NFL

Meet The NFL’s First Chinese-American Rookie

This is Ed Wang, and he’s unique for an NFL roster. In addition to having quite possibly the league’s most lustrous hair, Wang is the NFL’s first full-blooded Chinese-American.

Ed is an offensive lineman from Virginia Tech and was taken by the Bills with the 140th overall pick. He’s also the second Asian-American rookie whose mere inclusion in a pro sports league has drawn attention in recent weeks: Jeremy Lin, the NBA’s new Harvard-educated point guard, is already something of a marketing dynamo.

So what about Wang? Well, although his backstory is a slightly less sexy (tons of football players come from the ACC; not so with basketball and the Ivy League), and offensive lineman rarely get that much attention, he’s still a big deal because, quite plainly, there aren’t that many Asians in football.

Wang’s athleticism should come as no surprise, however. He comes from some A+ stock:

One look at his family and you can see sports are in the bloodline.

His parents were track and field athletes for China in the 1984 Olympics. Ed’s younger brother David currently plays guard for Virginia Tech.

“It was cool, but they also pushed me really hard,” Wang said about his parents. “They expected me to work hard and they wanted me to excel in sports.”

The Bills need to hop on this gravy train and ride it for as long as they can: currently, the Google auto-complete for the young O tackle is “Ed Wang jersey” which, again, is downright crazy for a lineman.

However, I can’t find his jersey in the team’s shop, which means they’re sleeping on this PR bonanza. Golden State planned on having Jeremy Lin jerseys available 30 days after they signed him. Buffalo, make an Ed Wang jersey, and not just so I can have a jersey that says “Wang” on it.

[MPNnow via Deadspin]