Roman (2nd from left) spent 10 years in a Ukrainian orphanage before being adopted in the U.S.
Today’s Daily Herald article on Roman Wendelboe lays out a compelling story of an immigrant child seizing the American Dream to excel academically with dreams of the NCAA football gridiron. I pitched this story to the Herald after hearing of Roman’s Utah High School Hall of Fame induction a couple of months ago. His story inspires me so.
‘Ziggy’ Ansah made us love him with his path from Africa through
Inducted 2013 Utah HS Hall of Fame
BYU to the NFL. Unassuming, innocent, and driven by a fire for excellence. That describes both he and Roman.
Having met Roman on a number of occasions, I’m impressed ‘to the max’ with his commitment to living life at full throttle. It’s hard to believe that coming from a tough environment like a Ukrainian orphanage that Roman could be such a gentle and respectful man. But, he is! He loves to have fun, but he works amazingly hard on things he has passion about. The Daily Herald story outlines well what he loves.
PR Field Goal: 48 Yards at Provo High School
So, the article says he wants a shot at USU and BYU football. I might add that the University of Utah also has a great engineering program–Roman’s target degree. Well, John Stockton of NBA fame and Ziggy of football fame prove that work ethic go a long way in topping a resume’s skills list. Ziggy and Michael Oher (The Blind Side) prove overcoming great adversity can lead to greatness. So, I for one think it is a wise collegiate coach who will seek out Roman and give him a shot.
What do you think?
Roman Stats & Video Highlights
3.99 GPA student
About the Author:
As founder of PilmerPR, John Pilmer, APR serves as a PR and marketing communications advisor for both emerging and established companies. He offers customers more than 20 years of results-driven business PR and marketing experience. John and the firm have provided PR consultation and campaigns for clients such as Mozy, Novell, AdvancedMD, Certiport, NextPage, ElectraTherm, Altiris, Avamar, EmergeCore Networks, FSLogic, INVISUS, 10x Marketing, MWI, Project Insight, REIC, Seastone, US Synthetic and Funding Universe (now Lendio), among others.