Many great college athletes come through Baton Rouge leaving behind only their legendary sports moments as they pursue professional careers.
However, former LSU football defensive MVP Chuck Wiley wanted to leave behind more.
“I’ve always wanted to give back to the community I came from,” Wiley said.
A Baton Rouge native, Wiley grew up in Scotlandville and said he often heard about professional athletes putting on camps around the country and wondered why professional athletes did not come to his area.
This summer Wiley will leave his new home in Minnesota where he plays for the Minnesota Vikings to put on a free, two-day camp for kids ages 8 to 18 in the Baton Rouge area.
“I want them to get basic football skills and give them one-on-one [attention],” Wiley said. “We’re going to let them experience some of the drills we do.”
Wiley said aside from football, the camp will focus on life skills. The first day of the camp, June 27, will be a mentoring day. Wiley said on that day he will talk to the kids about things “bigger than football.”
“It’s about being a good person,” he said.
Wiley said he wants kids to know they should be themselves and be intelligent. He stresses the importance of school to kids while maintaining its importance in his life.
Wiley graduated from LSU in 1997 with a degree in pre-physical therapy and is currently enrolled in the master’s degree program, holding a 3.4 grade point average and working on a degree in sports administration.
Wiley said it is tough attending classes during the off-season while maintaining his practice schedule.
“I’ve been out school a year,” he said. “You get used to an adult lifestyle and it takes a little adjusting.”
Yet, Wiley said he has done better in graduate school than he did in the undergraduate program.
“I’m just focused,” he said. “I see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Wiley began graduate school after suffering a severe knee injury while playing for the Atlanta Falcons. He rehabilitated his knee and now looks forward to this season with the Vikings.
However, Wiley said he always has been interested in the business side of sports.
“I always wanted to come back to LSU and be athletic director,” he said. “My senior year I was elected athletic council and I really got a good feel for what’s going on.”
Wiley, who ended his college career fourth on the LSU career sacks list with 19, said he misses much about LSU. He especially misses Greek shows in the Union, step shows in the Quad and eating at Raising Canes.
“College is really the best time of your life,” he said.
Wiley said college allows students to learn about different cultures. He said after growing up in a predominately black neighborhood and attending Southern Lab, a predominately black high school, LSU helped him discover that all different races and walks of life could work together for a common cause.
“In football all guys sweat together,” Wiley said.
Although Wiley spends his time between houses in Atlanta and Minnesota, he still keeps up with LSU sports and refuses to wear clothes from other colleges.
“If it’s not my school, I’m not going to wear it,” Wiley said. “I’m not going to wear any other college.”
Wiley sponsors a foundation called “99 Wayz to Win” which donates money and educational supplies to schools. Wiley said earlier this year the foundation donated money to a New Orleans school to help the cheerleaders buy uniforms.
“They didn’t have [uniforms] and I saw it as an opportunity to help,” Wiley said.
Wiley, a defensive end, has started 17 of the 48 professional games he has played and had numerous career highlights in 2001.
According to the Official NFL website, Wiley recorded 40 tackles and a sack during the 2001 season, when he also intercepted a Kurt Warner pass and blocked a New Orleans Saints field goal attempt.
While at LSU, he earned first-team All-Southeastern Conference honors.
For more information on “99 Ways to Win” or Wiley’s Baton Rouge summer youth camp, visit www.99wayz.com.