“Worldwide Wes”

This GQ feature article on WILLIAM WESLEY, A.K.A. WORLDWIDE WES, may be of interest even to non-sports fans. How does a shadowy 46-year-old high school graduate become the first or second most powerful man in all of sports? (Nike CEO Phil Knight is said to be #1.)

I’ve fallen so far out of touch with American sports that I first heard of Worldwide Wes in a remarkable anecdote from the Bill Simmons column about this February’s NBA All-Star Game. Simmons was out drinking with a number of young NBA stars. The bar closed. One of the youngsters was frantically wondering where another bar might still remain open. That’s when Worldwide Wes stepped in with lines that belong in Hollywood rather than reality: “You can’t chase the night. Nothing good can happen now. All you can do is go home and sleep and hope tomorrow is a better day.” Simmons was in awe of that phrase “you can’t chase the night,” and so am I.

At any rate, Worldwide Wes sounds more fictional than real. He’s said to be currently brokering a LeBron James deal with the Chicago Bulls. He is a friend of Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton, and Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew. When an unnamed NBA player was in danger of being killed by the mob for bad gambling debts, it was Worldwide Wes who saved the player’s life by interceding with the mob. And then he just happened to be present in Detroit for the ugliest brawl in NBA history a few years ago, and saved Ron Artest from being pepper-sprayed by a cop in the audience. He’s everywhere.

You have to read it yourself to believe it.