Roland Williams
| No. 86 | |||||||||
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| Position: | Tight End | ||||||||
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| Date of birth: | April 27, 1975 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Rochester, New York | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| College: | Syracuse | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1998 / Round: 4 / Pick: 98 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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Roland Lamar Williams (born April 27, 1975), is a retired American football tight end from the University of Syracuse. He is best known as a motivational speaker. An 8-year NFL veteran, Roland has enjoyed great success on the field and off, and now best known as a motivational speaker. Roland was selected in the 1998 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. A multi-year starter, Roland went on to win Super Bowl XXXIV in the thrilling Rams victory over the Tennessee Titans. Following his Super Bowl victory, Roland played three years for the Oakland Raiders, where he won the American Football Conference Championship. In 2003, Roland played one season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In unique fashion, Roland returned to play another season with the Oakland Raiders and then the subsequent season with the St. Louis Rams before a career ending knee injury sidelined him in 2006. Known throughout his career as a premier blocking tight end in the NFL, it's Roland’s persona that has labeled him as one of the most positive and energetic athletes in professional sports.
In 1999, Roland founded Youth Lifeline America, a charitable organization that partners with athletes, entertainers and executives to harness the powerful influence of sports and entertainment to provide free educational training to at-risk youth across the nation. Roland has received many awards for his charitable efforts including the prestigious NFL Unsung Hero Award, 2-time Oakland Raiders Man of the Year Award, the Press Radio Club Pro Athlete of the Year Award and multi-year finalist for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. In July 2014, Williams started raising funds for a new program that would help support 500 boys and girls in his hometown of Rochester, New York.[1]
As a sports analyst for more than a decade, Roland has appeared on media outlets including CBS Sports Network, ESPN, MTV, NBC, NBC Sports Network, Nickelodeon, NFL Network, CNBC, Fox, Fox Sports Net, CBS, ABC and many other television, radio, online and print publications. In 2008, he coached a studious high school student aiming to become a football player on the MTV show "Made."