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Hard work pays off for Beaver Local grad
By BRIAN DZENIS
EAST LIVERPOOL
Given his work ethic and size, people who know Beaver Local grad Derek Wolfe aren’t surprised to see him playing at the highest level of football.
As a 16-year-old, he was 6-foot-5, 280 pounds and could run a 4.8-second 40-yard dash.
“God made him a football player,” Beaver Local assistant football coach Jim Riccardo said. “He was destined to become that.”
Wolfe, along with his Denver Broncos teammate Danny Trevathan, will represent the Mahoning Valley in the Super Bowl. Trevathan was born in Youngstown, but played high school football in Leesburg, Fla.
The Beaver Local defensive end was a physical specimen, even in middle school, but he still had plenty of growing up to do.
Wolfe was a big kid in a little desk, said Robin Pusatri, his eighth-grade language arts teacher. Wolfe was introverted and wasn’t comfortable speaking in class, but over time the two developed a rapport.
“I guess with each nine weeks it just got better and better,” Pusateri said. “I could see he had a drive in him and that he needed a little push or incentive to better. My goal in my class was do the best that you can do and Derek put forth the effort.”
Even through high school, Wolfe was quietly motivated to get through class and challenges on the field, but seldom talked about why he felt so strongly about it. That drive was his greatest asset, but it also made him quick to anger.
“He’d get frustrated. I think he expected a lot from himself,” Riccardo said. “There’s kids that fold at that point. They say ‘I can’t do this’ but Derek wasn’t one of those. He was a project early on.”
The source of those expectations came from a tough upbringing in Negley. According to The Denver Post, Wolfe was estranged from his mother for years while she struggled with alcohol abuse before finally cutting her out of his life as a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati. He never knew his biological father and does not have a relationship with his stepfather.
When Wolfe was drafted in the second round by the Broncos in 2012, the Post reported there were no biological family members at his draft party.
“He didn’t want to fail. He didn’t want to fail anyone around him,” Riccardo said. “He had seen failure and I think that drove him.”
To get past what Riccardo calls Wolfe’s low-frustration level, he and then-Beaver Local head coach Rich Wright began to get him to focus on others.
“Rich and I were close and we did a lot of work with leadership councils and we tried take his mind off of himself and made him accountable to others,” Riccardo said.
As introverted as Wolfe was at a young age, he had a lot of empathy for other students and his teachers.
“He didn’t like bullying. He didn’t like anyone picking on anyone,” Pusateri said. “He would constantly go ‘Hey, stop don’t do that.’
“He did it quietly, he wasn’t loud. It was more like a ‘hey c’mon guys, let’s not pick on someone or talk about someone like that,” she said.
He also needed to get past his academic nemesis: math. Beaver Local math teach David Andres is credited as one of the key people who helped Wolfe get through the NCAA’s clearinghouse.
Wolfe trusted Andres when he was his student as a sophomore. From each Monday through Friday, Wolfe stayed after school for tutoring.
“He’d struggle and I tell him to go back to the basics and we’d start at stage one and then we’d push it,” Andres said. “He had a teacher willing to spend extra time with him and he figured he’d take advantage of it.”
Wolfe stays in touch with those who helped him along the way. He texts his coaches from time to time and as recently as last summer, he and a few former Beaver Local students treated Pusatri and her husband to dinner. They’re thrilled at what he’s become.
“I saw his work ethic as a sophomore through senior year. I knew once he left this area with his talent, it didn’t surprise me that he made it to the NFL. I knew he would make it,” Andres said. “Now he’s at the Super Bowl and it couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”