This feature appeared in the Arizona Daily Sun in October 2004.

Silliness is his strength

By Ed Odeven

“A day without laughter is a day wasted,” — Caius Valerius Catullus

Those words of wisdom were written centuries ago, so it’s safe to suggest that the Roman poet didn’t have Aaron Walls in mind when he jotted them down.

Even so, it appears that Walls, a Northern Arizona senior tight end, believes those words were written just for him.

Humor is Walls’ shtick.

Give him a microphone and he’ll start singing.

Give him an audience, like his football teammates on a bus, and he’ll become the center of attention.

“There are times to be serious, and there are other times when people need to not be serious,” Walls says.

“A lot of the time I like to be smiling, get other people to smile and goof off. It just seems to make practice easier and the whole football process easier.”

COMIC TIMING

Day after day, Walls, a special education/elementary education major, shows up to practice at NAU’s East Fields and teammates, coaches, trainers, the equipment manager — heck, everyone there — know what to expect: They expect to see Walls doing something that’ll make ’em laugh.

Take, for instance, the way he turns making a simple catch into a funny moment.

“That’s just the way he is,” NAU offensive coordinator Charlie Hall says. “He’ll catch a pass in practice and he’ll sprint down the sideline full speed and he’ll just run like the Tin Man (from “Wizard of Oz”).

A guy tells Hall that senior tight end Josh Hamlin refers to Walls as “The Funny Man.”

“No, he’s the Tin Man,” Hall responds.

“He’s a little tight and stiff in the way he moves around.”

Which doesn’t mean Walls has the comic timing of, say, an ultra-serious accountant.

“He’s very spontaneous with it, but when he gets on a roll (he’s hilarious),” says Mike Nesbitt, NAU’s longtime athletic trainer. “His humor, it’s just Aaron Walls. There’s no other way to say it.

“You just have to know Walls to know his humor, but he’s always been that way. All five years he’s been that way — very spontaneous, very quick-witted.

“He’s always good at (impersonating) coaches. He’ll pick out a coach and he’ll be humorous with them.”

Walls also enjoys poking fun at teammates, especially defensive tackle Greg Wermes, another fifth-year senior.

“I’ve known him since I got here and he’s just been the easiest person to make fun of,” Walls says. “He takes it good.”

Perhaps Walls’ most popular impersonations have been of Nesbitt. Lumberjack players crack up when this is mentioned.

One of Walls’ better-known exhibitions of mimicry is pretending he’s Nesbitt on the telephone.

“The way Nes answers the phone, he’s got it down so perfect,” Hamlin says, staying serious for a few seconds before erupting into laughter. “He just gives this screeching hello real loud.”

Nesbitt isn’t offended at all. In fact, he encourages Walls’ type of fun-loving behavior.

“He’s one of those guys you really like in your locker room because he does keep a certain even-keel that when things are real tight, well, you always know you’ve got Walls to put things in perspective,” Nesbitt says.

Or as freshman receiver Kory Mahr says, “He’s the funniest guy I know. He can always make you smile. My locker happens to be right next to his, so I get it just about every day.”

THE AARON WALLS SHOW

Every preseason at the team’s freshmen talent show, Walls is the master of ceremonies (and laughs).

This is when he’s at his best.

Legendary “Saturday Night Live” cast members Dana Carvey, Chevy Chase and Eddie Murphy amused millions with their impersonations and antics over the years; Walls’ audience is smaller, but the result is the same.

“He’s definitely got his own style,” senior defensive end John Perrigo says. “He doesn’t try to be anyone else. That’s all he has to be and everyone just laughs at it,” including Perrigo. “He makes fun of me, just the way I talk, and he does a pretty good job.”

Walls also specializes in doing parodies of ’80s rock bands, wearing a mullet wig and getting the body mannerisms and singing style of the artists down to an exact science.

His best-known singing impersonation is of Poison’s “Every Rose Has A Thorn.”

“He stands up there with a lighter on the table,” Perrigo says. “It’s something that you just have to see.”

“If there’s a mike around, watch out,” adds Lumberjacks coach Jerome Souers with a straight face. “He’ll take over.”

Then there was the memorable occasion a few years ago during the athletic department’s walkathon when Walls showed up wearing Perrigo’s old wrestling singlet, which was way too small for both of them.

“It was probably up on his upper thighs and it was skin tight,” Perrigo says, adding that some photos of Walls’ escapade were taken. “He had a head band on and everything and it was real funny. But (former tight ends) coach (Mike) Orthmann made him take it off, so not many people got to see it.”

During road trips, Walls helps the team pass the time with a mike in his hand. For example, after the Lumberjacks played Sam Houston State last year in Huntsville, Texas, the team had a two-hour ride to the Houston airport.

It wasn’t a long, boring trip. Not with Walls on the bus.

“When we won last year against Sam Houston, we just said, ‘Walls, you’ve got the mike.’ He had us rolling (with laughter),” Hall says.

It was a similar scene on the team’s bus ride to the airport in Lake Charles, La., after NAU shocked No. 1 McNeese State, 35-3, in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs last November.

“That was just about 15 minutes of total laughter,” Nesbitt says, with a rip-roaring cackle.

To be sure, Walls, who says he loves watching Jim Carrey movies, isn’t known just for his comic abilities. His adaptability and hard-work ethic are also commendable attributes.

A 2000 graduate of Peoria Sunrise Mountain High School, he received interest from Air Force, California and Nevada before signing with NAU. He was recruited as a tight end, but has moved around from tight end, to defensive line, offensive tackle and back to tight end during his time in Flagstaff.

He’s never complained about being switched all over the gridiron, according to Souers.

Walls, the first Sunrise Mountain student-athlete to sign a letter of intent with a Division I school, relished making the move back to tight end late last season.

“It just felt right. I didn’t want to play anywhere else,” he says.

In last Saturday’s 45-14 defeat at Eastern Washington, Walls made a terrific, two-handed 10-yard touchdown grab in double coverage in the second quarter. That pulled the Jacks to within 21-7 with 10:29 to go before halftime.

“For him, it was the top play he’s ever made in this program,” Hall says of the player whose 5-yard TD reception at Stephen F. Austin in Week 2 this season forced overtime.

Sure, he’ll laugh a lot, and make others laugh in the process, but when the football is booted off the tee to signal the start of a new game, Walls puts his game face on.

“I’m pretty serious during the game and I really don’t know anybody on the other team,” Walls says. “So I don’t really have anything to make fun of them about.”

And that’s no laughing matter.