Three years ago Alex French of GQ Magazine wrote an extensive and intriguing article on Wesley, even then tossing around the idea that he was the most powerful man in sports and making a darn convincing case of it. The feature describes a man who goes from a 16 year old making connections while working at a Philadelphia shoe store to sitting between Jay-Z and Beyonce at the NBA All-Star game. One of the only pictures of Wes on the Internet is that of him restraining Ron Artest during the brawl at the Palace. The man has Michael Jordan in his phone book and isn't afraid to call him up just to say "hi" or introduce him to some up-and-coming player who idolizes the hall of fame legend.
The entire piece is extremely interesting and dove deeper into the life of Worldwide Wes than anyone had ever been before until now. Now it seems everyone is learning his story and learning that William Wesley has been the real man behind the curtain for a large majority of basketball dealings from High School to the NBA for the past 10 years or so. However, as an Auburn fan there was a key part of his story that jumped out to me that hasn't quite hit mainstream. At the bottom of the first page there was this:
He knew the pro players from TV, and he knew the high schoolers from bumping shoulders with them on the court—there was Leon Rose, the crafty point guard from Cherry Hill East, and those two juggernauts from Camden named Billy Thompson and Milt Wagner.
“Wes was my best friend,” Wagner says. “My whole career, he followed me everywhere I went.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa, that name sounds familiar. No, not LeBron's agent, Leon Rose, I'm talking about Milt Wagner. If you've paid attention to Auburn basketball this off-season (if you haven't I don't blame you, but you're really missing out) you may know that newly hired head coach Tony Barbee brought his old staff from UTEP with him, including, yes, Milt Wagner.
Wagner and Barbee first met on John Calipari's staff at Memphis where Wagner held the post of Coordinator of Basketball Operations, a position offered to him the same year his highly recruited son, DeJuan, signed a scholarship offer to Memphis. Oh, and DeJuan's Godfather? You guessed it, Worldwide Wes.
I'm sure by now you have connected the dots that I have as well. While it will take continued devotion by Tony Barbee and his staff to dig this program from the doldrums of Beard-Eaves Coliseum, having an asset such as Worldwide Wes tied so closely to the program can only help. The first concern is obviously the ever-present cloud of the NCAA, but hopefully we are wise enough to handle the situation with the apropriate care and take advantage of our resources in a responsible maner.
It's a new age for Auburn basketball and now we're going worldwide.
