A knock on the door led her to a youth football coach holding her injured son. For Sonjia Wallace, it also slammed shut a different door.
There would be no more football for her son, not after someone had stepped on his eye, leaving it swollen and in need of medical care.
It took several trips to the doctor to fix the eye. It also took years before Wallace allowed her son to play organized football again. When she finally relented, she told him, "OK, Michael,
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Mike Wallace has done his best to follow through on an impossible mandate from his nervous mother. And if his sublime speed gets the New Orleans native where he ultimately wants to go,
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In his third NFL season, the Steelers receiver has established himself as one of the NFL’s premier big play threats.
Wallace on Thursday night eclipsed 1,
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Wallace has everyone’s attention on the field. His blistering early season pace has slowed he has gone six consecutive games without going over 100 yards receiving but the 6 foot,
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"I believe we’re watching something special," said quarterback Byron Leftwich,
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There are 10 players whose statistics Wallace checks regularly. They are the receivers taken ahead of him in the 2009 NFL Draft. That teams passed over him for more than two rounds stokes Wallace’s inner embers,
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Asked if he doesn’t get his due, Wallace shrugged and smiled.
"I think we’re public enemy No. 1. People want us to fail,
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The assignment offered a chance for Randy Fichtner to return to Tennessee,
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But the opportunity to see family and old friends was not the only reason Fichtner embraced the idea of representing the Steelers at Memphis’ Pro Day workout. Timing and proximity also allowed him to attend Pro Day at the University of Mississippi and get a firsthand look at Wallace, who had intrigued him at the NFL Scouting Combine by running a 4.28 in the 40 yard dash.
The Rebels were flush with NFL prospects, and their headliners were offensive tackle Michael Oher his story inspired the best selling book and movie, "The Blind Side" and defensive tackle Peria Jerry.
As Fichtner took note of how many NFL coaches,
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The receivers attending the workout were such a low priority that there was no quarterback to throw to them. Fichtner ended up running drills for the wideouts, many of whom were from schools that did not have Pro Day workouts.
He also got a chance to put Wallace through a personal workout and interview him,
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"Believe me, I threw some bad passes, and it wasn’t on purpose,
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When he returned to Pittsburgh,
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That was enough for the Steelers to put Wallace on "our radar," Fichtner said.
Not that Wallace had any idea they were interested. He had not interviewed with the Steelers at the combine or made a pre draft visit to Pittsburgh. When the Steelers took Wallace with the 20th pick in the third round of the draft, 84th overall, it surprised him.
It moved his brother, Reggie, to tears.
"He said,
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For two brothers who had been separated by the streets of New Orleans, it provided a connection on which both still thrive.
Reggie Wallace, the oldest of five kids, gave Mike the nickname "Rock" as a toddler because he never cried when he fell.
"He always had that love for his little brother and took care of his little brother,
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Reggie learned the Steelers drafted his brother while he was in a Louisiana state jail. He is serving time for selling drugs and is an example of what Wallace overcame while growing up in a West Bank neighborhood of New Orleans,
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"He never really talked to me about street life. It was not something I wanted to do,
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Sonjia Wallace held down two jobs for about four years she worked as a presser at a dry cleaner and a caregiver at a home for mentally and physically challenged people and she sometimes only saw her children in the morning.
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