As Brandon Staple was pulled aside from throngs of his peers in a Longmont High School hallway during Thursday's lunch period, he was confused for a moment as to why.

Perhaps it was noticing the half-dozen adults donning black-and-white-striped referee shirts and brand new Nike sneakers whom a teacher steered him toward that triggered Staple to recall he had applied for a scholarship from the shoe retailer Foot Locker.

When he realized he was about to receive a $20,000 award from the company, a smile spread across his face, and when LHS Principal Rick Olsen made the announcement that Staple had been selected for the scholarship to a busy cafeteria, applause from teachers and students filled the room.

Staple, a standout soccer player for the Trojans planning to study oncology at the University of Colorado Denver, became the first Colorado pupil to receive the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes Program scholarship since the company began awarding 20 college-bound students annually seven years ago.

"I honestly had kind of forgotten I applied for it," Staple said after posing for photos of him holding an oversized check with his mom, Denise Staple, as well as Olsen and the Foot Locker employees.

It was the second time this school year the senior accepted a scholarship that will save him thousands during his undergraduate studies.

In December, he won a $5,000 Wendy's Heisman scholarship, and was one of 10 student winners flown to New York by the fast-food chain and the Heisman Trophy Trust for the presentation ceremony of college football's most prestigious award.

Staple and the other scholars met the Heisman nominees — some of whom were selected in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night.

"It was surreal. It was the first time I had been to New York; I think it was the perfect New York experience," Staple said. "Getting to stay in a hotel right in Times Square, seeing all the lights and getting to be a part of the whole weekend, even though I'm not huge into football, just the prestige behind that award for the college players, it was amazing. Getting to meet them and hearing their stories was inspiring."

Both Foot Locker and Wendy's noted Staple's efforts for the program Soccer Gear for Poor Jamaican Youth, which now supports more than 400 youth soccer players in Jamaica through donated sporting equipment gathered and sent by Staple and others, a Foot Locker news release said.

"My dad was born in Jamaica, so him telling me stories about him growing up down there is what inspired me at first. Also, getting to go there before I started high school and seeing those experiences firsthand and see that it wasn't just him trying to teach me lessons is really what made me want to get this going a lot more than it was before," he said.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Staple aspires to attend medical school. As part of an internship in the LHS Medical and BioScience Academy, he worked on a cancer research project alongside a University of Colorado Boulder professor.

"From that experience, I still wanted to continue that and see where it goes, because I only got to do it for a month. I chose specifically prostate cancer (to research) because it is the one that affects African-American males the most," Staple said.

His motivation to learn complex healing methods was evident even years before high school, Denise Staple said, adding her own medical history likely added to his intrigue at younger ages.

"Medicine has always been in his mind since about sixth grade," she said. "It was me. I unfortunately ... have had a lot of different procedures and surgery. He was kind of like, 'Wow, what'd they do?' Even from then, he wanted to know. They had to go in and take some screws out once because they were irritating my body, and he was like, 'Oh, can I have those?'"

Brandon Staple attributed his achievements of late to a "team effort, just like soccer, from my teammates, teachers, family, everyone."

His mother believes the financial awards helping her son achieve his academic dreams will yield positive circumstances for others, as well.

"If he can inspire other people or help other people, he's going to do it," Denise Staple said.

Sam Lounsberry: 303-473-1322, slounsberry@prairiemountainmedia.com and twitter.com/samlounz.