Arizona Cardinals placekicker and 2018 Cedar Crest High School graduate Chad Ryland visited his elementary alma mater Ebenezer Elementary School to speak with fifth-grade students on Jan. 28.
“I was once in your guys’ seats,” he told the classes. “I was in that exact same room.”
Ryland gave a rundown of his career, starting in baseball and soccer and then joining the Cedar Crest football team as a kicker his junior year.
From there, he played at Eastern Michigan University for four years while he majored in supply chain management before going to the University of Maryland for his last year of eligibility.
The 2024-25 season was Ryland’s second in the NFL. He previously played for the New England Patriots before being released. He was picked up by the Cardinals several weeks later.
District media relations coordinator Amy Wissinger said his visit was meant to be “focused on impacting the students and not himself,” so he would not be answering any media questions about the Arizona team, his season or “anything related to football.”
But he took questions from the kids until the teachers had to cut him off. They ranged from his favorite food to how he handled fighting back onto a team after his release.
“It was effort and my attitude toward it,” he said. “The biggest part of that was not shutting down.”
Maria Bickel, Ryland’s fifth-grade teacher, still keeps in touch with him. She said even back when he was a kid she knew there were big things in store for him.
“You knew there was something special about him, you just didn’t know where it was going to take him,” she said after Ryland’s talk. “I just knew there was something special. Like, why do I still have pictures and I knew where they were?”
She said he would come to talk to her class when he was in college. He shared the story of his athletic journey and the importance of hard work, respect for those around you, and a positive attitude.
“He is truly what I believe a role model should be — I would invite him back to come to speak to my class even if he wasn’t in the NFL,” Bickel said. “He is just that kind of person that’s very eloquent. He speaks from his heart, but he speaks with factual information of how he backed up everything he did, and I think he has that way of talking to kids that they can relate to.”
Throughout the conversation with the students, Ryland repeatedly brought up the support from his family, friends, coaches and teammates.
Bickel said giving this credit to others is exactly what she knows him for. She said he is “not a ‘me, me, me’ person.”
“He’s not ever talking about himself,” she said. “He brings in people that have helped him along the way. He has that humility that a lot of kids don’t see in their role models anymore.”
Ryland took the time to sit at a table, surrounded by balloons, to sign at least one thing for each fifth-grade student.
Ryland told them even if they move away and do big things in their lives, they should come back to Lebanon and give back to the area that raised them.
“He truly cares about Lebanon and the people that he’s met here and giving back,” Bickel said.
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