Speaker Profile Thumbnail for Jake Olson

Historic College Football Player, Blind Golf Champion, & Entrepreneur

Jake Olson Speaking Fee: $10,000 and Below

Historic College Football Player, Blind Golf Champion, & Entrepreneur

Speaker Profile Thumbnail for Jake Olson
Speaking Fee:
$10,000 and Below

Travels From:
Available Upon Request

Primary Topic Category:
Inspiration / Motivation / Overcoming Obstacles

Secondary Topic Category:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) / Social Justice

 

Jake Olson Speaker Profile: At A Glance

Jake Olson became the first completely blind football player in college football history when he successfully long-snapped a point-after try for USC in 2017. His story of perseverance gained national attention and continues to inspire many people around the world. An eight-time cancer survivor, author, entrepreneur, media personality, adaptive golf champion, and incredible motivational speaker, Jake inspires audiences to "find the setup in the setback" and offers practical mindsets and tools audiences can use to grow through adversity and achieve the best version of themselves.

Jake Olson’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 is best known as the first completely blind player in college football history. He famously long-snapped a successful point after try for the University of Southern California (USC) against Western Michigan on September 2nd, 2017, a story which received viral national attention from 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. While Jake will always be a proud USC Trojan, his story is far more than a simple 15-minutes-of-fame. After graduating from USC 2019, Jake became a full-time motivational speaker, sharing his story hundreds of events, including clients such as AIG, Ball Corporation, Bank of America, JLL, Google, Invesco, Microsoft, Mondolez, Nationwide, and SpaceX. He is also the founder of a start-up talent booking company, Engage, which helps companies book keynote speakers and athletes for events. The accomplishment Jake is most proud of is his family- he and his wife, Audrey, welcomed their first child in January 2025. Jake is sought after as a speaker because he blends a great sense of humor (audiences laugh an average of 18 times during a 50-minute talk (yes, he and his team actually measure this)) with powerful insights that inspire audience members to reframe how they respond to adversity, develop a more positive mindset, and break through self-imposed limitations to achieve at their full potential in their personal and professional lives. Jake customizes his talk for each client to ensure he aligns his message with the event theme and impacts the audience in the way event planners intended.
John Argue, VerityPoint "Excellent! Jake was an amazing and dynamic speaker. He was undoubtedly a draw for our event. He spent the entire day with us - speaking, golfing, interacting with our guests - truly generous with his time. Such a wonderful person!" Josh Killian, Patterson Dental "Jake was a huge success, and everyone loved his message, from the CEO to the newest sales professional in the room. Patterson Dental is an organization that has been going through a transformation of people and systems for the last 5 years and this year's meeting was about coming together, embracing the change in our market (customers and others,) and getting back to growth through an offensive position. Jake's message supported all of this perfectly. You won't be disappointed." Cindy Weites, AIG "I’ve worked with many external speakers for large corporate conferences and meetings for many years and highly recommend Jake Olson as a motivational speaker. He has a fresh and inspiring story and is authentic in his mission to help others, both through his speaking engagements and in his not-for-profit work. He is articulate, has a great sense of humor, and will customize his remarks to fit your audience. He received the highest rating of any of our speakers at a recent conference and, as a result, is receiving requests for more speaking engagements from the attendees." AbbVie "Jake, you are a rockstar! You are hilarious, humble, open, optimistic, and motivational. I can speak on behalf of all our attendees today- they took so much away from your speech and are motivated to help create a culture of inclusion. As you said, start with humility, compassion, sympathy, and, most importantly, love one another!" Cambridge Associates "Jake’s presentation was a HUGE success. He is so humble, has a great sense of humor, and truly a light for those with disabilities. Some of the comments in the chat were: “is there anything you can’t do Jake?” and “I wish he could speak with us every month!” and many more about what an inspiration he is. Compassion to help anyone who is suffering is a message that should be echoed, especially now."
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