NFL's Wallace got football start in Fallbrook

Roberto Wallace is now on the roster of the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, but until he visited a friend's grandfather in Fallbrook he had no experience with even the fundamentals of gridiron football.

Wallace is originally from Panama and came to Oceanside as a military dependent. While at Oceanside High School, Wallace met fellow student Derek Shaw.

Shaw was a quarterback on Oceanside's football team. Wallace had played soccer and tennis but knew nothing about gridiron football. That changed when Shaw and Wallace visited Shaw's grandfather, Dick Enright, at Enright's Fallbrook home.

Wallace was contemplating the possibility of joining Oceanside's football team as a kicker, but Shaw thought that Wallace, who at the time was 6'3" and about 210 pounds, looked like a receiver. Shaw started tossing footballs to Wallace in Enright's yard.

Wallace did not know how to catch a football, and Shaw's first few passes hit various parts of Wallace's body. Shaw continued to throw.

During Wallace's junior year he initially sought to be the kicker on Oceanside's football team. Shaw, who played only quarterback and thus did not have on-field responsibilities when the Pirates were on defense, decided to work on Wallace's pass-catching skills by throwing to him when Oceanside was on defense and Shaw and Wallace were on the sidelines. Wallace's soccer experience gave him the endurance to keep running as Shaw continued throwing passes on the sidelines.

Within two weeks Oceanside coach John Carroll chose Wallace to be the Pirates' starting receiver despite the more extensive football experience of the students Wallace beat out. Wallace was still unfamiliar with football terms; he wasn't aware of the definition of even the simplest terms such as "touchdown" or "goal line" and he referred to blocking as "bumping".

One of Oceanside's starting cornerbacks was also a military dependent, and when his father was transferred the Pirates were left without a cornerback. Carroll tried Wallace at that defensive position, and Wallace was able to handle those duties.

"He's really a good athlete," Enright said. "You'll never outcoach God."

Wallace earned all-league and all-CIF honors as a high school football player. "He was a natural," Enright said.

Wallace's father was transferred during the season, and Wallace stayed in the Oceanside High School attendance boundary by moving in with an aunt. That aunt did not have a bedroom to accommodate her nephew, and Wallace slept on a couch in the apartment. After the football season, when residential eligibility was no longer an issue, Wallace stayed with Enright and his wife.

"I really enjoyed the questions that he would ask," Enright said.

Enright answered those questions. "We're glad that we could have helped him," he said. "We like to help people who are appreciative."

Wallace received a handful of scholarship offers and chose to play at San Diego State University. Wallace, who was 6'4" and about 225 pounds during his senior year, persisted in his football career despite a shoulder operation which cost him action earlier in his college career. He was not selected in the 2010 National Football League draft but was invited to the Miami Dolphins' camp.

"He's so likeable," Enright said. "All coaches like him. He's really got a sense of humor. He can laugh at himself."

Wallace survived the pre-season cuts to earn a place on the Dolphins' regular-season roster.

"It surprised me a lot that he made it, to tell you the truth, in the pros," Enright said. "You have to impress those coaches."

Enright, whose own professional coaching career included two seasons as the offensive line coach of the World Football League's Southern California Sun and one season as the offensive line coach of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, noted that the best way a potential rookie can make an NFL team is not just to put effort into his play but also to volunteer for special teams units.

"That's exactly what he did," Enright said of Wallace. "He's doing all the right things."

The Dolphins' coaching staff even forgave Wallace, who had never previously blocked on punts, when one of the Dolphins' punts was blocked.

"It's an amazing story to me," Enright said. "We're very, very proud of him."