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 wi ...

wide receiver who played for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

from

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. Walker graduated from Carson High School in

Carson, California Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, ...

, 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, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

, 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 Connie Carberg (' Nicholas; born 1950/1951) is a former American football executive. In 1976, she became the first female scout in the National Football League (NFL), working in the New York Jets' scouting department from 1976 to 1980. Early yea ...

, the first female

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, secti ...

in NFL history was credited with helping the Jets in their selection of Walker in the second round of the

1977 NFL Draft The 1977 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The NFL draft, draft was held May 3–4, 1977 NFL season, 19 ...

. 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 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

, 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 Amer ...

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) North division. The club's home ...

and the Los Angeles Raiders, both on the road. His best receiving season came in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, 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 ...

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 at

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 research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

. He is also the godfather of Alexandra Florant, the daughter of the track and field star Carl Florant. 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, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

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