The chance to play football under Coach Pat Hill drew Nicholas Butler to Fresno State, but the loss of a dear friend coupled with a commitment to keep his name alive are what led Nicholas to establish The T.R.O.Y. Center — a non-profit organization that works to positively impact Fresno’s “impressionable” youth.

As a student, Nicholas majored in sociology and dreamt of a long and prosperous football career. But after two consecutive seasons in which he was injured, he gave up the sport and ventured into law enforcement, becoming a correctional officer at Fresno’s Juvenile Justice Campus in 2007.

In 2017, Nicholas launched The T.R.O.Y. (Truly Reviving Our Youth) Center, named after his late hometown friend Troy Cory Taylor, who lost his life to senseless violence.

“Now what we do at T.R.O.Y. is just a passion that I’ve had in my life since I can remember, Nicholas said. "Working with kids because I was that kid. Had I not had the sport, I would not have achieved higher education or higher learning because I would have probably just become another statistic out there.”

Knowing just how much his time as a Bulldog meant to him, Nicholas hopes to get kids excited about higher education.

“I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for the education that I received here at Fresno State," he said.

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