Sports
Email
Print
The Good Life
Adrian Wilson, a former N.C. State star, is doing well on and off the football field
AP File Photo
Adrian Wilson of the Cardinals (right) watches an official stop play after Bills quarterback Trent Edwards was felled by a concussion on Oct. 5.
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: October 24, 2008
CHARLOTTE - When Adrian Wilson isn't making big hits as the Arizona Cardinals' strong safety, he can often be found at a designer shoe store that he owns in Scottsdale.
The name of the store?
High Point .
It's partly a tribute to his home town, where he starred at High Point Andrews before going on to N.C. State and ultimately to the Cardinals as a third-round pick in 2001.
But there's more to the name than just that.
"It's a lot of things," Wilson said in a telephone interview yesterday. "Obviously it is a tribute to my home town, but I also said once I got my own business it would be the high point of my career, and the high point of my life. That's how it is and that's pretty much how I want to keep it."
Life is good for Wilson these days.
He long ago established himself as one of the top safeties in the NFL, making a trip to the Pro Bowl in 2006. And now he plays for a bona-fide playoff contender. The Cardinals lead the NFC West at 4-2 and will bring a two-game winning streak into Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium.
"It feels good to be winning," Wilson said. "It's been a long road not only for myself, but for the organization. There's a lot of people who have been here a long time, and when you know you finally have a good team and you know you have the right people in place, you feel you can make a run at it. Now, we're just trying not to get too high on ourselves and take it all in stride and continue to work hard."
The Cardinals have never made the playoffs in Wilson's eight-year career. They have had three coaches since Wilson joined them in 2001, and haven't had a winning season. Their 8-8 record last season in Ken Whisenhunt's first season as coach was the best in franchise history since 1998, the last time the Cardinals made the playoffs.
Wilson, who is the longest-tenured player on the team, said he has always believed that the Cardinals would win eventually.
"Whenever you face adversity, that's when your true character comes out," he said. "I've always considered myself a high-character guy, and you've always got to work hard and you'll see the fruits of your labor later on. That's how I look at this season. It was hard early on in my career, because we didn't have real good teams. But we've pretty much kept our core together and we've had three or four real good drafts in a row, and that's why we are where we are right now."
Wilson has been in on 21 tackles this season, despite missing one game and most of another with a hamstring injury. He got the 17th interception of his career in the Cardinals' season-opening win against San Francisco, and continues to close in on a personal milestone. With three more interceptions and four more sacks, he will become the ninth player in NFL history to record 20 career sacks and 20 interceptions.
He is also in the NFL record books for having the most sacks by a defensive back in one season, with eight in 2006.
He had two 99-yard returns for touchdowns that season, also an NFL record, with a 99-yard interception return against Atlanta and a 99-yard fumble return against Minnesota.
"It's just about playing the game," Wilson said. "I just try to play hard every Sunday. That's always been my motto, just leave it on the field on Sundays. When the big hits and the big plays come, they come."
He said he's proud of the fact that he has endured and stayed with the Cardinals. He chose not to become an unrestricted free agent in 2004 and signed a five-year extension that will take him through next season.
The goal now is to finish his career with the Cardinals.
"It's hard nowadays with free agency and the money that's being thrown around for one player to stay with one team for this long," Wilson said. "But I've always said I always wanted to be with the team that drafted me. I have a wife and two kids now so I don't want to be moving my kids all around the world. I want to make sure I stay here and finish my career here. It's very important to me, just from a family standpoint."
And, of course, for the good of High Point.
High Point shoes, that is.
"That's something I've been wanting to do for a long time," Wilson said. "I didn't know the right people until last year, but I finally got it going. It's just something I love. It's good to have your own business, because you can learn a lot. It's something that is definitely challenging to me. It's not football, but that's what I wanted. I wanted something challenging, and now it's something I love."
■ John Delong can be reached at jdelong@wsjournal.com.
Email
Print
