talking about what that is like working in the industry. We will also be hosting Eboo Patel in January. He’s founder of Interfaith Youth Core and talks a lot about coming together, different backgrounds, different faiths and how we can work together and how we really have a lot more in common than we do not and then in February, we are excited to welcome Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber. She is an author and a Lutheran pastor who is really passionate about a lot of issues, women’s issues, LGBT issues and then we are also very excited to welcome our only performer our only performer this year, Comedian Trae Crowder. He will be on campus in March and he is very very funny. He does political comedy and things like that so if you have a chance to check him out beforehand to see how great he is and then come check him out for free. His shows typically sell out when he plays in this area so this is another opportunity for the community to come out and attend a really great performance at no cost,” said Ford.
Thursday night’s free presentation by Urschel will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. at Jackson Auditorium.