Tommy Mellott (right) with Alex Eschelman (by Joyce Bishop)
Tommy Mellott Presented 2023 FedEx Ground Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award in Frisco
1/6/2024 7:35:00 PM | Football
After taking the difficult path, Tommy Mellott is honored for helping others and academic excellence
BOZEMAN, Montana – Tommy Mellott knew at a young age that helping others was an important part of his life.
"Ever since I have known Tommy he has put others first," said Butte High School football coach Arie Gray, a former Bobcat receiver. "He truly is a special person who amazes me with the amount of time he makes for others."
On Saturday, Stats Perform presented Montana State's junior quarterback the 2023 FedEx Ground Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award or excellence in academics and community service, combined with achievements on the football field. Mellott carries a 4.0 grade point average as a financial engineering major, and has contributed around 200 hours as a volunteer during his time at Montana State, including projects ranging from volunteering with Habitat for Humanity to reading in Bozeman elementary schools and assisting young football players.
"Tommy excels in every way you can think of," said Bobcat head coach Brent Vigen. "In addition to everything he does in the weight room and on the football field he sets an amazingly high standard in community service and in the classroom. He's a leader in our program and sets an amazing example for others to follow."
Mellott understands that his desire to help people is rooted in his hometown of Butte, a community known for its strength in supporting its own. "It's been instilled in me since high school, maybe before then," he said. "Growing up in Butte, I felt there were a lot of situations where people were volunteering and I got to be the recipient and enjoy the fruits of their labor. I always grew up idolizing that and seeing how much it impacted me, and because of what the high school athletes were doing, when I was in elementary school and seeing how much you can influence younger individuals and inspire them to be greater than they maybe even aspire to be themselves, I wanted to be able to reflect that and do the same things when I was in high school."
Grey can call on many examples of Mellott's selflessness. "There are so many instances that you could talk about," he said, "but one that sticks out was before a playoff game. Tommy was on stage at the Special Olympics opening ceremonies giving high fives and cheering those athletes on."
During his time at Butte High Mellott became a "big" in Big Brothers/Big Sisters, enjoying "getting to go back to my old elementary school and helping an individual out there who wasn't as fortunate as I was. That was a great opportunity, for sure." Toward the end of his time in high school, an opportunity presented itself during the darkness of a global pandemic and wrapped in disappointment.
Montana's East-West Shrine Game each summer generates revenue to benefits the Shriners Hospital in Spokane. After the cancellation of the 2020 Montana East-West Shrine Game, featuring the Treasure State's top prep football players, Mellott says "There were, what, maybe 150 kids, and I remember thinking that (we were feeling) sorry for ourselves that we don't get our all-sports banquet, we can't do our senior skip day, and I was fed up with everyone feeling sorry for themselves because at the end of the day we got to stay home and be with family. And I realize that's not the best situation for everybody, but it was like, everybody has all this free time, what can we do to make a difference?"
So Mellott helped organize a fund-raising effort to replace much of the $100,000 raised in Butte annually that benefits the Shriners Children's Hospital. "There was a focus on the fact that there was more of a need for those funds at (that) point, that those funds for kids that can't afford it, families getting laid off and they can't afford surgeries for their kids. Obviously what the Shriners Hospital does is pretty special, and I'm sure the need was even higher during Covid, and I couldn't even imagine if that was me or it was my sister or a friend that was turned away because they didn't get the funding they need because of a football game (being canceled)."
After joining the Bobcats in the fall of 2020, Mellott said "coming to MSU and being a college football player is another platform. It's a continuation of that, and being involved in every community event that's related to athletics" helped him maintain his commitment to helping out. That has included using opportunities provided by new Name, Image and Likeness policies in college athletics to benefit I Love This Life, a non-profit organization promoting suicide prevention and awareness.
"I think that, again stemming from high school stuff, there are some mental health challenges that I went through personally, it's something that kind of runs in my family, unfortunately, so I've dealt with it, my parents have dealt with it, I've known others that have gone through mental health challenges," he said. "I guess in a world where NIL stuff is all about making money, it's another way of looking at a platform of name, image and likeness and being involved in putting your name and image out there not to make money for yourself but to make a change in the world. That's obviously way bigger than making a few dollars here or there."
Mellott landed the starting honors just over two years ago, becoming the first quarterback in Bobcat history to make his starting debut during the playoffs. His spectacular 180-yard rushing game against UT Martin sparked a magical run that led the Cats to the FCS Championship Game. Since then he is 18-7 as Montana State's starter, and in three of those losses (and one of the wins) he departed the game in the first half because of an injury. He has amassed 3,241 passing yards and 2,474 on the ground, throwing for 24 touchdowns and running for 29 while earning the reputation as a heady quarterback.
"He's the smartest quarterback I've ever been around," says Bobcat offensive coordinator Taylor Housewright. "He's the hardest worker in the room, and he's the kind of person everyone wants to emulate."
Mellott arrived at Montana State with designs on medical school, but chose to major in financial engineering based on advice from a high school counselor that diversifying his educational background is attractive during the med school admissions process. He describes financial engineering as "quantitative finance is essentially what the focus is, spread out between economics disciplines, finance disciplines, a lot of math, statistics, computer science and coding, data science, " and he added minors in finance and engineering management along the way.
Mellott said that financial engineering classes "are trying to enable you to basically be technical and objective with such an arbitrary thing as stock prices or pricing different assets. To some extent it's using a lot of statistics to back those things and promote economic ideas of making stronger markets and getting the most out of it as consumers and suppliers."
Whether he chooses the trials and ultimate rewards of a career in medicine or takes a different path, Mellott said financial engineering has provided amazing challenges and opportunities. "The ideal (path for a financial engineering major is) to price derivatives and price different assets or be part of actuaries, that's the ideal pathing, but there's very few people in any discipline that go on and do those exact things (they were trained for). It helps build the self-efficacy and believing in yourself and being able to problem-solve and I feel that it is the perfect fit for me."
Mellott is on schedule to finish his college football career and his undergraduate education simultaneously next fall. That gives him considerable time to ponder what his future holds. "I want to be more immediate toward helping people, and med school was that thought at the beginning. Without a doubt having a different perspective and studying the things that I have is very different than what a traditional path would be. Being part of a football team, being in a position where the public sees all your successes and failures, the physical side of it with the injuries and the mental side of it, being able to help people by applying those lessons is something that's always interested me."
#GoCatsGo
"Ever since I have known Tommy he has put others first," said Butte High School football coach Arie Gray, a former Bobcat receiver. "He truly is a special person who amazes me with the amount of time he makes for others."
On Saturday, Stats Perform presented Montana State's junior quarterback the 2023 FedEx Ground Doris Robinson Scholar-Athlete Award or excellence in academics and community service, combined with achievements on the football field. Mellott carries a 4.0 grade point average as a financial engineering major, and has contributed around 200 hours as a volunteer during his time at Montana State, including projects ranging from volunteering with Habitat for Humanity to reading in Bozeman elementary schools and assisting young football players.
"Tommy excels in every way you can think of," said Bobcat head coach Brent Vigen. "In addition to everything he does in the weight room and on the football field he sets an amazingly high standard in community service and in the classroom. He's a leader in our program and sets an amazing example for others to follow."
Mellott understands that his desire to help people is rooted in his hometown of Butte, a community known for its strength in supporting its own. "It's been instilled in me since high school, maybe before then," he said. "Growing up in Butte, I felt there were a lot of situations where people were volunteering and I got to be the recipient and enjoy the fruits of their labor. I always grew up idolizing that and seeing how much it impacted me, and because of what the high school athletes were doing, when I was in elementary school and seeing how much you can influence younger individuals and inspire them to be greater than they maybe even aspire to be themselves, I wanted to be able to reflect that and do the same things when I was in high school."
Grey can call on many examples of Mellott's selflessness. "There are so many instances that you could talk about," he said, "but one that sticks out was before a playoff game. Tommy was on stage at the Special Olympics opening ceremonies giving high fives and cheering those athletes on."
During his time at Butte High Mellott became a "big" in Big Brothers/Big Sisters, enjoying "getting to go back to my old elementary school and helping an individual out there who wasn't as fortunate as I was. That was a great opportunity, for sure." Toward the end of his time in high school, an opportunity presented itself during the darkness of a global pandemic and wrapped in disappointment.
Montana's East-West Shrine Game each summer generates revenue to benefits the Shriners Hospital in Spokane. After the cancellation of the 2020 Montana East-West Shrine Game, featuring the Treasure State's top prep football players, Mellott says "There were, what, maybe 150 kids, and I remember thinking that (we were feeling) sorry for ourselves that we don't get our all-sports banquet, we can't do our senior skip day, and I was fed up with everyone feeling sorry for themselves because at the end of the day we got to stay home and be with family. And I realize that's not the best situation for everybody, but it was like, everybody has all this free time, what can we do to make a difference?"
So Mellott helped organize a fund-raising effort to replace much of the $100,000 raised in Butte annually that benefits the Shriners Children's Hospital. "There was a focus on the fact that there was more of a need for those funds at (that) point, that those funds for kids that can't afford it, families getting laid off and they can't afford surgeries for their kids. Obviously what the Shriners Hospital does is pretty special, and I'm sure the need was even higher during Covid, and I couldn't even imagine if that was me or it was my sister or a friend that was turned away because they didn't get the funding they need because of a football game (being canceled)."
After joining the Bobcats in the fall of 2020, Mellott said "coming to MSU and being a college football player is another platform. It's a continuation of that, and being involved in every community event that's related to athletics" helped him maintain his commitment to helping out. That has included using opportunities provided by new Name, Image and Likeness policies in college athletics to benefit I Love This Life, a non-profit organization promoting suicide prevention and awareness.
"I think that, again stemming from high school stuff, there are some mental health challenges that I went through personally, it's something that kind of runs in my family, unfortunately, so I've dealt with it, my parents have dealt with it, I've known others that have gone through mental health challenges," he said. "I guess in a world where NIL stuff is all about making money, it's another way of looking at a platform of name, image and likeness and being involved in putting your name and image out there not to make money for yourself but to make a change in the world. That's obviously way bigger than making a few dollars here or there."
Mellott landed the starting honors just over two years ago, becoming the first quarterback in Bobcat history to make his starting debut during the playoffs. His spectacular 180-yard rushing game against UT Martin sparked a magical run that led the Cats to the FCS Championship Game. Since then he is 18-7 as Montana State's starter, and in three of those losses (and one of the wins) he departed the game in the first half because of an injury. He has amassed 3,241 passing yards and 2,474 on the ground, throwing for 24 touchdowns and running for 29 while earning the reputation as a heady quarterback.
"He's the smartest quarterback I've ever been around," says Bobcat offensive coordinator Taylor Housewright. "He's the hardest worker in the room, and he's the kind of person everyone wants to emulate."
Mellott arrived at Montana State with designs on medical school, but chose to major in financial engineering based on advice from a high school counselor that diversifying his educational background is attractive during the med school admissions process. He describes financial engineering as "quantitative finance is essentially what the focus is, spread out between economics disciplines, finance disciplines, a lot of math, statistics, computer science and coding, data science, " and he added minors in finance and engineering management along the way.
Mellott said that financial engineering classes "are trying to enable you to basically be technical and objective with such an arbitrary thing as stock prices or pricing different assets. To some extent it's using a lot of statistics to back those things and promote economic ideas of making stronger markets and getting the most out of it as consumers and suppliers."
Whether he chooses the trials and ultimate rewards of a career in medicine or takes a different path, Mellott said financial engineering has provided amazing challenges and opportunities. "The ideal (path for a financial engineering major is) to price derivatives and price different assets or be part of actuaries, that's the ideal pathing, but there's very few people in any discipline that go on and do those exact things (they were trained for). It helps build the self-efficacy and believing in yourself and being able to problem-solve and I feel that it is the perfect fit for me."
Mellott is on schedule to finish his college football career and his undergraduate education simultaneously next fall. That gives him considerable time to ponder what his future holds. "I want to be more immediate toward helping people, and med school was that thought at the beginning. Without a doubt having a different perspective and studying the things that I have is very different than what a traditional path would be. Being part of a football team, being in a position where the public sees all your successes and failures, the physical side of it with the injuries and the mental side of it, being able to help people by applying those lessons is something that's always interested me."
#GoCatsGo
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