Temple University Athletics
Former Owl Tahir Whitehead Celebrated by Newark West Side Community
3.26.18 | Football
PHILADELPHIA - Tahir Whitehead's accomplishments as a football player over the years speak for themselves. As a former Linebacker for the Owls he was a second-team All-MAC performer during his senior year and a fourth round NFL draft pick of the Detroit Lions in 2012. He continued to excel on the NFL girdiron as he finished tied for ninth in tackles in 2016 with 132 and just signed a new three-year, 18-million dollar contract with the Oakland Raiders last month. It's what he continues to do off the field that keeps opening eyes though.
Whitehead has been known around the Newark West Side High community for some time as a big-hearted benefactor of youth sports in his hometown. The former member of the school's 2007 state championship football team sponsors a free Youth Annual Football Camp each summer to city youth grades K-12 and has purchased equipment for the high school's weight room.
On March 20th, Whitehead was honored by his high school for all that he has done for the community. It began, by renaming the West Side weight room the Tahir Whitehead Fitness Center and then awarding him with numerous proclamations from city, Newark Board of Education and Essex County sources before his No. 4 high school jersey was retired in front of a cheering student body at the West Side gymnasium.
Even though he now resides in the Atlanta area, Whitehead still makes routine visits to his old stomping ground to offer insights on education and teamwork to current Roughriders hoping to follow his path to success. He has always been this selfless on and off the field according to his high school football coach, Brian Logan, and to just about anyone else asked to comment on the football star Friday during Tahir Whitehead Day ceremonies at the West Side gym.
Whitehead thanks men like Logan for opening his eyes to the world and learning that he can make more of an impact off of the field.
"When I first got to high school and first met Coach Logan I saw how big of a heart he had," Whitehead said. "That motivated me to come back and give back seeing how much he did for the guys on the football team and the people in the community. Not only was he a police officer for 25-plus years, but he was dedicated to being an amazing human being, and that motivated me to emulate that."
Wealth, athletic success, and a beautiful family are examples of accomplishment's Whitehead has had during the course of his life. And it seems that each new measure of success in his life brings a moment to reflect on the lessons handed down by Logan and his staff at West Side.
"Coach Logan (who now is head coach at Weequahic) showed us all that community service is key. And not just by telling us and having us go around to help the less fortunate, but by his actions," Whitehead said. "Having young men who were struggling in their lives actually come live with him in his house with his family, that right there was big-time for me. This man taught us that giving back like that was always bigger than you personally.
"I made a promise to myself to do exactly the same thing. Help as many people as I can, while I can."
Whitehead showed his talent as a football player from an early age in his Pop Warner days, but always was somewhat in the shadow of older brother Quaheem Whitehead, a Newark Pop Warner legend and West Side star himself who graduated in 2006.
The older Whitehead was part of a squad that made the Roughrider a program to be reckoned with on the gridiron. Tahir, Anthony Baskervile, Jonathan Quallis, Carlos Cox and others advanced several steps further and brought championships back to Newark West Side.
But widespread notability was no guarantee for Tahir, who was considered a touch too small for linebacker and perhaps an academic risk by most colleges. He received exactly one scholarship offer, from Temple University.
"I've always been an underdog, always had a chip on my shoulder," Whitehead said. "It was my only offer, but it was an offer. I was gonna show everyone that I am good enough. I was gonna show them all that I could play at any school in the country."
"But it was a blessing in disguise. Going to Temple, I really felt appreciated there. They chose me and they could have given that scholarship to anyone else. I was grateful and went in there with the mentality that I'm gonna work my tail off and make sure I pay it back."
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