INDUCTION INFORMATION: This is one in a series of features on Louisiana Tech's 2021 Hall of Fame Class. The induction ceremony will be held Friday, Oct. 7 inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court (was postponed in 2021). Tickets are still available to the event for $50 per ticket or $400 for a table of eight. They can be purchased HERE. For more information, contact Championship Resources assistant Tyler Ross at 318.497.7265 or at tross@latechalumni.org.
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Growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, Bryant Wesco wanted to be the next great basketball superstar.
 
But, instead of leaping for slam dunks, the five-time All-American is leaping into the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame this Friday as one of the most decorated Bulldog track and field athletes ever.
 
In the mid-90s, Wesco was one of a dozen or so seniors on a loaded basketball squad at Destrehan High School that made it all the way to the state playoffs (a rare feat up until that point for Destrehan).
 
Eight of those Fighting Wildcats went on to play sports on the collegiate level.  But none in basketball. 
 
There were your football athletes, baseball athletes, and then there were your track and field athletes … like Bryant.  
 
"Ultimately, I saw the light and transitioned to being a good track athlete," said Wesco. 
 
Good?  More like elite. (Keep reading for stats and accolades to back this up)
 
Even when he came on his official visit to LA Tech though, track and field head coach Gary Stanley said Bryant was still talking about basketball.
 
"We were in the Thomas Assembly Center, which is where our offices were at the time," said Stanley.  "We were standing on the edge of the court and Bryant asked, 'Do you think I'll be able to play basketball here?'  We told him to stand on the court and said, 'This will be the last time you stand on this court … unless you are playing against me.'"
 
Wesco and Stanley instantly had a bond … and that was the Big Easy. 
 
Stanley was a proud NOLA native himself, winning several cross country championships while at East Jefferson High School. 
 
"I was recruiting New Orleans pretty hard," said Stanley.  "I would tell him that LA Tech is on the quarter system so there are a lot of breaks to go back home.  It is not that far.  I'll blow by you on the interstate going to Mardi Gras myself."
 
"Coach Stanley knowing where I was from and knowing the dynamics, him seeing me as an athlete in high school and having the foresight to see that this kid is just getting started, he took a chance on this raw piece of clay," said Wesco.
 
Track was the family sport.  If you were a Wesco, you ran track. 
 
And they were all sprinters.  Problem was, Wesco was never the fastest.
 
"I was super competitive and hated to lose," said Wesco.  "Every time I stepped on the track in high school, if I am running the 100, I am getting beat by three seconds.
 
"I had a buddy of mine who was a triple jumper, and at the track meets when I was getting my head bashed in on the sprints, I would go hang out with him as he was jumping.  One day, we were waiting for his event to start and they asked me what my name was.  I was just there to watch, but they wrote my name down to compete."
 
That was the first time Wesco ever jumped at a track and field meet.  He won.
 
"He was a gifted athlete and a ferocious competitor," said Stanley about the 6-foot-4-inch leaper.  "He would do all three jump events for us, vertical and horizontal.  He was worth 25 points at a conference meet in a conference championship where the winning score was 90 or 100 points."
 
(Here come the stats and accolades referred to earlier)

• Jan. 24, 1997 (Baton Rouge) – In the second event of the indoor season, Wesco shattered the previous program record by over two-and-a-half feet at 53 feet, 10 and one half inches.
• Feb. 24, 1997 (Jonesboro, Ark.) – At the Sun Belt Indoor Championships, Wesco was named Outstanding Meet Performer after winning gold in the long jump (24-3.75) and triple jump (52-7.50).

"The Sun Belt Conference was a very good track conference," said Stanley.  "You had multiple All-Americans.  Bryant was the man that day, on that weekend.  You have 10 other meets a year, but there is one thing on that weekend that everybody tries to win.  And he won two."

• March 8, 1997 (Indianapolis, Ind.) – Wesco finished runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a leap of 53 feet, 5 and one-half inches in the triple jump.

"Up until that point, I had never competed in front of thousands of people before," said Wesco about jumping inside the RCA Dome, a giant, cavernous building that is no longer standing.  "The energy in that building helped to charge me up and give me that extra boast to go out there and represent Louisiana Tech. 
 
"There was a jumper there who was head and shoulders ahead of the rest.  A multi-time Olympian.  I took on that challenge.  My second jump got better.  And then my third one, I stretched it out as best as I possibly could.  It took me from being in fifth or sixth up to second."

• March 15, 1997 (Baton Rouge) – One week after finishing second at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Wesco set another program record with a mark of 53 feet, 9 and 3/4 inches in the outdoor triple jump.
• May 11, 1997 (New Orleans) – In his hometown, Wesco was again named SBC Outstanding Meet Performer after claiming gold in the long jump (24-0.50) and triple jump (53-1).
• June 7, 1997 (Bloomington, Ind.) – Wesco picked up another All-American honor by coming in fourth in the triple jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a mark of 53 feet, 3 and 3/4 inches.

This was all just his sophomore year.
 
Wesco ended up being a five-time All-American – 1997 indoor and outdoor, 1998 outdoor, 1999 indoor, and 2000 outdoor – which is the second most in program history.  He was a 16-time All-Conference performer, an 11-time Sun Belt Conference champion and a four-time SBC Most Outstanding Meet Performer.     
 
To this day, he still owns the LA Tech record in the indoor and outdoor triple jump.  As well as the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth best.
 
Of all of his accomplishments though, his favorite was not that of a particular long jump or triple jump.  It was helping the Bulldogs win the team title at the 1999 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championship.
 
"I had a ton of individual success, but that was the first time we as a team achieved that crowning glory of being conference champions," said Wesco.  "It was one of those scenarios where you had to scratch and claw for every point."
 
Wesco earned 26 of LA Tech's 111 points, besting Western Kentucky by seven to claim the program's first conference title since 1990. 
 
"I still have a Polaroid picture of me with tears in my eyes, holding a handful of sand that I pulled from the sandpit after winning that title," said Wesco.  "That was more enjoyable for me as an athlete than when I was in Indianapolis at Nationals."
 
"Everybody sees the conference titles and the All-Americans, but to me I saw him as a team guy, which was rare," said Stanley.  "Being a team guy was who he was as a person.  He was so instrumental in our success.  A first-class individual who I was so lucky to have had at Louisiana Tech."
 
Living now in Midlothian, Texas, just south of Dallas, a 318 area code number popped up on his phone in late spring of 2021.  The "call that came out of left field" was the call to the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame.  
 
"I was completely speechless," said Wesco about his call from LA Tech Director of Athletics Dr. Eric A. Wood.  "The moment took me to a place of pure joy.  I brought back a flood of memories of my time in Ruston, my time with my teammates.  I loved jumping up and jumping out.  I enjoyed playing in the sand.  That was just a part of who I was way back and is who I am today."