Former ACU football player shares a message of perseverance, purpose and knowing your worth
A championship ring has a way of getting a high school student’s attention. Two of them certainly do.
When Abilene Christian University’s Anthony Egbo Jr. visited Wylie High School, he brought along championship rings from 2024 and 2025, inviting students to pass them around, try them on and get an up-close look. But the rings were only a small part of the story he came to tell.
Egbo shared how he arrived at ACU as a football walk-on after being told he was too small to play college football. With no athletic scholarship waiting for him, he made a promise to his mother that he would earn one. It took four years, but he did.
That persistence eventually opened doors well beyond the football field. Egbo talked about NIL opportunities, leadership roles advocating for student-athletes and even the opportunity to speak before members of Congress about creating opportunities for young people.
But his biggest message to students wasn't about football.
Egbo repeatedly talked about preparing for life's "next window." He encouraged students to figure out who they are, what they care about and what they're good at before someone else tries to define those things for them.
“Don’t let anyone dictate your worth,” he told students.
He also reminded them not to become so focused on what's coming next that they miss what's happening right now.
“You’re never gonna get that other window back,” Egbo said, encouraging students to prepare for the future while still appreciating the season they’re in.
For Wylie students, it was a reminder that success rarely follows a perfectly straight line. Sometimes it starts with being overlooked, asking for an opportunity and deciding to keep going anyway.
And sometimes, years later, you get to pass the championship rings around the room.
It’s another reminder that the next chapter may not always look the way we expect, but there is plenty of value in being ready when the window opens. It’s great to be a Wylie Bulldog!
