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In this day of multimillion dollars for athletes and coaches and billions for owners, you can’t help but be jaded with ambivalence about the sports scene. You are happy for players to reap high reward for their good fortune to be paid to play a game for a living and the reality that ownership is only taking advantage of the free enterprise system.

However, how will greed not become the root of all evil, with the potential to ruin the greatest of games. One is moved to take solace in Wesley Walls’ story.

He played football well enough to earn a college scholarship which he utilized for a degree. His campus resume gave him a ticket to the NFL’s largesse, which will provide him with a handsome NFL retirement.

With the degree and NFL exposure, he parlayed that into gainful employment for an envious life after football. The love of the game also made him mindful of the adage “to whom much is given, much is expected.” For every headline in Wesley Walls life there was a commitment to family and community.

Fiscal responsibility, service beyond self, loyalty to community and alma mater are as valuable to an athlete as speed, quickness and a head turning signing bonus.