9/6/2004 - Football
Lionel Wesley: Fate And Faith Led Him To Annapolis

Shortly after six o'clock last Saturday, Lionel Wesley turned away from the huddle and moved off to the right side of Navy's 31-yard line. 

He soon struck the pose of a wide receiver about to take his first steps of a new season, awaiting the snap of the football to set his feet in motion.   


Life had delivered him to this moment and place.  College football player, decked out in Blue and Gold, standing before the white-clad masse of Midshipmen - they as anxious as he about the next few hours, the next few months. 


This was exactly where he was supposed to be.  Circumstance would have it no other way. 


He had arrived at this moment by way of simple philosophy. 

"My motto going through life," Wesley says, "is, 'Have faith.'" 


It's a belief that parallels the notion we've all heard time and again, that everything works out for the best.  And considering how Wesley got here, there's never been reason to waiver. 

Start with the game he plays. 


Despite growing up near Dallas in an area aglow by the famed Friday Night Lights that burn intensely on high school fields, Wesley never figured to play football. 


In part, because Canvas Wesley would have none of it. 

"I had one of those mothers who didn't really want me to play football," says Lionel, who instead focused on other sports. 

Until a friend suggested a way for Wesley to occupy the fall his final year at Duncanville High. 


"It was one of those random things," says Wesley, with a laugh.  "I needed something to do before baseball." 

At the time, Jonathan Evans was a fullback bound for Baylor University, where today he's a fifth-year senior for the Bears.  He also happened to be the son of Dr. Tony Evans, pastor at Wesley's church, team chaplain for the Dallas Mavericks and host of a syndicated national radio show. 

Given an audience of one, the younger Evans persuaded Wesley to try out.  

But not for just any team.  And, certainly, not for just any coach. 

Duncanville was a school rich in athletic talent, with a pipeline to the pros.  In basketball, it featured alumni like the WNBA's Tamika Catchings and the NBA's Greg Ostertag.  In baseball, it had produced several big leaguers to be.

And in football, Duncanville was a perennial power among the largest of Texas schools.  Its alumni included Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.  Its coach, the late Bob Alpert was a legend within the Lonestar State. 


Along came Wesley.  By the third or fourth game, the kid who'd never played a down of high school football before this lone season at Duncanville, was a starting wide receiver. 

Eventually, he attracted the interest of a Navy assistant, Scotty Conley, who in turn convinced Wesley to take a trip to Annapolis.  He was sold almost at the very first sight of the Academy in all its springtime beauty. 


"I visited in late April," Wesley recalls.  " I had never been by water, being from Dallas.  I loved the atmosphere and being by the (Chesapeake) Bay." 


From a very close family, he was also impressed by what he observed of the Navy players, bound together in the almost sacred circle of Academy life.   


Years later, the brotherhood Wesley and teammates often refer to is as strong, if not stronger. 


"Guys are real close knit in the locker room," he says.  "We're not very cliquish, everybody gets along.  You never have relationships with (anyone) like you have here." 

Still, as with any Mid, times were trying that first year on The Yard for a lowly plebe far from home.  What allowed Wesley to persevere? 

"Very high phone bills," he says, again chuckling a bit.  "My parents helped me out the most.  I probably talked to them more during plebe summer than before when I was at home." 

Assured the Academy was right for him and he right for it, Wesley next had to find his niche in the classroom. 

Again, circumstances - partly beyond his control - intervened. 

The fields of study that most interested him included political science and economics.  But with neither available at the time, Wesley was enrolled as an English major. 

He soon became hooked on classics.  So much so that today Wesley utters words rarely heard from any twenty-something, let alone someone from the hard-knocks world of football. 

"We get to read Shakespeare," he says.  "It's really fun, just being able to understand it." 

Wesley's favorites include the tragicomedies Hamlet and Othello.  Though he views such in an irreverent way. 

"They're like 15th- or 16th-century soap operas," he says, before offering another analogy for Shakespeare's studies in moral ambiguity and family strife.  "Like watching The Jerry Springer Show." 


Being able to look at fictional characters through the wide lens of such an open mind, Wesley can also see a bigger, clearer picture of his own reality.    


Perhaps that's why the most enjoyable aspects of Academy life include the times spent traveling, literally expanding his horizons.   

Summer cruises have brought him to places like New York and Boston, while football has accorded other opportunities, like the chance to take the field in view of 'Touchdown Jesus' at Notre Dame. 

"How many people can say they've been there," Wesley says, more a matter of statement than question. 

There is even a broad-as-opposed-to-narrow approach to his role in football, cast in an offense that leans heavily on the run, demanding he be as much blocker as receiver.   


"It's different here because we don't throw the ball as much," says Wesley's position coach Brian Bohannon, comparing Navy's offense to others.  "You have to be a blocker, you have to go downfield.  You don't get notoriety (from blocking)." 

"You just have to have a team attitude, as long as you win," Wesley explains.  "As a competitor you want to be able to say you help out the team.  You have to learn to contribute with more than receptions." 


Consider, he says, the plight of offensive linemen. 

"They do the most important job on the team," Wesley asserts, no matter if their contributions up front go mostly unnoticed.  "They know it." 


"I told our receivers you ought to be proud we led the nation in rushing (last season)," said Bohannon.  "You played a big role in that."   


Especially a veteran like Wesley, whose attitude and ethic rubs off on others. 


"First, he's a leader," Bohannon says when asked to describe Wesley the player.  "He's not a big physical blocker.  (But) he's smart, gets in good position and is strong." 

It wasn't always that way. 


"It took a little time to adjust," says Wesley, who laughingly adds that head coach Paul Johnson had means of speeding up any learning curve when he took over prior to 2002. 

"It's like night and day," said Bohannon, comparing those first sessions on the field and in the film room to the most recent.  "Our meetings were pretty awful.  They had to learn expectations of what (the coaches) wanted. 

"Effort was something that took awhile (to understand).  I want people to say, 'Bo, those wide receivers really play hard.'  (So) we bust our tails." 


As Wesley worked, having matured from sophomore to senior, Bohannon observed an ongoing evolution from quiet kid to more vocal veteran. 

"It took a while to get a feel for where (Lionel) stood on things," Bohannon says.  "He's a hard worker and he wants to win.  The things I watch, I see he's a leader of guys." 

Which made it, at once, fitting and ironic on Saturday, when Wesley led the Mids in a literal sense. 


About to spend most of the next three hours helping others amass more than 400 yards of offense, he was the target of the very first play of his final autumn in Annapolis. 


Out of his stance Wesley ran along the right sideline, looked back to make a first-down catch and absorbed a late hit, drawing a fifteen-yard penalty on Duke. 


There would be just one more reception the rest of the night.  But no matter, because Lionel Wesley would eventually depart alongside his teammates as 27-12 winners. 


And besides, fate and faith led him here.   

It was where he was meant to be, doing what he was meant to do.