Wheeler Remembered as Damien ‘Role Model’

Earlier this year, Northwestern defensive coordinator Ron Brown crossed paths with La Verne Damien High football Coach Mark Pasquarella. The subject quickly turned to Rashidi Wheeler.

“[Brown] told me Rashidi did so well last year that they expected the NFL to take an interest in him when this season was over,” Pasquarella said. When Brown shared the story with Thomas Carroll, Damien’s longtime athletic director said he smiled in awe and satisfaction.

“You kidding me?” Carroll asked Brown.

Wheeler, the 22-year-old strong safety who died Friday after collapsing during a conditioning drill at Northwestern, had never played football before his sophomore year at Damien. He grew up involved in youth soccer and he eventually lettered in high school as a track sprinter and a two-year varsity basketball reserve.

“He came to the school believing basketball was his game, but once he tried football, he was absolutely taken by it,” said Mike Bateman, Damien’s former lower-level basketball coach.

It was during Wheeler’s first football season that Bateman noticed the player was devoting more time to his studies.

“I remember him telling me, ‘You know, Coach, I’m going to need this if athletics doesn’twork out for me,’ ” Bateman said.

“Rashidi grew up living athletics and he grew to love academics,” Carroll said. Wheeler became an honor-roll student at Damien, according to Father Patrick Travers, the school’s principal.

Wheeler achieved a grade-point average above 3.0 and produced qualifying test scores that propelled him beyond an everyday football scholarship, to Northwestern’s prestigious communications department.

“He was just such an enjoyable kid, like he knew exactly where he was headed,” said Dick Larson, who coached Damien football during Wheeler’s three varsity years (1995-97)--two as a starting running back.

At Damien, Wheeler never played defense. He was part of a gifted backfield, one Carroll described as “the best assemblage of speed I ever saw at this school.”

Wheeler’s running back mates were Brian Allen, a starter at Stanford, and Darnell Pahrms, who earned a scholarship to Washington.

“I’ll remember him for what he was--our team’s role model,” Allen said Saturday.

Said Larson: “He was the kind of kid that just fit in so nicely, because he practiced hard--which all coaches appreciate--and he played hard. He finished third in rushing on those teams . . . so he didn’t get all the accolades taken by the others. But he made something real nice of himself.”