The Cheeks
From father to son, one offensive line tradition
By Ivy Robinson ’20
Louis Cheek ’87 can still picture the day scouts arrived at football practice during his junior year of high school.
At the time, football had become one of his greatest passions, but the 6-foot-6 All-American kid had yet to contemplate playing at the next level. In fact, the possibility of earning a football scholarship had not even crossed his mind.
“I was oblivious,” he said with a chuckle. “I wasn’t even thinking about it.”
Louis had strong ambitions to attend college, though he had never considered the student-athlete path that could take him there. Growing up in the small Texas town of Fairfield, he heard countless stories from local former students about Texas A&M’s rich traditions and core values. Their character and influence left a strong impression on Louis, who was also involved in 4-H, FFA and rodeo.
Aggieland quickly became a place that captured his attention.
“It was an agricultural school,” Louis said. “I had a friend take me to a game when I was in the seventh grade, and I was hooked.
“I watched A&M play Rice. I saw Tony Franklin put kickoffs through the goalposts. Those moments stuck with me. Early on, I figured out that’s the place for me.”
During his senior year of high school, Louis received phone calls and letters with opportunities to play football in college and was recruited by nearly every Southwest Conference school. He verbally committed to legendary head coach Jackie Sherrill and never looked back.
Still, one chance encounter nearly told a different story.
In the fall of 1982, when A&M had a bye week, Arkansas was preparing to play Baylor in Waco. Grant Teaff, the Bears’ head coach at the time, invited Louis to attend the game.
“You look back and realize how powerful that scholarship was in helping catapult my life and the successes that I’ve had.”
“I told them, ‘You know I’m not going to come here. I’m going to A&M. I have given my word, and I’m committed,’” Louis recalled.
Baylor insisted, and Louis agreed to make the trip down U.S. Highway 84. After the game, the Bears’ recruiting coordinator escorted him from the stands to the team locker room.
Then came a surprise encounter with Coach Sherrill.
“We were standing outside the locker room door, and Jackie walks up in his suit and tie,” Louis said. “He had this big grin on his face. I told him, ‘Coach, I promise I’m coming to you!’ It was a pretty intimidating moment in my life, for sure.”
Looking back now, Louis finds humor in the unexpected interaction. In the end, it all worked out. The Aggies landed their offensive lineman, and Louis earned the opportunity to attend his dream school, becoming the first person in his family to go to college.
“My phone was ringing that Sunday night,” he said with a laugh. “I assured Coach Curley Hallman, who recruited me, that I was still committed to A&M 100 percent.”
Committed he was, developing into a two-time All-Southwest Conference left tackle for Aggie Football and helping the maroon and white secure three-straight Southwest Conference championships from 1985-87.
That success, however, did not come without adversity. During his first season at A&M, Louis was on the scout team. Many practices involved matching up against the Aggies’ top defensive linemen.
“I was green and immature physically,” Louis said. “I had a lot of strength to catch up to. I did everything I could to catch up. I never quit.”
The grit ingrained in his DNA pushed him forward. He continued working for the day his name might finally be called. That opportunity came in 1984 when starting left tackle Ken Reeves injured his knee, thrusting Louis into the lineup.
“That experience showed me I could do the job,” he said. “It motivated me to work that much harder, and the coaches saw a future in me. I came back the next year and started the rest of my tenure there.”
His time in Aggieland helped pave the way for an NFL career with the Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. Following the NFL, Louis remained committed to finishing his agricultural economics degree at A&M and launched a successful career in the transportation industry, where he has worked for more than 30 years.
From a 3A high school to three conference championships and three decades of professional success, Louis is grateful for the opportunity that led to it all.
“You look back and realize how powerful that scholarship was in helping catapult my life and the successes that I’ve had,” he said.
Not only did Louis’ time on the gridiron shape his future, but it also inspired his son, Joseph ’15, to continue the family football legacy at A&M. Like his father, Joseph fell in love with the game at a young age and dreamed of one day becoming an Aggie.
“He was a lot of fun to raise,” Louis said. “He was all in, and he was a serious player. I knew if he stayed with it and kept working, he had a chance to play college football.”
Joseph, however, had a different perspective on the recruiting process as a 5A All-State and U.S. Army All-American offensive lineman at Seguin High School. As a kid, he made countless trips to Kyle Field for Aggie gamedays and saw firsthand the possibilities that awaited in Aggieland.
Most importantly, Joseph saw the impact being a student-athlete had on his father’s life — and it sparked a dream of his own.
“Growing up in a football family, my dad was always my biggest hero,” Joseph said. “Looking up to his experiences, hearing his stories and knowing his friends and teammates who are still very close to our family, I think that was one reason it was always a huge goal of mine to play football as far as I could.”
Texas A&M was the first school to recruit Joseph on a personal level after he attended an Aggie Football summer camp during his sophomore year of high school. Other offers followed, but his focus remained on A&M.
“When all of it started, my dad got pretty quiet about it,” Joseph said. “He wanted to make sure that I made my own decision about going to A&M. For me, it was really quick. I knew that’s where my heart was.”
Joseph began his Aggie Football career in the fall of 2011 and followed in his father’s footsteps wearing the same No. 79 on the offensive line. He also experienced early challenges, but that did not stop him from eventually earning a starting role during a pivotal era for Texas A&M Football.
“For me, it was a big challenge physically and strength-wise,” Joseph said. “It took me a few years to catch up and get to where I needed to be. It was a long battle, and I think it was really just me against the person in the mirror.”
During one spring camp, Joseph learned about an opening at guard. Nearly 30 years after his father’s opportunity at left tackle, Joseph had a chance to earn a spot on the Aggie offensive line — and he seized it.
“I just jumped into it,” Joseph said. “I would have done anything to get on the field, and I ended up loving playing guard. I played between right tackle Germain Ifedi and center Mike Matthews, who are my best friends to this day.”
The willingness to step up when needed runs in the Cheek family, as does the commitment to education and meaningful careers beyond football. Joseph spent three years in the NFL, earned his degree in university studies architecture with minors in planning and zoning and business and joined the Master of Real Estate program at Mays Business School, which led to an internship and eventually a full-time job opportunity with AQUILA. Today, he leans on the same discipline and determination learned in the trenches as a commercial real estate broker in Austin.
“I don’t know what better experience you could have going into the real world,” Joseph said. “To me, that helped ignite the fire that I have today. Knowing that no matter what gets put in front of me, I can tackle it.”
Though they played decades apart, the father and son share strikingly similar stories. Both persevered through challenges, embraced opportunities and believed in the development Texas A&M provides.
They are also deeply appreciative of those who supported their dreams.
“The college scholarship — the people who donate money through the 12th Man Foundation for Texas A&M — it changes lives,” Louis said. “It is profound — especially when a kid comes from a tough background. My folks would not have been able to write a check for me to go to college.”
“My degree was everything,” Joseph added. “I wear my ring every day. It’s a great reminder of the great school I came from. It changed my life — the people I met, the experiences and my education. I feel blessed for the opportunity to have gone there.”
Neither path was handed to them. One discovered the opportunity almost by chance, while the other grew up understanding exactly what it would take to earn it.
For both, the power of an athletic scholarship led them exactly where they were meant to be.