Marcus pictured at Paramount's Content for Change event in Las Vegas during Super Bowl LVII week
From Student-Athlete to Advocate
Marcus Alston was born and raised in Howard County, Maryland. His parents divorced when he was four years old — an experience that left lasting emotional trauma and led to his enrollment in youth football at age seven. By eleven, he had already suffered two concussions.
At Mount Saint Joseph High School, Marcus played basketball and football, winning a BCL championship in 2011 and earning 1st Team All-MIAA and 1st Team Private School All-State honors. Then, in his senior season, a Lisfranc fracture derailed his recruitment — schools like Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and his dream school, Florida, moved on. Still, in 2013 he earned a scholarship to play Division I-AA football at Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA.
College is where his mental health began to unravel. As a freshman recovering from a third foot surgery and grieving the loss of his grandmother, Marcus began seeing an on-campus counselor and was diagnosed with situational depression. He kept pushing — playing his senior season through two torn labrums and knee tendinitis, and helping Saint Francis capture its first conference title as a Division I program in 2016. He graduated in 2018 with a degree in Management Information Systems.
In May 2018, Marcus struggled with lingering injuries and transitioning out of sport. It was the darkest chapter of his life — and the one that revealed his purpose.
"My calling in life is to help the younger version of myself."
In September 2019, Marcus left his IT career and founded Alston for Athletes with one goal: no student-athlete should have to go through what he endured without a support system.