Position change sits well with Wellington

By Nancy Justis, Correspondent

CEDAR FALLS - The first thing you notice about Wilmot Wellington is his big, wide grin. He's a happy man, despite the tribulations he has encountered in his first 22 years.

The 5-10, 205-pound University of Northern Iowa junior running back turned free safety is anxiously awaiting the first game at Iowa State on Saturday. Though the transitioning of positions was difficult at first, he now thinks “it's kind of fun hitting people rather than getting hit.”

The next to the youngest with four brothers and four sisters, Wellington moved from his native war-torn Liberia to the Twin Cities when he was 6 years old, after a short layover in Ghana. He left Liberia with his father and siblings, but his mother remained.

Wellington hasn't been home since crossing the ocean, but speaks to her weekly with the help of a calling card.

Growing up in St. Paul, Wellington played football, ran track and also was a competitive swimmer for two years at Harding High School. It was a strange combination, but he said he didn't have anything going on after football and sometimes got into trouble.

So he tried out for swimming.

“I got pretty good,” Wellington said. “I had the second fastest time in the school in freestyle.”

As a high school junior, he moved to Fairfield to live with his brother.

“I think moving to Iowa, and a smaller community, was one of the best choices I've made,” he said. “I left all that gang stuff behind.”

Wellington competed in football, track and wrestling at Fairfield. He was a first-team all-state running back, a team captain and was voted the team's Most Valuable Player his senior year. He also was the state's 100-meter champion.

He thought about competing in swimming again but the closest team was 25 miles away. He considered playing basketball, but the wrestling coach challenged him to a basketball game.If he won, he could play basketball. If he lost, he would wrestle. He lost.

Things didn't go too smoothly in Fairfield. Wellington's brother lost his job and moved back to the Twin Cities. He stayed behind to finish out his senior year, living alone in an apartment for three months. His football coach and athletics director helped with food. His father sent money when he could. His track coach helped set him up with a grant for minority students.

He also was struggling academically. He's dyslexic and in high school he wasn't focused. Now he has a better than 3.0 grade-point average, majoring in criminology, and wants to work for the FBI.

“With the help school provides, with tutors, it's gotten a lot better,” he said.

Wellington graduated from Fairfield and spent the next two years at Iowa Central Community College, where he was a two-year starter. He earned honorable mention All-America honors and served as team captain. He also was All-American in track.

During his UNI football red-shirt year last season he decided to run track for the Panthers.

“I started track just to get out of (football) winter conditioning,” he said with a laugh. “That didn't really work out. Coach (Mark) Farley wasn't falling for that one. So we still had to do winter conditioning in the morning and go to track practice in the afternoon.

“After spring football and winter track I said I wasn't doing outdoor season. There was about a week left before the conference meet and Jarred Herring said just to come out to help the team.”

Wellington was a member of the conference champion 400-meter relay team that qualified for the NCAA championship.

“I love UNI,” he said. “I love the school. It was the right choice. I'm having a wonderful time here.”