Brent Wilkinson

"Brent's been our mentor--his style is leadership by example."--Crimson cornerback Lee Oldenburg.

"He's led by example.--cornerback Ken Tarczy.

"What everyone says about him is really true -- he's a leader by example."--linebacker Kevin Dulsky.

Call him Brent "Leader By Example" Wilkinson. Call him Harvard football captain. Call him up for dinner sometime--he's a nice guy.

But don't call your tight end's number when Wilkinson is patroling the secondary.

Right, Jim Crocicchia?

Harvard was beating Penn, 3-0, with three minutes remaining in the first half last Saturday in the Stadium when Quaker quarterback Crocicchia dropped back and planted his feet in the muddy turf of his own 30-yd. line.

The Penn signalcaller scanned the Crimson defense before spotting his 6-ft., 3-in. tight end, Brent Novoselsky, cutting across the middle of the field.

Crocicchia cocked his arm and fired.

Two giants--one in white and the other in crimson--dove for the fluttering pass as 18,000 frigid fans lept to their feet.

When the two came down to earth, one had the ball and the other lay sprawled in the slop at midfield.

Even those in the upper reaches of the Stadium could see the grin beneath Wilkinson's facemask as he cradled the pigskin at the Penn 47.

The clutch interception set up split end Joe Connolly's scamper around left end two minutes later that--with kicker Rob Steinberg's extra point--put the Crimson up 10-0 at halftime.

Wilkinson's swipe--the 17th interception for the Crimson this year--gave Harvard just the spark it needed to pull away from Penn and take home a 17-6 victory and a share of first place in the Ivy League.

The leader had taken charge.

Again.

"Brent always makes the big plays," Oldenburg says.

Harvard (7-2 overall, 5-1 Ivy) need only beat Yale Saturday in New Haven, Conn., to claim a part of the Ancient Eight title that has eluded it since 1983.

And if the defense--led by linebacker Wilkinson--plays like it has for the previous nine games, that shouldn't be a problem.

"We're going to try to put together the perfect game Saturday," Wilkinson says. "And go out with a spark of glory."

The Yale game will mark the end of Wilkinson's outstanding college career.

Is there life after football for the two-year letterman?

For Wilkinson, who prides himself on his scholastic--as well as gridiron--record, there certainly is.

After the football season, he'll wrap up his career at Harvard with an economics degree. And next fall, if all goes well, he'll enroll in the Harvard Business School.

But after that, he's not certain just what he'll do.

"Ideally, I'd like to get into managing, consulting or banking," Wilkinson says.

Wilkinson, not Washington

Wilkinson--a Mt. Vernon, Ohio native--learned to play football as an eight-year-old living in Texas where his father, a pilot in the Air Force, was stationed.

"One day my father came in and said, 'How would you like to play football for Mr. Leffingwell [a neigh, bor]?'" Wilkinson says. "I'd never played before but I said, 'Sure.'"

Wilkinson's four-year stay in Texas taught him a great deal about the game he would play magnificently in later years at Mt. Vernon High School and at Harvard.

"Football is like a religion down there," Wilkinson says. "They even have stadiums for little league games."

While his 6-ft., 2-in., 205-lb. frame is ideal for a linebacker, Wilkinson didn't always Lover behind the big boys on the defensive line. In fact, Wilkinson once slugged it out in the trenches himself.

"I used to be short and stocky," Wilkinson says. "So I played lineman."

Wilkinson leads the Harvard squad in tackles. But he doesn't see that accomplishment as anything special. Indeed, Wilkinson is extraordinarily modest about his role on the team, seeing himself as "just one of 115 guys."

But if Wilkinson doesn't recognize his importance, his teammates certainly do.

"I think he's done an excellent job," Dulsky says. "He keeps control of his own emotions and keeps everyone else emotionally up."

Before the season started, many gridiron pundits predicted Harvard would finish third or fourth in the Ivy League. But Wilkinson saw something in the team that others didn't.

"Nobody knew what I knew," Wilkinson says. "Just seeing the guys and the look in their eyes--I knew we had a legitimate chance at the Ivy title."

To snag a share of its first Ancient Eight crown since 1983, Harvard must knock off Yale in The Game.

The 102nd meeting of the two ancient rivals has special meaning for Wilkinson.

Last year, the Crimson dropped a 30-27 decision to the Bulldogs in the Stadium.

While Wilkinson doesn't like to talk about revenge, he certainly remembers the disappointment of last season.

"I remember what it was like to stand on the sidelines with the clock ticking down to 0:00, knowing that you're losing," Wilkinson says. "And when I was lifting weights this summer and spring, I was thinking about that Yale game."

Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's contest, however, Wilkinson will end his career on a high note. After all, he is one of only 112 ever to be captain of the Harvard football team.

"It's been like a one year pageant for me," Wilkinson says.

A pageant that may end with an Ivy crowning.

Tomorrow: Yale's Captain