“Hometown Hall-of-Famer” Roger Wehrli says it’s not about the players. It’s about the schools where they learned to play football. Wehrli should know. He’s a five time All-Pro defensive back for the St Louis Cardinals and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Wehrli got his start at King City High School, playing for Coach Dick Flanagan. At a ceremony Thursday morning, Mr Wehrli will be part of a ceremony honoring the school as part of Ford Motor Company’s “Home Town Hall-of-Famer” program.

“We’ve already received the honors, we’ve been inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Wehrli says in an interview. “This program is about the high schools that gave us our start, and giving something back to them, so they can have something there at the school, and a plaque that the kids can look at as they’re coming through school.”

“Hopefully it will remind them of what can be achieved. If they’ll just put their mind to it and give themselves a good work ethic, do their best in school, there’s no telling what they can achieve later in life.”

Wehrli says he was not expecting to continue playing football after high school.

“I played all the sports in high school, and really, expected to probably play basketball,” Wehrli says. A good showing at the state track meet during his senior year may have sealed the deal.

“At the end of my senior year of high school, I got some offers about football, but I wasn’t highly recruited at all. Mizzou gave me one of the last scholarships that were available.”

Wehrli made a name for himself fairly quickly at Mizzou. He started as a sophomore, and was drafted by the St Louis Cardinals. He was selected to the NFL’s Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2007.

Wehrli will be on hand to honor King City High School at a ceremony Thursday, at 10 a.m., at the school (300 North Grand Ave. in King City).

The ceremony could very likely be featured in a Ford commercial during a future NFL broadcast.