By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

HICKORY  — The announcement that Salisbury High graduate Isaiah “Ike” Whitaker was going to be inducted into the Lenoir-Rhyne Sports Hall of Fame came last July and ceremonies were held in September.

So it’s all had a little time to sink in, but Whitaker, maybe the most humble two-time All-America fullback of all-time, still can hardly believe it happened.

“Well, I’m 5-foot-7 on a good day and 5-foot-6 on the others,” Whitaker said with a laugh. “So I never imagined being in a Hall of Fame, of being an All-America, things like that. I was just hoping to be good enough to get on the field.”

Playing for coach Joe Pinyan’s Salisbury Hornets in an era when they were exceptionally talented helped mold Whitaker because it humbled him.

“Freshman year, I played jayvee,” he said. “Sophomore year, I was the backup fullback. I played behind Robbie Pulliam and was grateful to be backing him up. I looked up to him.”

As a junior, Whitaker was the starting fullback and punched out 646 yards on 89 carries but was still the fourth option in a backfield that included quarterback John Knox and halfbacks Dario Hamilton and AJ Ford. As a senior in the 2008 season, Whitaker had 166 carries for 861 yards and 10 TDs, while sharing carries with some all-time backs for the Hornets — Knox, Romar Morris and Dominique Dismuke.

“John Knox was as talented as any quarterback I ever played with,”  Whitaker said. “Man, I wish we could have gotten John to come play at L-R. I always felt like I was the least talented person in Salisbury’s backfield. But that was a good thing. That meant I had to prove myself every single day. That puts a chip on your shoulder.”

Salisbury’s 2009 season ended in the fourth round of the 2AA playoffs with a 17-10 overtime loss at Newton-Conover. That was Whitaker’s last high school game. Lenoir-Rhyne head coach Fred Goldsmith made the short trip from Hickory to watch that battle. Goldsmith loved the over-achievers. The Hornet that caught his eye was Whitaker.

“Coach Goldsmith called me and said he liked the way I blocked,” Whitaker said.

That phone call led to Whitaker playing college football for Lenoir-Rhyne. He would be greater than anyone could have imagined. He would rush for 2,700 yards on 562 attempts for the Bears. He would make All-South Atlantic Conference three times and All-America twice.

Despite his limited stature, Whitaker was powerful and quick. As a Salisbury senior, he finished second at 189 pounds in the 2A wrestling state championships.

As a newcomer at Lenoir-Rhyne, Whitaker was starting over from the bottom. He redshirted in 2010 and played on the scout team. He was certain he was the least gifted back on the roster. He definitely was the shortest. He learned a lot from LeQuan McCorkle, an all-region fullback. He hit the weight room hard. He always had been strong, but he got even stouter, and with his low center of gravity, he became very difficult to bring down.

L-R defensive coordinator Mike Houston was elevated to head coach in the spring of 2011 and instilled a different level of toughness in the Bears. who had not won a SAC championship since 1994.

“I can remember being on the field at 5:45 a.m. wind blowing, 27 degrees, we’re doing Oklahoma drills, that ground is hard as concrete, and we’re wondering if we’re all crazy,” Whitaker said. “But getting physically and mentally tougher made the difference for us. We were a bunch of undersized and under-recruited guys, but those practices brought us together. We built a winning culture. A lot of times we beat teams that were more talented than we were. That fourth quarter would come around, and our opponents would have their hands on their knees, and we knew we had them. Newberry would send guys to the pros every year, but we’d beat them.

Houston made sure to remind Whitaker before every season that there were bigger and faster guys on the roster eager to take his starting spot. Whitaker knew that speech by heart. He knew it was coming before every season. He didn’t take it personally. He knew Houston was motivating him. Houston wanted him to keep that chip on his shoulder that he’d come to Hickory with. Whitaker was as relentless as his coach. He kept producing.

Houston’s offensive philosophy wasn’t complicated. The Bears were a triple-option team that relied on flawless execution. They were going to run the ball and then they were going to run it some more. They would shatter records in 2013 with 5,563 rushing yards.

“I always felt like I drew the good straw,” Whitaker said. “I played in a system where I had the best chance to be successful.”

Houston employed Whitaker as the spearpoint for that unstoppable running attack. The Bears would begin games with Whitaker hammering the ball at the defense on dive plays. The Bears would establish the inside run first. Then they would steadily work their way out to the wings.

“My job always was to take the first hit,” Whitaker said. “Up the middle for 2 or 3 yards. We’d keep doing that and we would force the linebackers and defensive ends to start pinching toward the middle. We worked inside-out. I’d hit them for 3 yards, 4 yards, 5 yards. And then we’d pitch it.”

As a redshirt freshman in 2011, Whitaker had 87 rushing yards in the game at Catawba.

All-SAC in 2011, 2012 and 2013, Whitaker was an All-America in 2012 and 2013. Lenoir-Rhyne won three straight SAC titles and reached the national championship game in Division II in 2013.

When Whitaker was inducted into the Lenoir-Rhyne Hall of Fame, the 2013 national runner-up squad was also inducted as a team of distinction, so many of his former teammates got to share in the occasion. Those teammates, especially his backfield mates, are still some of his best friends.

While Whitaker always seemed to play well against Catawba, his favorite memory wasn’t from a game with the Indians.

“I got a lot stronger in my faith while I was at Lenoir-Rhyne,” Whitaker said. “The guys in the backfield kind of had to drag me to my first Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting, but after a while I realized I needed that in my life. I made a commitment to Christ, and I remember the next game I played was the worst of my career. I had like 5 carries for 2 yards against North Greenville, and I was thinking maybe I’d messed up. But my teammates had my back. Our next game was against Newberry and it was the best one of my career. I scored three touchdowns and had 177 yards on 32 carries. The memory of those two games coming back-to-back like that — the low and the high — still are very meaningful for me. Faith has been impactful to my life ever since.”

Houston moved on to Division I prior to the 2014 season. Mike Kellar replaced him, and the Bears had another great season in 2014, although Whitaker tore up his knee that season, and he could see the culture was relaxing in Hickory.

“I remember this practice in 2014 and it started raining, no lightning in the area, just a little rain, and we packed up and headed inside,” Whitaker said. “We just looked at each other. We knew things were different.”

Whitaker graduated in 2014. He got married a few months later to a Salisbury girl that he met while they wore working at the Subway near Catawba College.

“My wife transferred to Lenoir-Rhyne to finish college, so she’s also a Bear,” Whitaker said.

Their three children are ages 9, 5 and 2. Whitaker, who works as a senior operations manager for Target Corporation Global Supply Chain, says the 5-year-old is a future wrestler and fullback. Maybe he’ll be a Bear.

Whitaker is still a Division II football fan. As he watched the 2023 national championship game he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Harding University in Arkansas won,” he said. “They ran the triple option and won it all. That was fun to watch. It brought back great memories.”