‘Big Daddy’ at 50: Remembering the larger-than-life football career of Dunbar’s Dan Wilkinson

Former NFL football player Daniel Wilkinson was born 50 years ago in Dayton on March 13, 1973.

He was one of 11 children to parents Oliver and Veronda Wilkinson. His father played basketball at Dunbar, but later suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure. He died of a heart attack when Dan was 14.

Wilkinson jumped on the football scene as a 15-year-old sophomore at Dunbar High School. At that point he was already a 6-foot-3-inch, 300-pound starter on the varsity squad.

But the nickname came before that. As a seventh-grader, he was 6-feet-2 and 270 pounds. A football coach at the time started calling him “Big Daddy.”

Wilkinson was a tackle on both sides of the field and quickly became an impact player to watch. In November of 1988 he earned Dayton Daily News Athlete of the Week honors.

His high school coach, Tom Montgomery, said at the time, “A lot of people see Big Daddy and think he’s fat. Believe me, this is no fat kid. He has some upper-body strength, and he can move. He can put’em up and lay’em down.”

Wilkinson was a quiet young man who let his shoulder pads do the talking. “I keep quiet and make sure I do my job,” he said, “I want to play under control and stay away from stupid penalties.”

By the time Wilkinson arrived at Ohio State, he was 6-foot-5 and 350 pounds. He wanted to play defense, but coaches were unsure, due to his weight. There was some thought that he could play offensive tackle, but the team already had a strong veteran group. When he didn’t lose enough weight in time to start the season, coaches said he wasn’t going to play, and he was redshirted.

Wilkinson lost 40 pound to start his first season at Ohio State and became the team weight-lifting champion, pressing 455 pounds.

As a redshirt freshman, still just 19, Wilkinson was second on the team with 10.5 tackles for losses and led the team with 6.5 quarterback sacks. He won first-team All-Big Ten honors.

More nicknames followed, “World,” “Planet X” and “Food World,” among others.

During his sophomore year, Wilkinson was named first-team All-American.

It wasn’t a big surprise when after his sophomore year, he announced that he would turn professional and enter the 1994 NFL draft.

ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. predicted Wilkinson would be taken No. 1 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals, which is what happened. He signed a six-year, $14.4 million contract, becoming the highest paid player in Bengals franchise history at that time.