If you want to know the reason why Kyle Wilson was standing on a podium yesterday, holding up a Jets jersey with the No. 1 on it and smiling as if he had won the lottery, look no further than the people closest to him.
His dad, Gerry, mother, Carrie, and older brothers, Gerry II and Vincent, had as much to do with making him the 29th pick of the NFL Draft as Jets coach Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who made the selection.
With all the tough childhoods and fatherless homes many athletes have to overcome to reach the NFL, it’s refreshing to encounter a family in which love, discipline and the thrill of competition has led to a fulfillment of a dream.
Gerry and Carrie sat in the audience as their youngest son was formally introduced at the Jets’ practice facility yesterday. But after the formal press conference was over, it didn’t take long to learn where Kyle got his athletic talent.
Gerry, a native of Trinidad, ran track at Tougaloo (Miss.) College back in the 1970s while Carrie played on a state high school basketball championship team in Canton, Miss.
“I met Walter Payton in 1971,” the elder Wilson said. “And my wife went to Jackson State and went to school with Harold Jackson and Richard Caster.”
His son is about to become a millionaire and here was dad bragging on his wife. “And she went to high school with L.C. Greenwood,” he added.
This is how it worked in the Wilson’s home in Piscataway, N.J. Gerry, a mental health professional, worked a lot of nights, leaving Carrie, a middle school teacher, to nurture and discipline her three boys.
Gerry II is two years older than Vincent, who is eight years old than Kyle. Trying to keep up with two older brothers helped build the competitive drive that Kyle Wilson has carried throughout his career. First it was soccer, then track, then football and everything in between.
“To say we were competitive is an understatement,” Vincent said. “We’d compete to see who could eat the fastest because in a house full of boys the food going to run out quick. Everything was a competition from food to sports. Who’s going to be the strongest? Who’s going to be the fastest? In school, who is going to be the smartest? Everything was a competition.”
It was a healthy competition. Free of jealously. By the time Gerry II had finished his career at Princeton and Vincent had played at Iowa and Delaware, it was time to help Kyle chase his dream of making the NFL.
It was Gerry II who put together a tape of Kyle’s best plays at Piscataway High School and sent it to the top 20 college football schools. Boise State liked what it saw and offered Kyle a scholarship.
His parents traveled to just about every game. Gerry II became his adviser.
“It’s really a beautiful thing to see the three of them and see how they’re so close and very supportive of each other,” the proud father said of his sons. “There’s no jealously. They really wanted each other to be successful and they remain that way.”
Vincent, a police officer in Franklin Township, N.J., said a common trait among the boys is stubbornness. The elder Wilson agreed.
“You put an obstacle in front of him he’s going to jump over it,” he said of Kyle. “You put a bar in front of him he’s going to hurdle it. The more pressure you put on him, the more he is determined. He plays with a chip on his shoulder.”
And with a family that has his back.