Cowboys rookie carries heart of a city onto the field each week

You can come from Nowhere, USA, and grow up to play on America’s Team.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from palatial Jerry World, with all its glitz and glamour, is a tiny Idaho hunting and whitewater-rafting town called Riggins, population 410. And one of those 410 is starring in a real-life movie they believe is the opening scene of The Legend of Leighton Vander Esch.

On NFL Sundays, he is the Wolf Hunter — a precocious 6-foot-4, 255-pound linebacker joyously hunting running backs instead of wolves in Dillingham, Alaska, with his father Darwin; hunting them so relentlessly (127 tackles) that he is making his case for Defensive Rookie of the Year on a resurgent Cowboys team that can clear a path to the NFC East title with a victory Sunday over the Eagles.

Already the wheels are in motion for T-shirts and hats that read “The Wolf Hunter” and “Fear The Wolf Hunter” and “LVE,” certain to captivate the growing army of Vander Esch hunters around Dallas and across Idaho when they become available Thursday on Vander Esch’s Instagram page.

“I would have never imagined that he would have made it to this level so fast,” Sandy Vander Esch told Serby Says by phone.

“I’ve gotta pinch myself every day because I feel like I’m the most blessed mom in the world.”

All over town — and certainly at the 75-seat River Rock Cafe, where owner Kim Olson laughingly claims to have helped a lanky Leighton beef up on breakfasts of chicken fried steak and eggs, English muffin, biscuits and gravy and the triple chuck chocolate brownie delight dessert — they celebrate their mountain boy’s unlikely rise from eight-man football to Salmon River High School two-time football and basketball champion to Boise State walk-on to No. 55, Dallas Cowboys.

“From Small Beginnings Come Great Things, that’s our district motto, and I think it’s perfect, ‘cause it’s true,” Olson said by phone.

Small beginnings …

“He was talking about it in school the one time,” Sandy recalled with a laugh, “and the one teacher said, ‘Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but you better have something else, a Plan B, because the chances of that happening are pretty slim to nothing.’ ”

When he wasn’t skeet shooting or running uphill chasing down turkeys, her boy would grow to be a big-armed quarterback and big-boned linebacker with a big chip on his shoulder. Salmon River Savage coach Charlie Shepherd recalled the signature moment that defined Leighton Vander Esch.

“His first state championship game, and we were tremendous underdogs against the defending state champions,” Shepherd said by phone. “He got hit and he already had a bum leg, and he came over to the sidelines, I called a timeout, and I asked him, ‘How you doing? Are you good to go?’

“‘Oh yeah, Coach, I’m good.’ He goes out there the very next play, scrambles for his life, and throws a 60-yard touchdown. And that’s the kind of competitor [he is], absolute will to win that he has, besides showing his toughness and being a team player. That’s everything as a coach you want in a player.”

Vander Esch’s receivers were Shepherd’s two sons. Little Charlie Shepherd had seen the essence of Leighton Vander Esch so many years earlier.

“We did everything we can to beat each other up to put that basketball in the hoop. And we weren’t gonna stop till someone won,” he said. “No one was ever gonna quit.”

And all that these years later, Little Charlie Shepherd is on Cloud 9 watching his friend’s amazing story from afar.

“I’m yelling at the TV every time he makes a play, like I’m in the stadium!” he said.

It isn’t any different for most everyone else in Riggins.

“Riggins is a place to come and heal,” Olson said. “It’s a place to come and have fun. Everybody who comes here would love to live here. It’s a small-knit community where everybody knows your name and your business, and sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes it isn’t! We as a community are able to literally move mountains. We make things happen because we are so dependent on each other, and we can make a difference in small and big ways because we’re so connected.”

Darwin Vander Esch was guiding cougar hunters in the mountains this week. He owns a guiding and outfitting business in Dillingham.

“We all knew he had it in him,” he told Serby Says by phone. “There’s a lot of kids that just need a chance. It’s been really rewarding to see it all come together.”

Leighton wanted to be a Cowboy, wanted to be mentored by Sean Lee and Jaylon Smith. Lee is poised to reclaim his starting weak side linebacker job, but Vander Esch will be part of the rotation.

“We just thought that Leighton could come into this organization and kind of be the new face of the franchise the way that [former tight end Jason] Witten had been, and Witten was walking out the door and Leighton’s walking in it,” agent Ron Slavin said by phone.

In Riggins, they are certain that success won’t change Leighton Vander Esch.

“Leighton’s a very good-hearted, all-American- type boy,” Darwin said. “He’s the type of son that every father dreams of having.

“Never really had to worry about him, whether in the public’s eye, he was gonna do the right thing. Got up in the morning, had to go to practice, go to lift weights, whatever, went to bed at night on time, wasn’t a kid that was worried about going out and partying. At the same time, with all the success he’s had in sports, he’s not one of those young men that’s arrogant about it. He’s just having fun playing the game.”

Life stands still in Riggins now when the Cowboys play.

“Sometimes, you know, life is a little slower in a small town, and when you got something like watching Leighton to look forward to every week, work is easier, relationships get easier. There’s parties every Sunday, people are getting together at their house and watching Leighton. Couldn’t ask for much more,” Little Charlie Shepherd said.

Leighton’s celebratory wolf howl has drawn rave reviews from fans and teammates.

“I wanted him to do it the week before,” Darwin said, and laughed. “When he stopped Adrian Peterson against the Washington Redskins, I just about did it myself.”

Sandy and Darwin will be at AT&T Stadium on Sunday. Darwin was asked to put into words what it is like to be in that stadium watching Leighton Vander Esch in No. 55 play for the Dallas Cowboys.

“It’s hard to even put in words what that’s like,” he began. “I can go real deep into that one. My grandfather comes from Holland in the early 1900s, and he wanted a boy to carry on the family name, and he got sick and was dying in the ’70s before my father had a son to carry on the family name here and a lot of the older cousins, I didn’t get to know them, but a lot of the older cousins all said that grandpa would be so proud. So knowing that the family name’s being represented … is pretty cool.”