By Joseph Santoliquito
Special to MaxPreps.com
The first thing you noticed about Kyle Wilson was his smile. It outsized the junior tailback’s diminutive 5-foot-6 stature. It was big, radiant and infectious. Everyone couldn’t help but be caught up in the way his joy for life could fill up a room. He loved football. He loved playing for Pittsburgh Central Catholic—and he loved his teammates.
They apparently, still love him. They can’t forget him.
That’s why these times are so trying for the Central Catholic football team. The Vikings will try and endure forward without Wilson, the quicksilver starting running back who died suddenly and tragically on Oct. 17 from complications of an apparent stroke. Central Catholic will gear up and prepare this Friday in a WPIAL quarterfinal playoff game against powerhouse McKeesport, arguably one of the best large-school teams in Pennsylvania.
Central Catholic players will all be wearing decals of Wilson’s No. 23 on their helmets to honor Wilson’s memory. They’ll also be carrying it in their hearts. But in a sense, just playing, appears to be honoring Wilson. Because to understand him, his commitment to football, Wilson wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
“We’re hanging in there, starting to get back to some form of normalcy,” said Vikings coach Terry Totten, 60, who’s in his eighth season as head coach at Central Catholic and has been coaching for 28 years at various levels.
Totten has had players die before, but nothing like this. Nothing during the season, where you could still feel that player’s presence, as if he’s going to come walking through the locker room doors at any second.
“I think that’s what makes this so hard, being with the kids every day, then suddenly, one of those kids aren’t there,” Totten said. “You expect to see Kyle on the field, joking with his teammates. That’s the kind of kid he was. He’s in a better place, watching over all of us.”
It’s also made Totten take a deeper look at his team. It’s rare tragedies like this that forces everyone to re-evaluate their priorities. Football goes from being the mean-all, and be-all of the universe for these teenaged boys, to a focus on something greater.
“You talk to your kids all the time about being men of integrity, of faith, and of God, and then this happens,” Totten reflected. “These kids have handled it very well so far. I told my kids they’ll never be quite the same after this experience; they’ll be the never be the same, because I’m sure for some of the boys, it’s the first time experiencing death this close. The reality of it is striking. Kyle won’t be with us. It is a life-altering thing what these kids are experiencing.”
Totten said that there was some doubt whether or not the team wanted to continue playing this season. The coach said he would have honored any wish his players made.
“When it happened, we put football on the back burner, but the older leaders on the team had a meeting and decided, they wanted to play for Kyle,” Totten said. “Any decision the kids made I would have backed them up. Not one kid chose not to go forward. When this happened to Kyle, his last conscious words were asking if he’d be allowed to play Friday night. Malik Johnson stood up and said, “Kyle helped us win eight games; he’d want us to move forward and finish the business at hand.’”
The Vikings as a team showed up for Wilson’s funeral, along with an estimated 1,500 people. They laughed, they cried, they embraced, as each reflected in some way how Wilson affected their lives.
“Everybody loved Kyle,” said Johnson, a Central Catholic senior captain and one of Wilson’s best friends on the team. “He had this way about him where he always made people laugh around him. It’s hard thinking about him, because you miss him. You do get emotional. Kyle was the kind of kid who was always around joking with you about something. He was like a brother to me, but he’ll be with us each week we play, because we are playing for him right now.”
Wilson’s family released a statement that said: “The Central Catholic football team has decided to honor Kyle by participating in the playoffs, albeit with heavy hearts. We are confident that Kyle would want us to continue on.”
“I’m very proud of these kids, to say the least, for dealing with this the way they have,” Totten said. “The fact that these kids are on the field counts for something. Winning becomes secondary to being together. We need to move forward, but when the gun goes off Friday night, we’ll compete. But that’s secondary to moving forward and remembering Kyle above all else. He was quite the little personality. Kyle could light up a room. He could imitate me, and I’d laugh as hard as anyone. Kyle, if he could reach back, he’d talk about remembering the good times and not being carried around anyone’s shoulders. He’s left a nice memory.”
The Vikings have taken a great, unfathomable negative to something inspirational, with No. 23 in everyone’s thoughts. It’s given the Vikings a renewed sense of purpose.
“Kyle’s father has been saying all along for us to go out and compete, and this is helping Kyle’s family in a sense, too,” Totten said. “This team is literally playing for Kyle and his memory. The kids will be full of fight against McKeesport, which is a very good football team. Hopefully, a little added fuel helps out. Kyle is in a better place, but it’s hard to see your kids hurt. All in all, my thoughts are with Kyle’s family. I know they’re hurting, and I would like to do anything to take his family’s pain away.”
Totten and the Vikings are. Just by playing. It really doesn’t matter if they win or lose. They’ll be out there for Kyle.
Joseph Santoliquito covers high school sports for the Philadelphia Daily News and is a regular contributor to MaxPreps.com.
