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That’s Life; T.J. Wiley Continues to Learn Life Lessons Through Football.
As someone a little bit younger than T.J. Wiley, I feel a little silly writing a title that is displayed in this story. However, my biggest takeaway from our conversation and other communications we have had is the life lessons he learned throughout his time as a standout quarterback.
(Photos submitted by T.J. Wiley)
It really is not about the dimes he dropped in high school, college, or in the arena leagues; football was about the life lessons, the brotherhood, and learning how to deal with adversity in many forms.
A move early in his high school career to Titusville changed his life, but it was not an easy thing to have happened as a young teenager. However, under his father John Wiley, he became one of the all-time greats in Titusville Rockets football history.
In college, he also became one of the top Thiel Tomcats to ever line up under center, but injuries plagued his college career. However, through grit, perseverance, and dare I say some luck (I think everyone who becomes a professional athlete has some luck), he became a professional quarterback for around a handful of years across various indoor football leagues.
Since then, he’s become an assistant coach and high school head coach in both the District 10 and WPIAL areas, while also working as an educator. Right now, he is the head man for his son Max’s junior high football team in the Shaler Area School District.
Someday soon, he hopes to coach his son at the varsity level just like his Hall of Fame father John did when he was a varsity football player. Enjoy a conversation, and a lengthy one at that, between T.J. and I that examines his career, the people who have shaped his life, and the joy the game of football continues to bring him today as a coach.
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