Wes Chandler

Wesley Sandy Chandler (born August 22, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He was selected to the Pro Bowl four times, and ranked twelfth in NFL history in receiving yards and thirteenth in receptions when he retired. Chandler is a member of the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame. He played college football for the Florida Gators and was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015.

Wes Chandler
No. 89, 81
Position:Wide receiver
Personal information
Born: (1956-08-22) August 22, 1956
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Height:6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:196 lb (89 kg)
Career information
High school:New Smyrna Beach
(New Smyrna Beach, Florida)
College:Florida
NFL Draft:1978 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Career history
As player:
As coach:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games played:150
Games started:131
Receptions:559
Receiving yards:8,966
Touchdowns:56
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Playing as a receiver in a run-oriented wishbone offense at Florida, Chandler set a school record with 28 touchdowns. He was named both an All-American and an Academic All-American in 1977. He was picked third overall by the New Orleans Saints in the 1978 NFL Draft. Over an 11-year NFL career, Chandler played for the Saints, the San Diego Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers. He holds the NFL record for most receiving yards per game in a season, set in 1982 with the Chargers. After retiring as a player, he became a football coach, and served as the wide receivers coach for various teams at the professional and college level.

Early life

Chandler was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. He attended New Smyrna Beach High School,[1] where he was a standout high school football player for coach Bud Asher's New Smyrna Beach Barracudas.[2] In his junior year the team was undefeated, including a victory over the Rams of Interlachen High School which snapped their 21-game regular season win streak.[3][4] Chandler scored twenty-two touchdowns as a senior in 1973 (scoring five in a single game), and rushing for 1,052 yards and catching twenty-two receptions as a wishbone halfback.[2] Prominent with him in the backfield were the brothers Reggie and Keith Beverly.[5] Chandler earned the nickname "Little Joe" due to his small size.[6] In 2007, thirty-three years after he graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) recognized Chandler as one of the "100 Greatest Players of the First 100 Years" of Florida high school football.[2]

College career

Chandler accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a wide receiver under coach Doug Dickey on the Gators football team from 1974 to 1977.[7] While he was a Florida undergraduate, Chandler became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Theta Sigma Chapter). As a Gator, he caught ninety-two passes for 1,963 yards and a school record twenty-two touchdowns in a run-oriented offense, adding six more scores on rushes and kick returns to set the school record for total touchdowns with twenty-eight. He led the Gators in receiving yards for three straight seasons (1975, 1976 and 1977), and despite many seasons of pass-oriented offenses since his time in Gainesville, he still holds Florida's career records in average yards per catch (21.3) and touchdown to reception ratio (one touchdown per 4.18 catches).[7]

Chandler was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a first-team All-American in 1976 and 1977, a first-team Academic All-American in 1977, and the recipient of the Gators' Fergie Ferguson Award as a senior team captain in 1977.[7] He also finished tenth in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy in 1977.[8] He is widely considered to be one of the best all-around football players to ever play for the University of Florida,[9] and has been named to several all-time Gators and all-SEC teams, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1989.[10][11] In 2006, The Gainesville Sun recognized Chandler as No. 6 among the top 100 Florida Gators players of the first 100 years of the team,[12] and in 2015, Chandler was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[13]

Professional career

The New Orleans Saints selected Chandler in the first round (third pick overall) in the 1978 NFL Draft,[14] and he played for the Saints for four seasons from 1978 to 1981.[15] Chandler was selected to the Pro Bowl after his second season in the league after finishing with 1,069 yards and six touchdown receptions. He was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1981 to replace star receiver John Jefferson, who was traded to the Green Bay Packers after a bitter contract hold-out. In the opening round of the playoffs that year in a game known as The Epic In Miami, he caught six passes for 106 yards and returned a punt 56 yards for a touchdown in the Chargers 41–38 victory.[16]

The following season was Chandler's best, when he led the NFL with 1,032 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns in the strike-shortened 1982 season;[16] his average of 129 yards receiving per game that year is still an NFL record.[17][18] He also caught nine passes for 124 yards in a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Chandler represented Chargers players in the players' union, and many NFL players in that role were cut or traded after the 1987 NFL strike. After he was elected to the union's executive committee, Chandler was traded to the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he finished his career in 1988.[16] He played in four games before retiring in October after tendinitis in a knee and frustration over his performance. The 49ers went on to win the Super Bowl that season. "My heart wasn't in it. It had nothing to do with being a quitter. It was more about real-life decisions," he said.[19][20]

During his 11-year NFL career, Chandler caught 559 passes for 8,966 yards and 56 touchdowns, rushed for 84 yards, returned 48 kickoffs for 1,048 yards, and gained 428 yards on 77 punt returns.[21] Overall, he amassed 10,526 all-purpose yards.[21] At the time of his retirement, Chandler ranked twelfth in NFL history in receiving yards and thirteenth in receptions.[22] He also earned four Pro Bowl selections, including three with the San Diego Chargers.[21] In 2001, Chandler was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame.

Post-playing career

Chandler eventually went to Dallas after seven years coaching in NFL Europe, including a stint as head coach of the Berlin Thunder in 1999. Before that, he also coached at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida and Father Lopez Catholic High School in Daytona Beach, Florida. In January 2012, he joined the California Golden Bears as their receivers coach.[23]

Chandler has established a scholarship fund for minority students through the Wes Chandler Celebrity Golf Classic.

Chandler also has two nephews in athletics. Dallas Baker was a standout wide receiver for the Florida Gators and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2007 NFL Draft. Chandler's other nephew and Dallas's younger brother, Perry Baker, is a professional rugby player with the United States national rugby sevens team.[24]

In 2015, he was one of the founders of the proposed league, Major League Football, and served as its first president. He resigned in July 2017 when the league was reorganizing after failing to launch.[25]

See also

References
  1. databaseFootball.com, Players, Wes Chandler Archived February 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  2. "FHSAA unveils '100 Greatest Players of First 100 Years' as part of centennial football celebration," Florida High School Athletic Association (December 4, 2007). Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  3. Ken Willis. "New Smyrna Beach rallies around its Barracudas as they go for 9-0".
  4. "'Cudas Go After 5th Straight". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. October 12, 1973.
  5. "Leading the Way". December 4, 1998.
  6. "Chandler May Make Gator Fans Forget McGriff". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. September 15, 1975.
  7. 2011 Florida Gators Football Media Guide Archived April 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 86, 89, 91, 96, 100, 103, 124, 127, 139, 143–145, 147–148, 150, 180 (2011). Retrieved August 28, 2011.
  8. Sports-Reference.com, College Football, 1977 Heisman Trophy Voting. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
  9. See, e.g., Pat Dooley, "Dooley: Percy might be the best Gator ever," Gainesville Sun (November 22, 2008). Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  10. F Club, Hall of Fame, Gator Greats. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  11. Jack Hairston, "Chandler, Ellenson worthy additions to UF Hall of Fame," The Gainesville Sun, pp. 1C & 2C (April 14, 1989). Retrieved July 24, 2011.
  12. Robbie Andreu & Pat Dooley, "No. 6 Wes Chandler," The Gainesville Sun (August 28, 2006). Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  13. "NFF Proudly Announces Star-Studded 2015 College Football Hall of Fame Class". National Football Foundation. January 9, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  14. Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History, 1978 National Football League Draft. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  15. National Football League, Historical Players, Wes Chandler. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  16. Lahman, Sean (2007). The Pro Football Historical Abstract: A Hardcore Fan's Guide to All-Time Player Rankings. Globe Pequot. p. 166. ISBN 9781592289400. Retrieved January 4, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  17. Cobbs, Chris (August 15, 1986). "Don't Mess With Wes : Chandler Uses Fear to His Own Advantage Against Pain, Pressure". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 13, 2011.
  18. Pro-Football-Reference.com, Leaders, NFL Single-Season Receiving Yards per Game Leaders. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  19. Crumpacker, John (August 11, 2012). "Wes Chandler finds home on Cal staff". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014.
  20. "Names in the News". Los Angeles Times. October 1, 1988. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014.
  21. Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, Wes Chandler. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
  22. Kuperberg, Jonathan (January 18, 2012). "Cal names Wes Chandler new wide receivers coach". The Daily Californian. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.
  23. Miller, Ted (January 19, 2012). "Cal hires former All-Pro Wes Chandler". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012.
  24. Pengelly, Martin (February 13, 2015). "USA sevens rugby star Perry Baker earns Eagles wings in new arena". The Guardian. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
  25. "Major League Football, Inc. (OTCMKTS:MLFB) Files An 8-K Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers". Market Exclusive. July 28, 2017.

Bibliography
  • Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). ISBN 0-7948-2298-3.
  • Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). ISBN 0-9650782-1-3.
  • Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). ISBN 1-58261-514-4.
  • McCarthy, Kevin M., Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football, Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). ISBN 978-0-7385-0559-6.
  • Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). ISBN 1-57167-196-X.
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