A Warrior Named Whitlock
They’ll be dropping the green flag down in Talladega in about 2 1/2 hours, and I’ll be watching. I confess to liking the romance of stocking car racing better than the sport itself, but I still have the hook in me deep from the time my brother Tom and I and our girlfriends motored down to Atlanta Speedway in August of 1971 to see Richard Petty and Bobby Allison slam the doors off each other for the final 28 laps of the Dixie 500. Petty, coming off the fourth turn sideways, took the checkered flag two lengths ahead to become the sport’s first millionaire driver.
At this point in my life I don’t watch all that much pro sports, but for whatever reason I do like watching NASCAR. And one thing I’ll be watching today down in ‘Dega is to see if any of the pit crews can get their man back into action quicker than the Wake Forest training staff got Nikita Whitlock back on the field yesterday in the Deacons’ 24-23 victory at Duke. Deacons Win Another Nail-biter Over Duke
Play stopped early the third quarter and Whitlock didn’t get up. He was attended to, and rose gingerly to limp off with the support of the training staff. He repaired directly to the table behind the bench, where Chris Ina, the assistant football trainer, worked feverishly to get Whitlock’s ankle retaped.
I found out later from talking with Whitlock that Ina was working under distress, especially after running back Juwan Thompson of Duke broke a 27-yard run up the middle with backup Duke Mosby in for Whitlock.
“I was sitting over there and getting (taped) and the fans are heckling Chris and saying `Get him in the game, get him in the game. Hurry up. Hurry up.’ ‘’ Whitlock said. “So it was hilarious. I just saw the big play and I knew I had to get back in there and help our defense.
“Duke’s a great player. He’s going to be a great player. He helps me out. I really don’t think it was his fault, that play. But I knew when I got back in there, there might have been something I could do. I just tried to help the defense out and do what I could.’‘
There was another reason for Whitlock’s sense of urgency.
“I hate being on the sidelines,’’ Whitlock confessed.
Sure enough, before I even noticed he was back in the game by the very next play, there was Whitlock stacking Thompson up in the backfield for a four-yard loss. It proved to be a pivotal play, helping to hold Duke’s long drive to a field goal and slowing the Blue Devils rally that would eventually overtake Wake at 20-17.
Whitlock was great yesterday, contributing seven tackles—two and a half of them behind the line—and a sack. I happened to run into trainer Don Steelman on my way to the post-game and commended him for getting Whitlock back into action so fast. If the medical staff is going to catch flak for not having a player ready—as they invariably do, regardless of the nature or severity of the injury—then they should certainly get a pat on the back when a player returns quicker than anyone has a right to expect.
The credit didn’t belong to Steelman or his staff, he replied, his eyes wide in amazement.
“That’s Nikita Whilock,’’ Steelman said. “That’s what you get when you have players with big hearts.’‘
Coach Jim Grobe seconded Steelman’s assessment moments later.
“What a warrior that guys is,’’ Grobe said. “He’s good.
“Unfortunately, he probably lost 50 pounds out there today, which is not good for him with his size. He hung in there at the end. He was a warrior. He was beat up at the end.’‘
And he was smiling afterward.
“They always want us bad,’’ Whitlock said. “They always play us tough. As I was walking off the field I said `Last year we would have lost that game.’
“But this year we’re a whole new defense and we’re a whole new team. We just fight tough games, fight tough losses and get tough wins.’‘