Gerhard de Beer shirked the comforts of home for the squalor of playing in the trenches.
The 23-year-old offensive lineman took a gamble five years ago, moving 9,943 miles (the Earth’s circumference, by comparison, is 24,901 miles) from his home in Pretoria, South Africa to compete as a two-sport athlete at The University of Arizona.
The towering South African excelled at rugby and track and field at his high school, Afrikaanse Hoer Seunskool, in Pretoria.
He still holds the U-16 and U-18 records in his home country in the discus, and has the fourth-longest throw in Arizona history as well, covering 203 feet, three inches at the Tucson Elite Classic on May 21, 2016.