Tyrone Wheatley was Multi- Sport Standout in Michigan

Tyrone Wheatley was one of the top multi-sport athletes in Michigan high school sports history during his days at Dearborn Heights Robichaud High School in Dearborn, Michigan. When it came to the sports of football, basketball, and track and field, few have achieved the level of Tyrone Wheatley.

In three seasons as a running back on the football team, Wheatley ran for 4,257 yards and 67 touchdowns, including 2,010 yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior in 1990. That season, in addition to his duties as running back, Wheatley also played quarterback at times, defensive back and was the punter, kicker and kick returner. He led Robichaud to its only state championship in 1990, when he ran for 168 yards, three touchdowns, kicked three extra points, punted and made 13 tackles in the title game.

In basketball, he averaged 14 points and 16 rebounds as a senior and was honorable mention on the All-Metro Detroit team that included Chris Webber, Jalen Rose and Voshon Lenard on the first team.

While his football and basketball accomplishments were exceptional, he took track and field to yet another level. In perhaps the most dominant track career of any Michigan high school athlete, Wheatley won nine Michigan High School Athletic Association individual championships in his final three years.

As a sophomore, he broke a state finals record that had stood for 17 years with a 23-10¾ effort in the long jump, and he tied the Class B meet record with a 10.5 clocking in the 100 meters.

In his unprecedented junior season, Wheatley became the first Michigan athlete in 38 years to win four titles (100, 200, 110 hurdles, long jump) and scored 40 of his team’s 49 points to help Robichaud to the Class B title.

Wheatley completed his high school track career in 1991 with three additional Class B individual titles, winning the long jump and 100 meters for the third consecutive year, along with the 110 hurdles.

According to Mick McCabe, who has been covering high school sports for the Detroit Free Press for more than 50 years, Wheatley was at the top of the all-time list.

“. . . I have covered every high-level athlete in the state. Earvin (Magic) Johnson, Derek Jeter, Dathan Ritzenhein, Dena Head, Jerome Bettis, Shane Battier, Antonio Gates, Jalen Rose, Charles Rogers, Rickea Jackson, Dan Majerle . . . But of all the great athletes Michigan has produced over the last 50 years, one stands above the rest: Tyrone Wheatley.”

Wheatley continued his multiple-sport career at the University of Michigan, where, in football, he ran for 4,178 yards and scored 53 touchdowns. He ranks fifth on the Wolverines’ career rushing list. In track and field, he was Big Ten Conference outdoor champion and All-American while earning three letters.

Wheatley was drafted in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft by the New York Giants and played 10 years, concluding his career with the Oakland Raiders. His best season was 2000 with Oakland when he rushed for 1,046 yards and scored nine touchdowns.

Question: You led your school to the state football championship as a senior – the school’s only state title ever. Would you say that winning a state high school title was your top experience in high school?

Wheatley: In the state championship game, I ended up playing a total of nine positions. I started off as a quarterback in high school, but in Little League, I played defensive tackle and wide receiver and tight end, so I was quick off the ball.

The state title was very special in so many respects, because our former coach at Robichaud would talk about the teams that had gone to the regionals, and the regional semifinals, and he would talk about those teams like they were the greatest teams in the world, which they were, but we felt as though that was a shame for Robichaud to never have been to the state championship. We had to build on the foundation that others laid for us. I remember sitting in the stands watching these guys from football come to go to basketball, and go from basketball to track, and just watching these athletes, man, just like incredible athletes.

And so, when we got to the state championship, it really wasn’t to say we were the best class or the best football team, but it was to pay tribute to all the guys who came before us. They laid the foundation for us. We had the Detroit Lions, but honestly, the guys we wanted to emulate were the guys at Robichaud High School. We wanted to win that state championship for them and for Robichaud. We did everything in our power to make sure that when we talk about self-discipline and regulating ourselves and holding each other accountable, we went to the nth degree to make sure it happened. And even the night before the playoff game that we hosted, we slept in this very gym, woke up that morning, ate breakfast and went out and played football. That’s how detailed and really bought in we were to winning that state championship.

Question: Longtime sportswriter Mick McCabe has said you were the greatest high school athlete in Michigan history. What were your thoughts when you heard that?

Wheatley: Mick McCabe, the great legendary sportswriter in Michigan, the son of Swami. You always wanted to be in his predictions. You always wanted to have a write-up by Mick, right? If you could grace the front page with an article with Mick, and you shared the cover page with Barry Sanders as a high school athlete, man you made it. Mick and I became very close in doing some interviews and writing feature stories. But to be named the best high school athlete that he’s ever covered blew my mind, because he covered some incredible people. You know, he covered, I mean, some absolutely amazing athletes. So, to be named that, I still to this day don’t know. I just don’t know. It’s just kind of hard to believe, but he’s the son of Swami, and I appreciate it.

Question: You had a great college career at the University of Michigan, and competed in track as well as football. Tell us some of your best memories from your days in Ann Arbor.

Wheatley: Walking onto the field and walking into the Schembechler Hall and putting on that maize and blue was another incredible feat for me. You know a kid from Dearborn Heights and Robichaud High, I never, never dreamed about it. It’s not like it is today. I didn’t even know what an offer was. I got an offer from Michigan I think in my sophomore year in high school, so I went to their football camp, but had no idea what it was. I didn’t know, right, but to sit there and see that I’m in one of the most prominent universities in the world, not only academically, but football athletically. Other than playing in the Rose Bowl, you got the stadium that sits 105,000 – the Big House. It is incredible. It is absolutely amazing. And being able to play there, giving me the opportunity to compete both in track and football, was absolutely amazing.

Question: Looking back on your entire career – all the awards and championships, the competitive stages that you’ve played on, your impact off the field – what are you most proud of?

Wheatley: The thing that I’m most proud of up to this point, because I don’t think my work is done yet, is being an example, being an example of circumstances that you can overcome, that your circumstances do not dictate or predict where you’ll end up, that you have the pencil to your story. You can erase it as many times as you want to. You can cross out whatever you want. You can go back and correct it, right? You have the pencil to the chapters of your book. And yes, people call me a “great athlete,” and I’ll say this, and people can say whatever they want to say, I’m not the greatest athlete that came out of Michigan, not the greatest athlete to ever come out of Inkster. I’m just the one with the most exposure. And I do this for all those that didn’t have it. So, with that being said for any young man, young lady, man or child, man or woman, it makes no difference. Never let the circumstances keep you where you are. There are people out there that are willing to help you. You just have to find them to get the help and take the help, take teaching and take the learning. And I’ll say this to the day that I die, if I can make it, anybody can.