Wes Chandler

Wesley Sandy Chandler (born August 22, 1956) is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Chandler played college football for the University of Florida, and was recognized as an All-American. He was third overall pick in the 1978 NFL Draft, and played professionally for the New Orleans Saints, the San Diego Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection and holds the NFL record for most receiving yards per game in a season. Chandler ranked twelfth in NFL history in receiving yards and thirteenth in receptions when he retired. He became a football coach, and is currently the wide receivers coach for the University of California Golden Bears.

Early life
Chandler was born in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. He attended New Smyrna Beach High School, where he was a standout high school football player for the New Smyrna Beach Barracudas. Chandler scored twenty-two touchdowns as a senior in 1973 (scoring five in a single game), and rushing for 1,052 yards and catching twenty-two receptions as a wishbone running back. In 2007, thirty-three years after he graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) recognized Chandler as one of the "100 Greatest Players of the First 100 Years" of Florida high school football.

College career
Chandler received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a wide receiver for coach Doug Dickey's Florida Gators football team from 1974 to 1977. While he was a Florida undergraduate, Chandler became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (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. and leading the team in receiving yards in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Chandler was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection and a first-team All-American in 1976 and 1977, a first-team Academic All-American in 1977, and the recipient of the Gators' Fergie Ferguson Award as a senior team captain in 1977. He also finished tenth in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy in 1977. He is widely considered to be one of the best all-around football players to ever play for the University of Florida, and has been named to several all-time Gators and all-SEC teams, and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1989.

Professional career
The New Orleans Saints selected Chandler in the first round (third pick overall) in the 1978 NFL Draft, and he played for the Saints for four seasons from 1978 to 1981. Chandler was selected to the Pro Bowl after his second season in the league after finishing with 1,069 yards and six touchdown receptions. He was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1981 to replace star receiver John Jefferson, who was traded to the Green Bay Packers after a bitter contract hold-out. He led the NFL with 1,032 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns for the strike-shortened 1982 season; his average of 129 yards receiving per game that year is still an NFL record. Chandler completed his career with the San Francisco 49ers in 1988. One of his more notable performances was in a 1981 AFC playoff game known as The Epic In Miami, where he caught six passes for 106 yards and returned a punt fifty-six yards for a touchdown in the Chargers 41–38 victory. He also caught nine passes for 124 yards in a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the following season.

Chandler retired from the NFL during the 1988 season after an eleven-year playing career. During his NFL career, he caught 559 passes for 8,966 yards and fifty-six touchdowns, rushed for eighty-four yards, returned forty-eight kickoffs for 1,048 yards, and gained 428 yards on sixty-seven punt returns. Overall, he amassed 10,526 all-purpose yards. At the time of his retirement, Chandler ranked twelfth in NFL history in receiving yards and thirteenth in receptions. He also earned four Pro Bowl selections, including three with the San Diego Chargers. In 2001, Chandler was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame.

Post-playing career
Chandler eventually went to Dallas after seven years coaching in NFL Europe, including a stint as head coach of the Berlin Thunder in 1999. Before that, he also coached at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida and Father Lopez Catholic High School in Daytona Beach, Florida. In January 2012, he joined the California Golden Bears as their receivers coach.

Chandler has established a scholarship fund for minority students through the Wes Chandler Celebrity Golf Classic.

Chandler's nephew, Dallas Baker, was a standout wide receiver for the Florida Gators and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2007 NFL Draft.

Pop culture references
Minneapolis avant garde jazz trio Happy Apple has a song from their album Please Refrain from Fronting titled "Take Wes Chandler For Instance." Ralph Macchio's character in the movie The Karate Kid wore a San Diego Chargers jersey with Chandler's number, 89, during several scenes of the movie.