LEADERSHIP
Pioneering Spirit “The whole football team was under the microscope,” he remembers. “We were bringing football back. We had to show them [classmates, faculty and the community] that we were student-athletes first. We had to show them that we’re just like anybody else.” They showed them, particularly Payne. Early on, while leaders emerged by virtue of talent on the football field, Payne went beyond. With stellar play and colorful “Mohawk” hair, he stood out, and he knew it. He embraced the challenge of scrutiny. “I learned over time that people are watching at every moment,” he describes. “I’m representing not only myself, but I’m representing my family, this football program, and I’m representing this school as a whole. “I also learned that leadership must have extreme ownership over both craft and teammates.”
HIS LEADERSHIP CREDO IS SIMPLE: Make those around you better. “A good leader gets his followers to where they want to go. But a great leader pushes his followers past their expectations.”
When Sylvia Payne urged her son to attend Stetson, he listened.
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“Now,” he adds, “we’re one of the biggest parts of Stetson. That was a big jump for some of us, but we were able to make it as a team.” His leadership credo is simple: Make those around you better. “A good leader gets his followers to where they want to go. But a great leader pushes his followers past their expectations,” he says. Among others, he points to current and past coaches as key influences in his life, along with hometown mentor Durand Rice, director of athletics at Landmark Christian School. As Payne grew in all respects, he wove himself into the very fabric of Stetson. “There have been multiple times where he has demonstrated his leadership in advancing the team from an athletic-skills standpoint, but he also volunteers at other sporting events,” cites Athletics Director Jeff Altier. “He works as an usher at basketball, baseball and softball games. He’s consistently supporting the other programs, both visibly and with his encouragement.”
Impactful. Indelible. At least two characteristics haven’t changed about Payne. One is his love to prove people right, an attitude that has a direct tie to football. He carries a chip on his shoulder, as the saying goes, about being ignored by big-school recruiters, noting, “A lot of people just waved me by.” As a result, he stands staunchly by the people who care, in his hometown and his Stetson community. “The people who didn’t believe in me, I’m not trying to prove them wrong. But the people who did believe in me, I’m trying to prove them right,” asserts Payne, crediting his high school coach with that thinking. Such motivation has lifted him to great football heights, but Payne also has already graduated with a degree in finance (and a minor in management) — receiving recognition for high academic achievement along the way. His work ethic was further evident this summer when he interned at a medical facility near campus, handling patient accounting, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Another constant is personality. Payne has always exhibited ample measures of it. “Being African-American and a football player at this school makes me different already,” he says. “But it’s given me a plat-
Payne has the NFL watching, but he has a backup plan: criminal and social justice.
form to express myself freely. I don’t think you can walk around this campus and have someone say that ‘Donald isn’t himself 24-7,’ because I definitely am. “I just like to have fun. People know that I’m the leader on the field, when it comes between those lines. But at the end of the day, I’m going to joke with you and have fun with you.” Later this fall might not be so joyful. Game 11 on the schedule is set for Saturday, Nov. 19, marking the end of Payne’s Hatter career. It could also mean a new beginning in the NFL. Maybe. That’s unknown. Of the NFL, he concedes, “That’s my goal. I want to be there; I want to get there. Anything in between the lines I have to do to get there, I’m working for it.” If it doesn’t happen? “Ohhh,” he responds slowly. “My mom always said, ‘Your body will wear out one day, but your mind will never.’” His backup plan includes blending his finance/management
education with passions in criminal and social justice. Amid that uncertainty, there are givens. Stetson has changed Donald Payne. “It’s given me discipline on the football field, discipline in the classroom, discipline out and about,” he says. “I can honestly say I made lifelong friends here. It really has been a blessing to be here.” Payne has returned the favor, both on the field and off. “You get all that package wrapped up in somebody who’s a tremendous athlete,” Altier says. “And that is unique and novel and something special to Stetson.” Payne, indeed, doesn’t want to be forgotten when he’s gone — especially by future Hatters needing help. “I want them to be able to call me up in any crisis, about image or how others perceive them,” he says. “I want people to tell them, ‘You need to call Donald up and ask him.’”
“I learned over time that people are watching at every moment. I’m representing not only myself, but I’m representing my family, this football program and I’m representing this school as a whole.”
Talk about leading the way. When the 120 or so hopeful souls with football dreams arrived on campus in August 2012, no one had come before them — at least not in 57 years. Yet, they pioneered college football back to Stetson, and they persevered in uncertain times. Today, 13 of those original players, from as far away as California, Illinois and New York, remain Hatters, each playing in his final season. Donald Payne, of course, is among them. All, however, are worthy of applause. They ushered in a new era of growth on campus. Stetson research shows for every player who enrolled at the university, another 1.8 students resulted, simply because they wanted to be at a school that had football. In addition, by virtue of journey, hardship and triumph, these players personify values that are at the very core of the university’s mission. Personal growth? Winners? Touchdown.
The Original 13 Glenn Adesoji, Memphis, Tenn., Integrative Health Science Christopher Atkins, Jacksonville, Fla., Digital Arts Davion Belk, Chicago, Ill., Marketing Christopher Crawford, Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., Accounting Patrick Fogarty, Savannah, Ga., Sports Business Eric Fogle, Evans, Ga., Sports Business Jonathan Jerozal, Canyon Country, Calif., Marketing David Lazear, Newark, Del., Economics and Chemistry Kegan Moore, Marietta, Ga., Business Administration Donald Payne, Fayetteville, Ga., Finance Matthew Wawrzyniak, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Accounting Dylan Wydronkowski, Glenville, N.Y., Business Administration/MBA Mike Yonker, Cocoa Beach, Fla., Elementary Education
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