Meet Your Coach The Early Years

Written by Brenda Edson

Once described by a Washington Post columnist as “distressingly buff,” the 35-year-old discovered his talent and passion for fitness in middle school when his parents bought him a concrete weight set from Sears.

A husky, but athletic child, he started lifting regularly to find a quiet but effective solution for the older kids that bullied him. Soon, he saw his body transform.

 

“My new size and strength created a sense of respect from my peers, and that was a reward in itself,” O’Malley said.

“It filled me with the self esteem that I was lacking and that became the key to my new path.”

At 15, he began working at a local gym, helping customers learn the equipment. He excelled on the football field in high school, but an injury kept him from competing at the Virginia All-Star Game where he hoped to be recruited by top colleges.

“All I wanted to do was play football,” he said. “But I wasn’t recruited by the larger schools because of my height.”

With scholarship offers under his belt from a few smaller division schools, O’Malley decided to take a chance.

“If I was going to play college football, I had it in my head that I was going to play big time,” he said. “My new size and strength created a sense of respect from my peers, and that was a reward in itself,” O’Malley said. “It filled me with the self esteem that I was lacking and that became the key to my new path.”

The gamble eventually paid off. He accepted a walk-on spot at the University of Mississippi, but soon learned the odds weren’t stacked in his favor. He was one of the most undersized players at his position, and he quickly realized how rare walk-ons received a chance to play, much less start.

“There were 89 walk-on players the first week of summer drills,” O’Malley said. “By the second week there were less than 20, and by the time I graduated only a handful ever saw the field.”

O’Malley pushed himself and soon earned the respect of his teammates and coaches. He became the shortest starting nose guard in the nation for Division I football and remained so for three years – despite the fact that he was almost a half a foot shorter than the average height for players in his position.

By pushing himself in the weight room, O’Malley became stronger, faster and quicker than his opponents. In his freshman year at Ole Miss, Sean earned the title of Iron Rebel, an award given to the top athletes for achieving the minimums of five out of seven athletic events. By his junior year, Sean became the only player in Ole Miss history to not only achieve the minimums of each of the seven events, but to blast past them for three consecutive years earning him the title of the King of Iron Rebel.

O’Malley’s strength and conditioning coach in college once said O’Malley was on a mission to prove that this height wasn’t a factor.

“He figures if he puts the guys on their backs, he’s going to be taller than them anyway,” the coach said.

Lorenzo “Herkey” Cantu, was a sophomore when O’Malley joined the team. As an offensive lineman, he and O’Malley went to head to head everyday, but they also developed a deep friendship.

“Sean’s not the biggest fellow in the world as far as height,” said Cantu, who now owns an investment company in Tennessee. “But he carries himself in such a way that you can’t help but notice him. And I thought, here’s a guy that I can respect because of his work ethic and because of his ability. But I also respected him because of his honesty and because of his loyalty to his friends.”

 

His teammates remember how frustrated O’Malley became when he was turned down for an athletic scholarship.

“About a year after the coach told him no, he turned into a scholarship player,” said Wesley Melton, who now owns a residential development business in Alabama. “There was so much adversity to overcome. But he stuck to his guns and did not take no for an answer. He just kept grinding it out, and basically, he controlled his own destiny.”

Not only did O’Malley earn a full athletic scholarship, he was also selected to the All-South Eastern Conference team before breaking his leg during a game. An exercise physiology major, O’Malley’s talent off and on the field earned him a place on the All SEC Academic Team as well as the Dean’s Honor Roll.

 

 

 

 “Once Sean makes up his mind that he wants to accomplish something, he will see it through,” Melton added. “He’s never been afraid of a challenge.”

The Story Continues