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Wendell Davis was drafted by the Bears in the first round of the 1988 draft; 20 years later he is living outside of Chicago and raising a family while mentoring our youth. After a successful professional football career Wendell continues to maintain success owning and operating a franchise of a barber shops called "Big League Barbers" He participates in the Chicago Bears Youth Football Camps for kids ages 6 to 14 and mentors many children throughout the nation. His beautiful family is the greatest testament to his success, and here is HIS PURPOSE!
Debroah Martinez: is the role that you contribute in giving back to your community or just in general, like your foundations and charities events ?
Wendell Davis: Well the main role for me giving back to my community is this... to reach back and help the other young people. And one way to help… while there are many ways is just by spending time with them and spending money to serve them. There's just so much need out there right now to help the community and help the youth because it's a different world right now. Any community needs all the help they can get. The role that I play as a professional athlete and as a husband and a father I have to be a good example for them and try to be the best example that I can be to the younger generation so they can see the positive way to live, I am not saying I am the perfect guy but it's kind of depressing when all they see is a lot of shooting and bad things going on.
DM: So are there any particular things you've done recently?
WD: Recently I've just taken on the role of being a mentor and a counselor to a few young athletes who have just finished college and who are in transition. These guys were probably like me and played football all their life, and it has come to the end of their college careers and some of them have degrees and some of them don't have degrees and they are wondering what my next move is, and it's kind of scary. I've been helping a couple of guys try to maneuver through these tough questions and decisions and try to make the right decision of where they need to go next, so that's the recent thing I've been doing.
DM: What athlete was your biggest influence growing up and why?
WD: You know when I was growing up I lived in a neighborhood where back then everybody got out and just played sports regardless, we weren't at home watching TV we weren't going out playing video games. Honestly, we were outside playing and you had so many great athletes in the neighborhood and a lot of great young men in the neighborhood that would stop and take time out with the kids and play with us. There were coaches too. One of my first coaches was my Dad's cousin. He taught me the game of baseball and football. There was a high school coach and my middle school coach were all the coaches that were in my life back then. And as far as professional athletes back then, you never really got to touch them like they can now, you couldn’t go to camps, you only saw these guys on television. I really looked up to Drew Pearson, who I loved to watch and I loved what he did on the field, and you've heard about the good things he did off the field.
DM: I met your lovely family, what role do they play in your success?
WD: It's very important I don't think I have the right words to describe them; they are almost your lifeline. First of all, my wife, who's been supportive of everything that I've done and then to be blessed with my kids, who really put things in perspective. People see professional athletes, or people who are very successful in any field they are in, and they really think that these guys have got it made and their families are all together, it's tough for guys who are successful who are athletes who are making it financially or whatever, it's still tough to have a family. Having a marriage and family and raising kids is never easy, I don't care what walk of life you come from there's just so much that goes into it, you're looking at your kids and you try to instill in them good morals and values. It’s very important that you take it seriously and unfortunately a lot of black men… we have problems in that regard, kind of sad, but I do have hope that it will turn around.
DM: What for you was the hardest part about being a professional athlete?
WD: Ohh, probably staying grounded. When you get into the life of a professional athlete things happen so fast, life just speeds up. You come into, kind of like, a different world, your placed out there with all of this money and once you get a lot of money, well you think that you can do anything you want, things really do come a little easier for you. And you begin to have a lot of pride, sometimes you can develop an ego, which is very detrimental to you. Once you get into that state you are no longer grounded. You feel like you are invincible and sometimes guys feel like they are above the law. Staying grounded and realizing that this is part of your life, it's a temporary part, there's going to be life after whatever sport you're playing. Staying grounded, in that way is very hard to do.
DM: If you could tell all of the first-year pro's one thing, what would it be?
WD: (pauses) One thing... I would tell them to develop talent outside of their sport.
DM: When did you first fall in love with football?
WD: Third grade yea. It was my first time playing organized baseball and I was introduced to football in third grade too. I was very passionate about it and from then on I just...
DM: Were you always a wide receiver?
WD: No, I played fullback, I played quarterback then tailback, then wide receiver, and I also played a little defense.
DM: Do you have a favorite?
WD: This may sound funny, but through the years and during the time I played in the neighborhood I really like blocking. I mean I really liked being on the line and mixing it up and blocking people.
DM: What is your most memorable moment as an athlete?
WD: Well, I'm a big team player and to play football you have to believe in team. And I just know in college I played on a team where by junior and senior year we developed a bond unlike any I ever had. We really willed ourselves to win and many times facing adversity we started actually, in the huddle, grabbing each other's hands and huddling up and holding onto to other's hands and it just started something. And every time we faced adversity, well not even every time, it just happened. And every time we would get into the huddle we would grab each other’s hand, that’s something that I will always remember.
DM: How old is he?
WD: My son is 12. This is probably when he was about 10. I just noticed one day how these kids were actually becoming a team and I saw one of his teammates really get clobbered, I mean they pulled his shoulder pads off and everything was hanging off of him, but what was amazing was I saw all of his teammates come over and pull his jersey up and try to fix him up and patting him. And I said to myself I think they've got it.
Wendell Davis' family & 12 year old son. |
DM: So lastly, I know we talked a lot about what kids are seeing nowadays and that's what I really want to focus in talking to athletes about stuff beyond the sport. Do you think personally that if athletes were more involved in church and their community that there wouldn't be so many negative stereotypes and it would maybe help them stay out of problems and negativity?
WD: Yes. It all goes back to being grounded and being roooted and having a strong foundational belief. A lot of young athletes are overtaken by what the media says and all this new publicity and technology and 24/7 ESPN and the youth get caught up in it and all they see are the bad things that athletes do, but the question is a tough question because we really don't know the outcome and we can't predict the future. But I think that they need a strong foundational belief in God in order to stay in the right direction and I think without that they are lost and searching and always searching for some word of it in. I think a lot of our young athletes don't know who they are, they define themselves as a professional athlete and a professional athlete only, without actually exploring who they are apart from what they are doing. They define themselves by profession, just like a lot of people do, you know you take a profession away from them and they are kind of lost and wondering who am I? Especially in sports kids define themselves by basketball, I am a football player. And nobody has taken them aside and said, you know you're really good at being a journalist you can be anything you want to be. But instead people are just praising them about their athletic ability and kind of neglecting everything else.
Purpose Driven Sports 2008 is being held at Chicago Hope Academy, August 10, 2008. For more information please call 630.788.6081.
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