0:02

Former Panther tight end Wesley Walls

0:04

isn't just football cool. He's got

0:07

Hollywood swacker on a par with Eastwood,

0:09

Wayne and Hacknet. But even his stunt

0:11

man toughness was penetrated by the news

0:13

of his inclusion into the Carolina Panthers

0:16

Hall of Honor. I asked him and says, okay, I

0:18

tell my mom. He said absolutely, He said we're

0:20

gonna try to keep it Colliet. So to go through

0:22

that call on him and then to share the news my

0:25

mom and then immediately answered that I

0:27

just got emotional. Today we celebrate twenty

0:29

five years a Panther football with record

0:31

setting tight end Wesley Walls.

0:35

Five seasons of Panthers football,

0:37

a celebration of the players, coaches,

0:40

and other people who have contributed to the

0:42

organizational success. Now to

0:45

mc nixon, alright, the

0:47

incomparable number eighty five tight

0:49

end Wesley Walls our guest on the podcast.

0:52

How did you find out and what

0:54

emotions did it conjure up for you, Wesley that

0:56

you were in the Hall of Honor? Here, Hey, Mick, I'm glad

0:58

to be here. Thank you. I'm still I'm granting

1:01

ear to ear right now, but um,

1:03

you know about a month or so

1:05

ago. Uh, David Monroe

1:08

had had told me that that that he

1:10

was trying to arrange a meeting with Mr

1:12

Tepper or a phone call with Mr.

1:14

Tepper, and

1:17

he said, look for a number that you wouldn't recognize.

1:19

So fast forward about

1:22

five or six weeks and I hadn't gotten this call

1:24

and I'm my mom had um

1:26

she had some surgery down in Mississippi and

1:28

we were I was in the hospital with her, visiting

1:32

her, and I get this call that an

1:34

unrecognized number, and you know nowadays,

1:37

no, I just let him go away, but I

1:39

said, I'm gonna take this one and and uh

1:42

and it was Mr Tepper popped up on a FaceTime

1:44

video and I'm like, wow, you know, hey,

1:46

Mr Tepper, are you doing? And uh?

1:49

Uh And I had no idea what he was calling about

1:52

other than maybe schedule at the time, and

1:54

uh, he won't know what I was doing. I told him about

1:57

my mom the surgery and everything like that,

1:59

and he says, I got some exciting news

2:01

for you, and uh. And then he broke

2:03

the news and I was gonna be in the Hall of Honor. So that

2:06

that was that was a special moment.

2:09

I mean to to hear those words,

2:11

and and and and the first time I met

2:13

Mr Tepper, So you know, that's pretty gonna

2:15

be hard to talk every time I see him,

2:18

think about that forever. And

2:21

and to share it with my mom, I asked

2:24

him. I says, okay, I tell my mom, you

2:26

know, And uh he said absolutely,

2:28

he said, we're gonna try to keep it quiet. So to

2:31

go through that call on him, um, and

2:34

and I was just And

2:37

then to share the news my mom. And then immediately

2:40

after that, I just got emotional. I

2:42

started thinking about all

2:44

the all the years

2:47

here and all the people of teammates,

2:49

the organization of people I knew, and

2:52

um, the city,

2:55

what this meant, what this meant, and what it's

2:57

gonna mean to me and my family, and how much

2:59

it meant to me my family. I'll

3:01

be honestly, I felt part of the team again. Um.

3:05

It's so when you get

3:08

out of the game and you transition

3:10

from being a football player to whatever,

3:13

a normal person working in the community, living

3:15

in the community, it's tough, and you feel separated

3:17

from the team. But all these

3:19

memories and all these emotions came in

3:22

and knowing that I'm gonna

3:24

be in the Hall of Honor Honor obviously felt

3:26

like I was part of the team again, and it was it

3:29

was very emotional. How did your mind react,

3:31

wes Leywin? You told her? She said,

3:33

what's that? What's the Hall of Water? And

3:37

I told her, I said, well, I think it's gonna

3:39

be. I'm gonna have my name up here. They'd be

3:41

next to Sam Mills. And she she

3:43

knows who sum Mills is. And uh

3:45

and and I did not know the other guys

3:48

at that point, but I knew there was someone. I

3:50

said, MoMA, there'll be some other guys too, and

3:53

and and and be up next

3:55

to the greatest football players that played

3:57

here in Carolina history and

3:59

to be and I she said, you

4:01

deserve it? And uh,

4:04

yeah, what role did she play when

4:06

you were growing up and getting into football and helping

4:08

you become a great player? You know, Mick, I gotta

4:10

share just a little bit, just from pretexting

4:12

my mom, she's she's not doing well. And

4:16

so I've had a lot of these thoughts,

4:19

uh about what role

4:21

she's played in my life? And

4:23

and when you know, sometimes bad

4:25

things happen you you find

4:27

a lot of good out of it. And

4:29

and and she has Uh,

4:32

she's always been at every game.

4:35

It took me to every game. Um.

4:38

It was kind of a critic too. I mean she

4:40

she you know a lot of times you hear about your dad

4:42

coming home. We don't want to ride home with your dad. Is you're gonna

4:45

talk about how you played or something? My mom was

4:47

at She she was like, uh,

4:49

what about that pass? I was a quarterback in high

4:51

school? What about that pass you through over there? And

4:53

uh, you know, well we ran this play and that receiver

4:56

did that, so now now you threw you through the wrong

4:58

person. So she was a critic, but she

5:00

was my biggest supporter. Um. Uh,

5:03

you know I always like to brag. My

5:05

mom gave me everything I

5:07

needed and and most

5:09

of what I wanted and and

5:11

most of all, she she was there for me.

5:14

Did some of your toughness come through her? Now?

5:17

Absolutely? She had a tough life. My my mom

5:19

lost both her parents, uh

5:22

and um, and she pretty

5:24

much raised her siblings. And

5:26

she was tough. And she

5:29

she had me at eighteen years

5:31

old and went right to work. She started

5:33

as an operator at BellSouth and

5:36

worked her way or South Central Bell back then,

5:38

I believe worked her way always the engineer

5:40

and she was a smart lady, graduated at the top

5:42

of her class and high school, and

5:45

so I had she had. She said a standard.

5:48

She said a standard, and she wasn't gonna let me

5:50

slip through the cracks. She made sure that whatever

5:53

I did on athletics, she made

5:55

sure that I was paying attention in the classroom.

5:58

And then I was treating people with respect, and

6:00

then I was working hard in my sports. A

6:02

couple of last questions for Wesley Walls on the

6:04

podcast, Jordan Growth said, you're all

6:07

humble now, but that you were kind of had the reputation

6:09

of a diva tight end when you played. Is that true?

6:11

That is not true? You know that everybody says I'm

6:13

selfish. You know a lot of people thought I was a selfish

6:16

football player, But I always thought, hey, if

6:18

I caught ten passes, that's gonna give us a better chance

6:20

to win. You know. But I'm I'm just kind

6:22

of joking. Uh uh.

6:25

Jordan's is is I'm not

6:27

a diva. In fact, if I want to describe

6:30

myself anything as a grinder, I mean

6:32

perseverance. I mean, my career

6:34

was over almost before it started. And then

6:36

he gets started and it's almost over and then

6:39

I came here to Carolina and all this

6:41

good stuff happened. So I'm here

6:44

because of that decision and the people who

6:46

brought me here. You started ninety six

6:48

games here nineties six through two

6:50

thousand and two, but you had good years

6:52

for other teams to Wesley prominent teams.

6:55

What, in your opinion, makes the Carolina franchip

6:57

Panther franchise unique. Well, We've always felt

6:59

to send. It's a family. And when I when I

7:01

got here, this city felt like home to me.

7:04

I mean when I say family, I'm not just talking about the players.

7:06

I'm talking about the community as

7:08

well and the fans. Um,

7:11

it just felt so comfortable here. Uh.

7:13

You know, I never lived in a home and never owned

7:16

the home til I got here. And we want

7:18

we sat down roots. And when you set roots

7:20

down, you say I'm gonna be a part of this community

7:23

and this team and this organization. Um,

7:26

it's it. It grows

7:28

on you. I mean, you don't. I'm always gonna

7:30

be a Panther, especially now, but even

7:33

before this Hall of honor, I'm

7:35

a Carolina Panther. I mean because

7:37

this is the only place I felt I felt at home. I

7:39

felt like a family. Last thing. There'll

7:41

be a game soon, hopefully you'll be there and you'll

7:44

look up onto the facade of that stadium

7:46

and you'll see your name and number. What's that going

7:48

to mean to you? It was all

7:50

worth it. It was all worth it. Everything

7:52

that you go through and as

7:55

a player on and off the field,

7:58

and hard work you put into it, and

8:01

they put your name up there, it's

8:04

all worth it. You learned the Congratulations

8:07

and thanks for your time list. Thank you big up.

8:10

Next, we'll talk with the voice behind all

8:12

the Wesley Walls. Panther Highlights a conversation

8:15

with Bill Rasinski right here on

8:17

the podcast.