ST. LOUIS — The pregame walk from the gym, up the hill and across the street to the football field is a ritual here at Gateway Institute of Technology High School.
“You’re coming up the same trail Sheldon walked for four years,” Melvin Walls, Sheldon Richardson’s high school coach, told The Post last week.
The walk gives players time to think about what they want to accomplish. For Richardson — the Jets’ 6-foot-3, 294-pound rookie defensive end who already has made a huge impact on the team — the goal was clear from the time he was a high school freshman.
“I’ll never forget this statement,’’ Walls told me. “He told the other kids on the team, ‘Look, you all are looking at this as a game. I’m looking at this as a life.’
“That’s when I said, he’s really serious about this. I’ve put other kids into Division 1 programs, but I never had a kid like Sheldon. He’s the best athlete I ever had.”
Walls, 49, coached high school football for nearly three decades.
“When Sheldon left, I left,” Walls, who remains a P.E. teacher, said with a smile.
Gateway proved to be the perfect place for Richardson. The magnet school was an oasis, a home where he could let his athletic talents bloom as well as his personality. A few miles away is the Gateway Arch, which represents St. Louis’ role in westward expansion.
Gateway, a school of 1,300 students, is a place to expand your horizons.
“Sheldon was always at school,” Walls said. “Things didn’t always go great for him [academically], but he was always here. He never got in any trouble. He always hung out with the athletes.”
Richardson comes from an neighborhood where it is not easy to climb the ladder of success.
“Honestly, I’m from the part of St. Louis that nobody wants to be a part of,” Richardson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before the NFL Draft. “I represent what a lot of kids don’t want to represent. I’m just happy to be here. It’s a blessing and it’s a privilege, and I’m proud of myself and having my family supporting me — my father and my mother and my brothers, my cousins, aunties, everybody. They’re always coming to my football games and telling me to stay on it. They see a lot in me. And it’s finally coming together.”
Walls knows all about the challenge.
“Sheldon lived in one of those neighborhoods where a lot of kids don’t make it,’’ Walls said. “It’s not unusual to read the paper or see the news where a kid has been shot the night before or they found a body behind a Dumpster.’’
Richardson survived. Family, football and Gateway, led him to success. “His parents [Michael and Zelda] took good care of him,’’ Walls said. “Both of them have good jobs, and they put him in all the camps that he could go to, so kids all over the county knew of him.’’
“It was rough,’’ Richardson told Post colleague Brian Costello of his St. Louis neighborhood. “You had to be thick-skinned. If you’re playing sports, street ball guys wanted to get in your face and talk smack. You had to have thick skin.’’
Coach Walls used Richardson in all phases of the game, including punt return. He recognized immediately what kind of unique talent he had and put Richardson on the varsity team as a freshman.
“He told me he was a fullback when he came in as a freshman, and I said, ‘OK, if you’re a fullback, let’s see,’ ” the coach recalled. Richardson soon was moved to tackle. His sophomore year he was moved to tight end, and that’s where he started to blossom. He played both ways and special teams.
From playing basketball and football conditioning, Richardson, who came into school at about 6-foot-1, 300 pounds, began to tone up and get noticed as an athlete.
“That’s when people started saying, ‘Gateway’s got a freak,’ ” Walls explained with a laugh, noting that 54 D-1 schools came through to see Richardson.
“He just put me on the field and let me make plays,’’ Richardson said of Walls. “I returned kicks. I played linebacker, any position I needed to play for us to be effective. I played tight end, fullback, running back, slot receiver. I done played it all.
“My senior year [Coach Walls] let me control the team a little bit. He gave me leeway and we went to the championship. We finished a game short. I got a chance to see the game from every position. I actually learned the game of football back then. There’s not too much I haven’t seen.’’
Jim Greenlee, 41, teaches world history at Gateway.
“Sheldon was a lot of fun to have in class,” he said. “He had the smile that was half devil and half angel. And he was good with a bear hug. He’d like to come behind you on occasion when you were standing in the hallway and pick you up. ‘All right Sheldon, welcome to class.’ ”
The memory makes Richardson smile.
“High school was fun,’’ he said, “a bit too much fun they’d probably say.”
“He was a true athlete, but he persevered in class,” Greenlee recalled. “I also coach track and field and he threw shot put for us, he was always a leader. He never got into a fight or had any trouble. I don’t ever remember seeing him angry. The smallest, weakest guy on the team got just as much attention from him as the biggest.”
Richardson’s big personality is perfect for New York. He has 19 tackles and 2 ¹/₂ sacks. He will take on anybody, including Tom Brady as he did before the Jets beat the Patriots on Sunday.
“I remember on draft night, I heard some boos,” Walls said, “but I knew they would fall in love with him as a player and a person. He’s a special player.”
When you walk into Gateway’s front door you pass through a metal detector, manned by two security guards. Bring up Sheldon Richardson’s name and the room brightens.
“The thing that stuck out about Sheldon is that from the first day he walked through that door, he was determined,’’ explained Officer Annette O’Neal. “I guess determination pays off. He made it.”
Noted principal Dr. Elizabeth Bender, “His counselor said he walked in as a freshman the first time and said, ‘I’m going to be a professional football player.’ ”
The hallways sparkle here and the sense of Gateway pride is everywhere as you walk through the school. Up on the right-hand side is a glass case with pictures of Gateway graduates who have gone on to college football success. The first picture you see is Richardson leading out the Missouri Tigers with the notation: “First Team All-SEC.”
Perhaps NFL rookie of the year will be added to the list.
The Gateway Jaguars sported new uniforms this weekend for homecoming, and the word around school is Richardson purchased the new attire.
This is where it all started.
“I’ve been telling them for a while now,” Richardson said of his longtime plans of NFL stardom. “It’s about time it came true.”
The Jets are Sheldon Richardson’s Gateway to success now.
I wonder if he’s given Rex Ryan that bear hug yet?