The end-of-season banquet for Thayer’s football program boasted a little extra Dec. 9 as Aaron Gilmer ’13, a former standout Tiger and current business consultant, addressed student-athletes, their families, and coaches. 

“I have so much love for Thayer and all of you guys,” Gilmer told the 2025 team, adding how easy it was to imagine himself in those same Cahall Dining Hall seats a little more than a decade ago. 

A three-year varsity letter winner and 2012 captain for Thayer, Gilmer played tailback and linebacker; he garnered All-ISL honors as both a junior and senior. He then played Division I football at Bryant University where the North Easton native started for three years at defensive back while earning his degree in accounting and finance. 

Today, Gilmer is the founder and principal of Gilmer Consulting, a boutique financial advisory firm specializing in services for entrepreneurs, investors, and businesses. 

Keeping his remarks brief, Gilmer said that he learned four important lessons from football that still guide him today: the value of persistence in overcoming inevitable adversity; the importance of a team-first attitude; valuing process and habits above outcomes; and not letting comparison become the thief of joy. 

Regarding adversity, Gilmer recalled fighting through both a high-ankle sprain and turf toe his senior year to realize his dream of playing college football. 

“It’s not adversity that defines you,” he said. “It’s your response to adversity that defines you.” 

As for teamwork, Gilmer said he still considers himself best friends with many of his Thayer teammates and still touches base with them every day. True teamwork, he said, is when student-athletes hold both themselves and their teammates accountable. 

Reminding these teenage student-athletes how football lessons transfer so easily to the real world, Gilmer explained how large goals — such as obtaining a college scholarship — can seem formidable at first. Rather than be anxious about the big picture, Gilmer advised, focus on processes which you can control. 

“You can focus on a habit every single day,” said Gilmer, who also earned three varsity letters in track and one in basketball at Thayer. “If you focus on those small habits, it makes that bigger goal seem less daunting.” 

When it came to the dangers of comparison, Gilmer noted that he grew up at a time when social media, and its inherent tendency to measure one experience against another, was just getting started. Closer to home — in his home, as a matter of fact — Gilmer’s younger sister had received 10 college scholarship offers for basketball by ninth grade while his progress with colleges was progressing much more slowly. He began to wonder what was “wrong” with him until he realized that he needed to change his perspective. 

“You need to focus on your own path,” Gilmer said.