For the first two weeks of kindergarten, Levi Wallace got a whooping — every single day.
Then a mischievous young boy, the Alabama cornerback used to drive his teachers crazy by climbing under tables and causing trouble during class. Although, while Wallace might have gotten his way in the classroom, home was a different story.
As wild as he was at school, Wallace returned to his house each day to face the stern but fair hand of his father, Walter Wallace, who for two weeks straight greeted him with a pop on the behind. Walter, who served in the Air Force, ran an equally regimented household and wasn’t going to put up with a child who was unwilling to follow suit.
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Still, the unruly young boy thought he could outlast his father’s patience.
“Every single day Levi’s dad gave him a whooping,” Levi’s mother Wendy Wallace said. “I tell you, on the first day of that third week, Levi never had to have a whooping again.”
As Walter used to tell his children, “My will is always going to be greater than yours.”
That was evident as Levi grew older, too. Wendy remembers getting a call from her son’s teacher during his sophomore year of high school with complaints that Levi’s grades were suffering due to him constantly talking through class.
Once Walter caught wind of that, he came to a quick solution.
“His dad, being the person that he was with a very strict background, he went and sat in the back of the classroom with Levi,” Wendy said. “You’ve seen those stories on TV with parents in the back of the classroom, that was him. It was one of the most embarrassing things that could have happened to a teenager. But needless to say, he didn’t have to go back anymore.”
Today, those memories are all Levi and his mother have left of Walter. Diagnosed with an aggressive form of ALS in 2013, Walter passed away a year later during Levi’s first year at Alabama. By then, the father had already shaped his son into the man he is today.
Tuscaloosa or bust
Tucson High School sits across the street from the University of Arizona, or as Tucson High head coach Justin Argraves likes to say, “close enough to where you can literally throw a rock at it.” Looking back, Arizona coaches probably wish someone would have thrown a rock or just done anything to draw their attention across the street.
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Despite his proximity, Levi’s talents went unnoticed by his hometown university. To be fair, no other Division I program spotted him either. In the words of Argraves, the cornerback’s 6-foot, 180-pound frame “isn’t that of your prototypical Division I player.” In fact, Wallace didn’t even have a Rivals page coming out of high school.
The truth is, he didn’t really need one.
A lifelong Alabama fan and Tuscaloosa native, Walter grew up working the concessions at Bryant-Denny Stadium when the Crimson Tide was coached by Paul “Bear” Bryant. The proud father was determined that both of his boys would attend Alabama, and due to the GI Bill, a scholarship wasn’t an issue.
“He would tell everybody that his son was not only going to go to Alabama, but he was going to play football,” said Curry Hale, a close friend of Walter who the Wallaces affectionately call ‘Uncle Curry’ to this day. “Did we believe him at first? No. But that didn’t stop him. He said it so much he made it so.”
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That determination seeped down to Levi, who by default grew up cheering on the Crimson Tide. Despite weighing a mere 150 pounds in his early high school days, the young athlete humbly echoed his father’s proclamation, letting everyone know he’d be playing in Tuscaloosa one day.
“He never allowed anything to deter his dream,” Argraves said. “Ever since I can remember, Levi has told everybody that he was going to play at Alabama. As someone that didn’t have a Division I offer, it perked some people’s ears up. But looking at what he did, he made it happen and outworked everybody. He wasn’t going to let anything get in his way.”
Can’t quit now
Argraves paused a moment when asked if he remembers a time Levi’s play stood out during his high school days. A better question might have been whether he recalls a time the do-it-all athlete didn't stand out.
Levi hardly missed a minute of game action for the Badgers, serving as a wide receiver, cornerback and on kick return. Although he was one of the stars of the team, Levi’s game has never revolved around having a physical advantage. Instead, the hard-working cornerback studied the game relentlessly and mastered his technique in order to out-will his opponents. It’s why Alabama teammate Minkah Fitzpatrick referred to him as “one of the best technicians on the Alabama defense” last season.
Those skill attributes are often lost on Division I evaluators. But for those who watched him play every week, it was that never-ending relentlessness that set Levi apart.
“The thing about Levi is he was in love with the game,” Argraves said. “Every week he was looking to get better, and I think a lot of coaches overlooked that. That was other people’s loss and Alabama’s gain.”
If there was one thing that could derail the cornerback’s one-way train to Tuscaloosa, it was his father’s illness. While Walter did his best to shield his suffering from his son, it became obvious that things were becoming more and more serious. The fear of losing his father hit Levi harder than football ever will and almost caused him to drop the sport altogether.
“I really wasn’t focused too much on football,” Levi said. “I had a lot going on in my life, so I was really ready to let football go.”
However, as always, Walter’s will was greater.
“His dad used to tell him, ‘I’ve lived, and I’m living now. I want what’s best for you. Don’t stop your life because of this,”' said Tyrone Wilson, a childhood friend of Walter. “His dad wanted him to continue to pursue what he wanted to do. They had come so far, and he wasn’t going to let him give up.”
Never one to sell his son short, Walter stayed in Levi's ear, telling him, “Son, I've seen it, you’re going to go down there and you are going to do what you know how to do.” Sure Alabama’s roster was full of size and talent, but they weren’t Wallaces, so how hard could it really be?
“My dad just kind of convinced me ‘Just see how good you are,’” Levi said. “I wanted to see how it is going up against some of the best athletes, some of the best receivers that come to the University of Alabama. I just wanted to see how good I was.”
"Walt, he did it”
A tired group of Alabama players huddled around Nick Saban after practice last offseason a week before the team's opener against Southern California. A couple of sentences later, the head coach helped complete a dream a lifetime in the making.
“Aight, so we are going to give three scholarships to guys, all guys who have been here four or more years,” Saban said. “Truett Harris, Brandon Moore and Levi Wallace.”
The group quickly sprung to life, breaking into a loud applause before embracing their teammates.
“It was just a really exciting moment for all of us,” Levi said. “We took a picture, and I took a picture with all the DBs. Of course, I remember that day. It was just a really great day.”
Levi tallied 11 tackles in 11 appearances last season, including two during the Iron Bowl where he earned significant playing time in the second half after Marlon Humphrey went down with an injury. That game had previously served as the culminating moment of the cornerback’s long journey.
That is until last week.
Trailing Alabama 21-7 in the third quarter, Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois dropped back, his eyes solely fixed on the right side of the field.
Big mistake.
Reading the play beautifully, Levi stayed stride for stride with Seminoles receiver Auden Tate before out-jumping him to high-point the ball for an interception.
“I actually knew when the quarterback snapped it, I was thinking to myself, ‘Levi, it’s coming to your side, be ready,’” Wendy said. “I just knew it. When it happened, I was just elated."
For a brief moment, time stood still. Wendy paused, smiling amidst a sea of crimson jubilation while “Uncle Curry” and a town full of newly-formed Alabama fans cheered on from a supporters club 1,700 miles away in Arizona.
The scrawny Tucson kid, the one deemed too small to play Division I football, had just made a play on its biggest stage.
“I remember everybody screaming all around me, and I remember quietly in my spirit I said, ‘Walt, he did it,’” Wendy said.
More importantly, Levi did it the Wallace way — by never giving up and by demonstrating a will that is undoubtedly greater than any obstacle that gets in his way.
