Former Jet Wesley Walker Calls Dix Hills Home for Over 30 Years

Wesley Walker's connection with New York began in 1977 when the Jets drafted the California native in the second round.

The wide receiver out of Carson High School in Carson, Calif. needed someplace to stay and figured the location ought to be close to Hofstra University in Hempstead, where the Jets practiced for over 40 seasons.

He looked at Lido Beach and Massapequa, but it was Dix Hills that caught his eye. The hamlet located just off the Long Island Expressway offered him respite from Hempstead and gave him the at-home feeling he had in the suburbs of southern California. So in 1978 he purchased a home that would eventually house his family. To this day, Walker resides there.

"I just fell in love with the place," said Walker, who was introduced to the town by a realtor.

Though not married with kids at the time, Walker made it a priority to choose a respectable school district. Half Hollow Hills filled his needs. It paid off in time. His children, John, Austin and Taylor, all received scholarships to their colleges and have successful careers related to fitness or athletics.

Walker, who is the sixth all-time leading receiver in Jets history, was a staple of Gang Green during the late 1970s and 1980s. For him to settle in the suburbs of Long Island, amidst thousands of Jets fans, is an ode to his character.

Through the years he became fond of the family feeling the town has. Had former Jets head coach Walt Michaels not had a rule about living in New York City, things may have gone differently for Walker. And now that the Jets moved their training facility from Hofstra to Florham Park, N.J., Walker doesn't feel the same connection with the organization.

His connections are made now in Kings Park, where he is a physical education teacher at Parkview Elementary School, a position he's held for the last 13 years.

In his spare time the two-time Pro Bowler and former All-American at the University of California often enjoys meals at the Dix Hills Diner – breakfast especially – and a handful of other locations around town.

Walker is still involved with football, thanks to the occasional interview or radio broadcast and is often seen around team functions. In the last decade, he's one of many former players with physical problems associated with the hard grind of being an NFL player. Too many of his former colleagues can hardly walk, have been under the knife countless times – himself included with 14 screws in his neck alone – and are getting shafted from a lack of post-playing day benefits.

"I'm very disappointed in the way the NFL and our players association has addressed these issues," he said. "Guys have given their lives and put their love into the game, they're suffering. You're here, then you're forgotten about. It's big business."

Walker, legally blind in his left eye, said the defining moment of his career was catching four touchdown passes in an overtime win against Miami in 1986.

But to him, football is simply a game.

"I never got caught up in that I played for the Jets," he said. "I'm just Wesley Walker the gym teacher."

More on Walker ...

• In 1986 he caught 12 touchdown passes, his best for a single season in his career. His 1,169 receiving yards in 1978 are his personal best for a year in his career, and the most in the NFL that season.
• He finished his 13-year NFL career with 8,306 yards, 438 receptions and 71 touchdowns.
• His son John is an assistant lacrosse coach at the University of Virginia and was a three-time All-American at Army. His other son Austin won a National Championship with Johns Hopkins lacrosse and plays professionally in Major League Lacrosse for the Toronto Nationals. His daughter Taylor was a professional dancer for the New Jersey Nets and is starting her career as a physical education teacher at Sachem High School North this fall.