 Chandler with theSan Diego Chargersc. 1982 | |||||||||
| No. 89, 81 | |||||||||
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| Position | Wide receiver | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Born | (1956-08-22)August 22, 1956 (age 69) New Smyrna Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||
| Listed weight | 196 lb (89 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school | New Smyrna Beach | ||||||||
| College | Florida (1974–1977) | ||||||||
| NFL draft | 1978: 1st round, 3rd overall pick | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
Playing | |||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Wesley Sandy Chandler (born August 22, 1956) is an American former professionalfootball player who was awide receiver in theNational Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. He was selected to thePro Bowl four times, and ranked twelfth in NFL history in receiving yards and thirteenth in receptions when he retired. Chandler is a member of theChargers Hall of Fame. He playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators and was also inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
Playing as a receiver in a run-orientedwishbone offense at Florida, Chandler set a school record with 28 touchdowns. He was named both anAll-American and anAcademic All-American in 1977. He was picked third overall by theNew Orleans Saints in the1978 NFL draft. Over an 11-year NFL career, Chandler played for the Saints, theSan Diego Chargers and theSan Francisco 49ers. He holds the NFL record for mostreceiving yards per game in a season, set in 1982 with the Chargers. After retiring as a player, he became a football coach, and served as the wide receivers coach for various teams at the professional and college level.
Chandler was born inNew Smyrna Beach, Florida. He attendedNew Smyrna Beach High School,[1] where he was a standout high school football player for coachBud Asher's New Smyrna Beach Barracudas.[2] In his junior year the team was undefeated, including a victory over the Rams ofInterlachen High School which snapped their 21-game regular season win streak.[3][4] Chandler scored twenty-twotouchdowns as a senior in 1973 (scoring five in a single game), and rushing for 1,052 yards and catching 22receptions as awishbonehalfback.[2] Prominent with him in the backfield were the brothers Reggie and Keith Beverly.[5] Chandler earned the nickname "Little Joe" due to his small size.[6] In 2007, thirty-three years after he graduated from high school, theFlorida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) recognized Chandler as one of the "100 Greatest Players of the First 100 Years" of Florida high school football.[2]
Chandler accepted an athletic scholarship to attend theUniversity of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a wide receiver under coachDoug Dickey on theGators football team from1974 to1977.[7] While he was a Florida undergraduate, Chandler became a member ofAlpha Phi Alphafraternity (Theta Sigma chapter). As a Gator, he caught ninety-two passes for 1,963 yards and a school record twenty-two touchdowns in a run-oriented offense, adding six more scores on rushes and kick returns to set the school record for total touchdowns with twenty-eight. He led the Gators in receiving yards for three straight seasons (1975, 1976 and 1977), and despite many seasons of pass-oriented offenses since his time in Gainesville, he still holds Florida's career records in average yards per catch (21.3) and touchdown to reception ratio (one touchdown per 4.18 catches).[7]
Chandler was a first-teamAll-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a first-teamAll-American in 1976 and 1977, a first-teamAcademic All-American in 1977, and the recipient of the Gators'Fergie Ferguson Award as a senior team captain in 1977.[7] He also finished tenth in the balloting for theHeisman Trophy in 1977.[8] He is widely considered to be one of the best all-around football players to ever play for the University of Florida,[9] and has been named to several all-time Gators and all-SEC teams, and was inducted into theUniversity of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1989.[10][11] In 2006,The Gainesville Sun recognized Chandler as No. 6 among the top 100 Florida Gators players of the first 100 years of the team,[12] and in 2015, Chandler was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame.[13]
TheNew Orleans Saints selected Chandler in the first round (third pick overall) in the 1978 NFL Draft,[14] and he played for the Saints for four seasons from1978 to1981.[15] Chandler was selected to thePro Bowl after his second season in the league after finishing with 1,069 yards and six touchdownreceptions. He was traded to theSan Diego Chargers on September 30, 1981,[16] to replace star receiverJohn Jefferson, who was traded to theGreen Bay Packers after a bitter contract hold-out.[17] In the opening round of theplayoffs that year in a game known asThe Epic In Miami, he caught six passes for 106 yards and returned a punt 56 yards for a touchdown in the Chargers 41–38 victory.[17]
The following season was Chandler's best, when he led the NFL with 1,032 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns in the strike-shortened1982 season;[17] his average of 129 yards receiving per game that year is still an NFL record.[18][19] He also caught nine passes for 124 yards in a playoff win over thePittsburgh Steelers. Chandler represented Chargers players in theplayers' union, and many NFL players in that role were cut or traded after the1987 NFL strike. After he was elected to the union's executive committee, Chandler was traded to theSan Francisco 49ers, with whom he finished his career in1988.[17] He played in four games before retiring in October after tendinitis in a knee and frustration over his performance. The 49ers went on to win theSuper Bowl that season. "My heart wasn't in it. It had nothing to do with being a quitter. It was more about real-life decisions," he said.[20][21]
During his 11-year NFL career, Chandler caught 559 passes for 8,966 yards and 56 touchdowns, rushed for 84 yards, returned 48 kickoffs for 1,048 yards, and gained 428 yards on 77 punt returns.[22] Overall, he amassed 10,526 all-purpose yards.[22] At the time of his retirement, Chandler ranked twelfth in NFL history in receiving yards and thirteenth in receptions.[23] He also earned fourPro Bowl selections, including three with the San Diego Chargers.[22] In 2001, Chandler was inducted into theChargers Hall of Fame.
| Year | Team | Games | Receiving | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1978 | NO | 16 | 5 | 35 | 472 | 13.5 | 58 | 2 |
| 1979 | NO | 16 | 16 | 65 | 1,069 | 16.4 | 85 | 6 |
| 1980 | NO | 16 | 16 | 65 | 975 | 15.0 | 50 | 6 |
| 1981 | NO | 4 | 4 | 17 | 285 | 16.8 | 39 | 1 |
| SD | 12 | 11 | 52 | 857 | 16.5 | 51 | 5 | |
| 1982 | SD | 8 | 8 | 49 | 1,032 | 21.1 | 66 | 9 |
| 1983 | SD | 16 | 14 | 58 | 845 | 14.6 | 44 | 5 |
| 1984 | SD | 15 | 15 | 52 | 708 | 13.6 | 63 | 6 |
| 1985 | SD | 15 | 13 | 67 | 1,199 | 17.9 | 75 | 10 |
| 1986 | SD | 16 | 14 | 56 | 874 | 15.6 | 40 | 4 |
| 1987 | SD | 12 | 11 | 39 | 617 | 15.8 | 27 | 2 |
| 1988 | SF | 4 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 8.3 | 9 | 0 |
| Career | 150 | 131 | 559 | 8,966 | 16.0 | 85 | 56 | |
Chandler eventually went toDallas after seven years coaching inNFL Europe, including a stint ashead coach of theBerlin Thunder in 1999. Before that, he also coached at theUniversity of Central Florida inOrlando, Florida andFather Lopez Catholic High School inDaytona Beach, Florida. In January 2012, he joined theCalifornia Golden Bears as their receivers coach.[24]
Chandler has established a scholarship fund for minority students through the Wes Chandler Celebrity Golf Classic.
Chandler also has two nephews in athletics.Dallas Baker was a standout wide receiver for the Florida Gators and was drafted by thePittsburgh Steelers in the2007 NFL draft. Chandler's other nephew and Dallas's younger brother,Perry Baker, is a professional rugby player with theUnited States national rugby sevens team.[25]
In 2015, he was one of the founders of the proposed league,Major League Football, and served as its first president. He resigned in July 2017 when the league was reorganizing after failing to launch.[26]
