Deryck Toles has made it his personal and professional mission to inspire the minds of under-represented youth since 2006. He’s an Ohio native, a community leader, a former NFL linebacker and the founder of Inspiring Minds – a non-profit organization that engages, inspires, and empowers under-represented youth through education and exposure to life-changing experiences. 

During his childhood he overcame significant family and financial hardships that directly impacted his efforts to become an accomplished student-athlete at Warren G. Harding High School. 

Upon graduation in 1999, he went on to Penn State University where he became an Academic All-American and football standout, graduating in 2003 with a degree in Business Administration. 

He began his NFL career as an outside linebacker with the Atlanta Falcons and has also played for the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts. 

In 2006, after suffering a career-ending injury, he returned to his hometown of Warren to start the next chapter of his life: Inspiring Minds. Since then, Deryck and Inspiring Minds have been able to expose thousands of local students to over 90 different colleges and 80 industries across the county; provide scholarships for post-secondary education; reverse summer learning stigmas by increasing students’ academic proficiency an average of 40% during the summer months and inspire 100% of students to graduate high school and continue their education at college or with the Armed Forces. 

He believes that children may be economically and socially under-privileged, but never inspirationally underprivileged. Now, 13 years later, Inspiring Minds provides After-School and Summer Enrichment Programming to over 600 students annually in Warren, Youngstown, Philadelphia and New York City.