Gary Rolle - Behind Enemy Lines
Thursday, October 16, 2008 | Football
By: Dan Apple, UF Communications
On September 13, 2003, the Florida A&M Rattlers traveled to Gainesville to take on the University of Florida for the first and only time in school history. For former Gator Gary Rolle, this trip brought back lots of memories, but also put him in a small predicament. His orange wasn't matched with blue, but instead with the Rattler green.
Rolle grew up in Miami and attended Carol City High School. He has always had high aspirations, even as a child. As the youngest in his family, he constantly tried to keep up with his siblings and prove he could do the same things they were doing.
“I had a basketball coach in high school who told our team, 'Whatever you do in life, you're going to form habits, so they might as well be good ones, because habits are hard to break,'” said Rolle. “I got into the habit of studying hard after practice, even though I was tired, and that work ethic has helped me.”
His studying paid off, as he earned his way into the prestigious U.S. Military Academy at West Point. However, he only spent a year there before transferring closer to home and moving to Gainesville.
In 1981, Rolle walked on the University of Florida football team as a wide receiver. While at Florida, Rolle earned almost every academic honor possible. As a microbiology major, Rolle was a two-time academic All-SEC performer ('83 and '84) and was an Academic All-American in 1984.
Also in 1984, Rolle became just the second Gator to win the Scholar-Athlete Award presented annually by the National Football Foundation. (Darrell Carpenter was the first in 1976; other winners include Brad Culpepper, '91, Michael D. Gilmore, '94 and Danny Wuerffel, '96)
Rolle played in 25 games for the Gators in his career, missing several as a junior due to injury. Florida went a combined 26-7-2 in his three years, including a 9-1-1 record his senior year. In the 1984 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos selected Rolle in the 11th round. He spent most of his time watching from the sidelines, which led him to pursue his other career goal.
When Rolle realized his future was not in the NFL, he returned to UF to attend medical school. As the son of a doctor, Rolle had wanted to follow in his father's footsteps since high school. During his playing days at UF, he spent time with head team physician Dr. Peter Indelicato and became interested in orthopedics.
“While I was in school at Florida, he'd take me to Shands so I could watch surgeries. I remember thinking, 'I could do that,'” said Rolle. “In medical school, I never found anything that interested me as much as orthopedics. I like making people whole again.”
After attending UF medical school, Rolle moved to New Orleans to join the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation program to do his residency. In 1995, Rolle returned to Gainesville after receiving a fellowship in sports medicine at UF.
Rolle, 46, now resides in that 'town out West' with his wife, Katrina, and their four children, Garrison Jr., Gavin, Garrett and Gabrielle. In 1997, Rolle joined the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic as a specialist in knee surgeries and sports medicine. He has also been the team orthopedic surgeon for FAMU for over 10 seasons. Being an athlete himself has been an enormous help in his professional career.
“You get a feel for when a kid can go without an X-ray and when it can't wait,” said Rolle. “You can tell if it's safe for him to play and if he can help his team or not.”
Rolle's position with the Rattlers led him back to Gainesville in 2003, but for the first time he was on the visitor's sideline.
“Being on the opposing sideline, wearing the other team's colors, I was torn,” said Rolle. “I'm really attached to the coaches and the kids I take care of on the team. I want them to win. But I'd never wanted anyone to throw a touchdown against the Gators before.”
Fortunately, Rolle's loyalties were never put in question on that day as the game was won handily by the Gators, 63-3.
After spending so much time in what many Gator fans consider enemy territory, Rolle has renewed his relationship with UF as a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Florida Foundation. This commitment allows him to visit Gainesville twice a year for the board meetings. The only dilemma remaining for Rolle is where his kids might choose to go to college.
“I guess if my kids go to Florida State – God forbid – I'll have to pull for them.”
