Home »

University of Floriday Wondy Pierre-Louis wild journey to College Football (BCS) title game

UF's Pierre-Louis has wild journey to BCS title game

Wondy Pierre-Louis made one of the biggest plays of UF's season. But how he got to UF is an even bigger story.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Most Gators fans remember the play that turned Florida's season around and helped lead the Gators into the Bowl Championship Series title game against Ohio State.

Florida trailed 21-17 against Arkansas, which had stormed back to take the lead and all the momentum. That's when Reggie Fish fumbled a punt into the end zone. And that's where most of Gator Nation discovered Wondy Pierre-Louis, scrambling at the bottom of the frantic pile and recovering the biggest fumble of the year to give UF a 24-21 lead.

That play might be the snapshot that embodies Florida's season and its wild and improbable ride to the title game.

But Pierre-Louis' journey from dirt-covered poverty-ridden streets in Haiti to the end zone is one for the ages -- a road littered with doubt and gunfire, abandonment and resurrection.

He was left alone in a shack in Naples, left stranded in Haiti without a visa and left doubting if he would play college football. But somehow, Pierre-Louis made it to Gainesville, where he forged his way onto the Gators, and where his future could be as bright as any.

''Deion Sanders has nothing on Wondy. I'm telling you that right now,'' said Buddy Quarles, who was the defensive backs coach at Naples Lely High, where Pierre-Louis was a star athlete. ``He could be in the pros in three years. In fact, he could be one of the best defensive backs to ever play football. It's his fault if he isn't.''

It was Quarles who found Pierre-Louis living alone in a tiny shanty in Naples. Quarles couldn't believe it when he saw the way his best player was living.

BARREN HOUSEHOLD

Quarles said the door hung off its hinges. Pierre-Louis' clothes were in a plastic bag. His refrigerator had spoiled food. His kitchen was devoid of any pots, pans or cups. He had one plate and one fork. His shower lacked a curtain. There was no TV, table, chairs or couch. Pierre-Louis slept on a mattress with no sheets and just a blanket, by the bugs that roamed his floor, which was strewn with trophies.

''I thought it was [fine] because I was the only one living in there,'' said Pierre-Louis, who compared the space of the shack to someone's living room. ``I didn't prefer anything better. It was all good.''

Quarles disagreed.

'I asked him, `What do you have to eat in there?' '' Quarles said. 'He said, `I've got nothing to eat.' It was pretty sad. It was gross. It should have been torn down. The place was falling to pieces. It was very primal. I said, 'You can't live here -- no way. You've got to go.' ''

Quarles succeeded in convincing his wife to take in Pierre-Louis, who found himself alone because his older brother left Naples for New York.

They came from Haiti two years earlier, running from the gunfire and violence that ripped the island. His mother feared for his safety, and Dessece Pierre-Louis sent her two sons to Naples.

''When I was growing up in Haiti, you would go outside and you never know what could happen to you,'' Pierre-Louis said. ``I would just sleep and eat. If you walk down the street, people just start running and shooting. You don't know who's shooting, so it's bad. If you go outside, you better know where you're going.''

Things got worse at home, and during a 2004 uprising, rebels burned down the store their mother owned in Port-au-Prince, Pierre-Louise said.

''They would go walking around burning everything they would find,'' Pierre-Louis said. ``They didn't only burn our store, but other places, too. They were just doing bad things just because they didn't want the president.''

Pierre-Louis found sanctuary with the Quarles family, and found freedom on the football field, where he was a wide receiver, kick returner, defensive back, kicker and punter.

As a junior, Pierre-Louis returned both of his interceptions for touchdowns. He recovered two fumbles, had 36 tackles, kicked field goals and punts, and also played receiver. He won the Class 4A state titles in the long jump and triple jump.

''I would do everything,'' Pierre-Louis said. ``I would do kickoffs, then I would punt the ball like 55 yards.''

UF coach Urban Meyer took notice, and swayed Pierre-Louis away from West Virginia. Then Haiti intervened. The country demanded Pierre-Louis return after his graduation. Haiti wouldn't grant him a visa.

`DON'T GIVE UP'

''I didn't want to let my son go,'' Quarles said. 'I told him, `Don't give up. You've gotten this far. What you've done to get here -- that's not a normal person.' Then I told him, 'If something happens and you get stuck there, I'm coming after you. I promise.' ''

Pierre-Louis left in June with about a 10 percent chance of obtaining the visa to return. The Gators sent secondary coach Chuck Heater to rescue their prize recruit. Heater pleaded with the U.S. Embassy and the Haitian government. He left the country cautiously optimistic. Then Haiti granted Pierre-Louis the visa, and he joined the team for two-a-days.

Now he's one of the reasons the Gators are in the title game -- stronger, wiser and tougher for his journey.

''It's kind of normal to see people get shot,'' Pierre-Louis said of his days in Haiti. ``But I'm not going to be afraid of anything.''