July 22, 2021

Jake Olson became the first completely blind football player in college football history and he’s sharing his story at our 15th Foundation for Success Luncheon on November 4th.

Jake’s story of overcoming retinoblastoma and going blind at the age of 12 has served as an inspiration to many people across the world.

Jake’s first battle with cancer began when he was just 8 months old and he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma. The disease claimed his left eye at 10 months old and in November 2009 Jake lost his right eye after battling the cancer for 12 years.

Jake confronted many challenges and encountered many setbacks during his battle and loss of sight but remained strong through his faith in God. He has used his experience to inspire and motivate others by authoring two books, creating a non-profit foundation to help visually impaired children and support cancer research and by sharing his story openly as a motivational speaker.

Jake is also a life-long USC football fan. While in high school he learned to long snap and was the starting long snapper for his team his junior and senior year. After being accepted to USC, he was offered a walk on spot with the USC football team, making him the first completely blind Division I college football player.

He saw his first live action when he snapped in USC’s home opener on September 2, 2017 and was named the Pac-12 special teams’ player of the week. In his college career, he had a total of three successful PAT snaps, earning his spot as one of the top two most inspirational stories in college football’s 150 year history.

His story has been featured on ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, Fox Sports, Hallmark, TBN, The Golf Channel, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post, etc. Since graduating, Jake has become an entrepreneur, co-founding Engage, an online platform that digitizes the process of booking talent for experiences.