Wesley Darcel Walker (born May 26, 1955) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who played for the New York Jets from 1977 to 1989. Walker graduated from Carson High School in Carson, California, where he set many receiving and return records, and was an All-American at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, catching 86 passes for 2,206 yards and 22 touchdowns over the course of four seasons, an average of 25.7 yards per catch. He was noted for his great speed, averaging over 20 yards per reception over many seasons (his career average was 19 yards per reception). At the time of his retirement, he was second in Jets all-time receiving yardage.

Legally blind Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as correctable eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment� ...

in his left eye, Walker overcame this handicap to become one of the Jets all-time great receivers. Connie Carberg, the first female scout in NFL history was credited with helping the Jets in their selection of Walker in the second round of the 1977 NFL Draft. He led the league in receiving yards in 1978, was elected to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

twice 1978 and 1982, and was named the New York Jets MVP in 1978. Walker was one of the dominant players in the 1982

NFL Playoffs The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the regular season to determine the NFL champion. Currently, seven teams from each of the league's two conferences qualify for the playoffs. A tie-breaki ...

: in two postseason games, he caught 15 passes for 314 yards and 2

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s, as the Jets beat the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

and the

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

, both on the road. His best receiving season came in 1983, when he caught 61 receptions; and in 1986 he had a career-best 12 receiving touchdowns. Four of them were scored in week three, as he caught a game-winning touchdown from the Jets quarterback

Ken O'Brien Kenneth John O'Brien Jr. (born November 27, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles. When he retired he was the only Jets quarterback to have ever ...

in overtime to give the Jets a wild shootout win 51-45 over the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

. When he retired, he had caught 438 passes for 8,306 yards and 71 touchdowns. Walker is now a retired physical education teacher at Park View Elementary School in Kings Park, New York, and an occasional

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

show commentator. He has two sons and a daughter. His older son, John, was a 3x All-American

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

player at

The United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

. His younger son, Austin, played lacrosse at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. He is also the godfather of Alexandra Florant, the daughter of the track and field star

Carl Florant Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of te ...

. Like many former NFL players, Walker suffers from a variety of ailments as a direct result from his playing days, which he detailed in a revealing 2016 interview with ''Long Island Pulse Magazine''. He graduated from Mercy College. Walker was inducted into the

Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame The Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame is an American sports hall of fame based in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York. The non-profit was established during 1990 to honor outstanding people, living or deceased, who have gained prominence and made s ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

in the Football Category with the Class of 2000.

References

External links

Wesley Walker Statistics2016 Wesley Walker Interview With Long Island Pulse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Wesley 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from San Bernardino, California African-American players of American football Blind people from the United States Schoolteachers from New York (state) Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California American football wide receivers California Golden Bears football players New York Jets players American Conference Pro Bowl players People from Carson, California Players of American football from California Mercy College (New York) alumni Carson High School (Carson, California) alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople