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?Look at where I am now? - Wondy Pierre-Louis National College Champion of University Florida

Wondy Pierre-Louis? path to a national championship at Florida has been filled with an incomprehensible amount of obstacles

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The journey of Wondy Pierre-Louis has been riddled with misgivings and leaps of faith.

From the streets of war-torn Haiti, where he sharpened his survival instincts, to Lely High School, where he sharpened his football skills, Pierre-Louis put together pieces of a dream.

His story of aspiration and inspiration was given another exclamation point on Jan. 8. Pierre-Louis, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound true freshman cornerback at the University of Florida, stood on the sidelines of the BCS National Championship Game against Ohio State waiting for the final seconds to tick away.

After the Gators defeated Ohio State, 41-14, Pierre-Louis found himself caught in a wave of emotion.

?I knew I was going to get a big ring,? said Pierre-Louis, 19, during a phone interview on Monday. ?Growing up as a little kid, I didn?t know what national championship football was. (Now) look at me, already having one in my first year of college.?

Pierre-Louis stood on the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium last Saturday, once again in shock and awe. But he felt like college football royalty as about 70,000 fans showed up to celebrate the football program?s second national championship.

?There was not anything better,? Pierre-Louis said. ?That was the place that everyone wanted to be.?

The road that led him to Gainesville, though, is anything but idyllic.

Before catching the eye of Florida coach Urban Meyer with superb athleticism, before earning a spot on special teams, before the play that introduced Pierre-Louis to the country ? a fumble recovery in the end zone that gave the Gators a 24-21 lead over Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference Championship ? came his nomadic journey to the United States.

Pierre-Louis arrived from Haiti in 2002 at the age of 14, unable to speak English. His older brother John came as well.

Their mother, Dessence, enrolled them both at Lely but John left for New York after three years to find a job. An assistant football coach at the high school eventually took Wondy in after seeing his living conditions and became his legal guardian.

The hardships that Pierre-Louis dealt with in his personal life did not stop him from excelling in track and football.

He won Class 4A titles in the long jump and triple jump as a junior and was twice named the Naples Daily News Track Athlete of the Year.

Pierre-Louis flashed his skills on the football field as a two-year starter playing multiple positions.

Lely head football coach Chris Metzger said Pierre-Louis made a commitment to become a better football player. Then he saw Pierre-Louis put the same effort into learning how to speak English and improving his grades.

?By his junior year, I think he started to understand the discipline it took to be part of a program as far the attitude, the academics and social stuff,? Metzger said. ?We saw that he had a lot of speed, but what it came down to was that he was going to have to work on his knowledge of the game.?

Pierre-Louis eventually chose to sign with Florida over West Virginia, but his chance to begin two-a-day workouts or return to the country was in serious doubt last June.

Pierre-Louis was ordered to return to Haiti so that he could obtain a new visa because he was 18. The U.S. Embassy initially ruled against his return to the country, but over the next few days Pierre-Louis showed several forms of documentation and was granted the visa before the start of two-a-days.

Reflecting on his time spent in Haiti stirs up memories, memories Pierre-Louis does not mind leaving in the past. He still feels pain when talking about his experience and wondering whether he would be able to return.

?It was crazy,? Pierre-Louis said.

Although when he recalls the season that played out like a magical script for the Gators, joy abounds.

Pierre-Louis? defining moment fittingly came in the SEC Championship with Dessence in attendance to see her son play football for the first time.

In 12 games, Pierre-Louis recorded seven tackles and made his biggest impact on special teams. He is expecting to compete for a starting position at cornerback next season.

?I?m going to try to hit the weight room really hard during the spring and all the workouts,? Pierre-Louis said, ?so I can get better on my feet and with what the coaches want me to do. I?m hoping to make a lot of big plays next season.

?I?ve been through a lot of stuff, but it was all worth it that we won the national championship. Look at where I am now.?

Every next step may be an even more extraordinary scene.