Penn State Homecoming hosted its first AlumniTalks event Thursday in the Hintz Family Alumni Center. Former Penn State football player Devon Still delivered a speech about his daughter’s battle against cancer and his journey to the NFL.

Still’s talk is slated to be the first in a series of speeches delivered by noted Penn State alumni, as Homecoming hopes to encourage on-campus alumni involvement throughout the year and not just during Homecoming week.

Still was a defensive end for the Nittany Lions and played for Penn State from 2008-2011. After captaining the team his senior year, Still was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, and spent three seasons in Ohio. Still retired from the NFL last December following a brief stint with the New York Jets.

He founded the Still Strong Foundation, which provides support to families whose children are battling cancer, after his daughter Leah was diagnosed with a a rare form of the disease in 2014. Leah is now cancer-free. 

Still began by talking about growing up in Delaware with a dream of playing football. He found many in his community to be unsupportive of his dream.

“History said people didn’t make it from Delaware to the NFL. But I wanted to make my own history,” Still said.

He persisted thanks to his father’s guidance. Still suffered a serious injury early in his athletic career when he broke his leg before a basketball game. After many said he would never make it back, Still’s father was there to keep his son on track.

“You can’t allow people’s perspectives to define who you are. This is just another obstacle on your way to the NFL,” Still said his father told him.

Still soon came back and tore up the high school football field, earning scholarships form all over the country. After committing to Penn State, he attracted a lot of attention in the media and from coaches due to his preseason performances. But a torn ACL and MCL suffered during practice kept him out his freshman year.

Still broke his ankle during the following year’s preseason, and once again found himself on the sideline. He felt like an observer, watching Penn State beat Terrell Pryor’s Ohio State and having to drive to Beaver Canyon on his cart to celebrate.

“Coming back…I saw people who went to school with me living out their dreams, and I wasn’t living out mine,” Still said.

He compared this sense of missing out to how social media is used today —  creating an eternal state of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and jealousy over people’s “fakes lives,” as he called it.

“The person who’s in control of your life shouldn’t be those that you’re jealous of. It should be you,” Still said.

After another round of rehab for his ankle, Still was determined to get back onto the field. After an all-American season his junior year, he was elected captain by his teammates for his senior year. He never considered this something he was born to do. Instead, he felt as if he had to earn it.

“Leaders aren’t born on the front line. They have to step up from the back line,” Still said.

A strong season for both Still and the Nittany Lions had the team feeling confident, but then the Sandusky scandal struck. After being relegated to a lesser bowl game that season by the selection committee, many players on the team wanted to boycott the game.

After talking with the coaches, who asked him to convince the team to play, and agents and family who told him not to play in case he sustained an injury before the NFL Combine, Still decided his team had to play.

“It was bigger than football. This community was falling apart and we had to do something,” Still said. “If we gave up, it would say it was okay for the town to give up. I didn’t want that.”

Still broke his toe in the bowl game, missed the NFL Combine, and was selected in the second round of the Draft. But he said he wouldn’t go back on his decision.

“I knew my values before I was a football player,” Still said.

More injuries came his way in the NFL — he suffered a popped shoulder and underwent back surgery. Still was also rushed to the hospital by his father after he experienced chest pains, and found out he had a blood clot in his lungs. If his father hadn’t acted so quickly, Still wouldn’t have woken up the next morning. Two months after this episode, his daughter Leah was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma.

“I couldn’t cure her cancer,” Still said. “What I could do was teach her what I’d learned during all my injuries.”

Still has since retired from the NFL and works with his foundation. With Leah now cancer-free, Still travels across the country giving speeches and advice to the next generation.

“If you don’t have something in your life worth dying for, you’re not on the right path,” Still said. “Ask yourself, ‘What is my passion?’ Keep making us alumni proud.”

Still also talked about his new book, “Still in the Game.” He mentioned that he regretted not talking to THON families enough and hearing their stories during his time at Penn State. Now that he’s gone through much of what many families have, Still wants to help others understand his personal struggles.

“By me writing this book, I wanted to show people that I’ve walked in their shoes,” he said. “The fact that you’re alive means that you’re still in the game.”

After telling his story, Still had a Q&A session with the audience. From asking what it was like to have Joe Paterno as a coach to how his daughter is doing today, the crowd was very active. Still was also asked what it was like to play in a White Out. He responded with a chuckle.

“It’s not just 11 players on the field, it’s 12 with the crowd,” said Still. “Whenever I was tired, I got energy from the crowd. I remember cold games and seeing fans with no shirts on! It made us want to make it worth it for those fans when they work up with the flu the next day.”

After the question and answer period, attendees were invited to go up to talk to the former Nittany Lion one-on-one. The session seemed to match what Still had emphasized earlier in his talk.

“I’m living my life’s purpose,” Still said, “to help people.”

Still said that though he wanted to attend, he won’t be at Beaver Stadium for this weekend’s White Out clash against Ohio State.

“I’ve got my daughter’s first soccer game this weekend,” he said. “She wouldn’t let me miss that.”