From Deseret News archives:
Provo's Wesley is last in line
So his parents, for athletic and academic reasons, sent him to Utah to live with a close family friend — Provo High assistant basketball coach Keli Lobendahn.
"That's how it all started," Lobendahn said.
The "it" that Lobendahn was referring to is the 11-year stretch where at least one member of the Hiagi and Susan Wesley family has suited up in a Provo High basketball uniform. The big, tall freshman-to-be was Mekeli Wesley.
"If Mekeli had stayed in Guam he would have ended up playing volleyball, not basketball," Susan Wesley said.
Mekeli was the first of five Wesley boys to star for the Bulldogs. That decade-plus era, however, is about to come to an end.
When Tai Wesley, the youngest of the five, laces up his gymmers Tuesday night and takes the court in Provo's Region 6 finale, it will be the last time that a Wesley boy plays on the Provo High hardwood. There are no more basketball-playing Wesleys left in the pipeline — only a seventh-grade sister and a brother who doesn't play hoops.
"It's going to be sad," Susan Wesley said, wiping away a tear when asked how she'll feel watching a son introduced to the Provo High crowd for the final time.
When Mekeli arrived at Provo High in 1993 he was raw in basketball skills and the Provo coaches didn't really know if he'd ever play for them.
"Do you know how many times I've had someone tell me that we've got a 6-foot-6 freshman coming in?" head coach Craig Drury said. "That didn't mean anything to me."
But Mekeli blossomed quickly and contributed heavily to the Bulldogs' two state championships in 1994-95 and 1996-97. He was an all-state player and probably Utah's best prep player his senior season. He went on to star at Brigham Young University and now plays professional ball in Belgium.
When Hiagi and Susan, who met at BYU, saw the benefits of having their oldest son attend school in Provo, they decided the rest of the family needed to get over here. They were finally able to make the move in 1996, right before Mekeli's senior season, when Hiagi landed an administrative job with the Granite School District.
"We were missing out on all the things he was accomplishing and it was hard being over there and not being part of it," Susan said.
Hiagi and Susan haven't missed any games since. Russell Wesley was next in line and played for the Bulldogs for two seasons, winning a state crown in 1998 and graduating in 1999. He's now one of the first reserves off the bench for Utah Valley State College.
