Jack Carroll Theatre Scholarship

Jack Carroll made a living for nearly 25 years as dean of the Learning Resources Center at Brevard Community College. But his real passion lay with his second career as an actor.
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A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Carroll appeared in numerous plays in Brevard County, where he performed with the Melbourne Civic Theater, Surfside Playhouse in Cocoa Beach and Phoenix Production Company in Melbourne. He also did TV commercials for Lowe’s home improvement stores and for the Hampton Inn motel chain in the past few years, Previously, Carroll appeared in commercials for Fat Boy’s barbecue restaurants, acted in Agatha Christie murder mysteries on cruise ships out of Port Canaveral and had speaking parts in the TV shows In the Heat of the Night and Unsolved Mysteries.

His daughter explains why he loved his craft — "He could become anyone,‘’ she said. ``He could become anything. It gave him freedom.’’
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Carroll began acting many years ago in small theaters in his home state of Indiana. He received a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in 1956 and then took a job at the school. While at the campus, he was the voice of the Purdue marching band.
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In 1967, Carroll moved to Florida to work for what was then Brevard Junior College. He retired early in 1991.
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``He had a true, loving outlook on life,‘’ his daughter said.
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A lover of surprises, Carroll once went to Indiana to visit his mother at Christmastime without telling anyone. He had himself delivered in a gift-wrapped box and then jumped out when she unwrapped it. Afterward, his family began calling him ``Jack-in-the-Box.’’
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Jack Carroll died April 8th, 1999. Fellow actors, colleagues, and friends at BCC (now Eastern Florida State College), Arlan Ropp and Randy Campbell, named the scholarship for Mr. Carroll. They worked with him in productions such as The Sunshine Boys and 1776, to name a few. They produced and performed in the play The Boys in Autumn as a fundraiser for the scholarship.