Bishop Gorman football star Ali-Walsh is a model athlete

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Bishop Gorman High running back Biaggio Ali-Walsh logs onto Twitter and sees a high number of notifications. Many are from fans — and not just football fans.

The reigning Gatorade state player of the year, who last fall rushed for 2,451 yards and 33 touchdowns to help the Gaels win a second national championship, signed a modeling contract this summer. Ali-Walsh has quickly become more than a can’t-miss college recruit. He’s also a teenage heartthrob.

“I didn’t know someone can be this beautiful,” one notification reads.

“Oh my goodness he’s perfect,” reads another.

“Love the modeling work you have done,” another tweets at the 17-year-old.

The attention from becoming a model with Wilhelmina Vancouver, a top firm with notable clients such as Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato, and the pressure of playing for a team everyone is trying to dethrone, could be considered too much for a high school senior.

But living up to expectations is nothing new for Ali-Walsh. His grandfather is the late boxing icon Muhammad Ali, simply called “The Greatest” by his legion of fans. So, naturally, his grandson must also be great, right?

“There will always be haters out there,” said Ali-Walsh, a preseason All-American by MaxPreps. “So far, I have done a pretty good job of not worrying about them.”

‘That’s my Poppy’

Ali-Walsh was a grade-schooler when his family attended the Orange Bowl in Miami, where Louisville played Wake Forest. Muhammad Ali, a Louisville native affectionately called ‘Poppy’ by his grandchildren, represented the university for the coin toss.

Until then, Ali’s grandson had no idea about his grandfather’s fame.

“The whole stadium is chanting, ‘Ali, Ali,’ ” he remembered. “I turned to my dad and said, ‘That’s my middle name.’ Then, it hit me; that’s my Poppy.”

Poppy, in declining health as he battled Parkinson’s disease, braved the Northern Nevada cold to be in the stands for the 2014 state championship game. Though he lived in Arizona, Ali attended many of his grandchildren’s sporting events. Ali-Walsh’s younger brother, Nicco, is the boxer in the family.

Ali-Walsh scored a pair of touchdowns that afternoon to help Gorman win its sixth consecutive state championship. Fans lined up to take pictures with Ali after news of his appearance quickly spread through the stadium.

The scene was nothing out of the ordinary.

“For me, he was just my grandfather,” Ali-Walsh said. “But then we’d go to the movies and everyone would stop what they were doing and drop their popcorn to come say hi or take a picture.”

Biaggio the model

Those teenage girls weren’t the only ones who liked Ali-Walsh’s social media photos. Wilhelmina President Tricia Romani says Ali-Walsh was discovered online in the spring.

“We scouted him based on his Instagram. We didn’t know who he was,” Romani said. “He was a good-looking kid with great bone structure.”

Ali-Walsh has done commercial photo shoots in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. His work will appear this month. Most football players are too bulky for modeling, but Romani says the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Ali-Walsh is an exception.

“He has a real natural affinity for the camera,” she said. “It’s not something you would expect with new talent. I didn’t expect him to come out of the gate and do so well. He was delivering on camera and bringing energy to the shoot. He was showing a good range of emotion and body movement.”

While his modeling career is blossoming, Ali-Walsh considers it secondary to football. The photo shoots have been scheduled around his football commitments.

Plus, if he misses a practice at Gorman — All-American or not — Ali-Walsh would find himself at the bottom of the depth chart. The season opener is Aug. 26 in Texas and will be televised by ESPN.

“This is a huge season we have coming up. Right now, that’s my focus. We want to go out with a bang,” he said.

He’s the fastest

Bishop Gorman was trying to run out the clock in the 2014 state championship game against Reed High School of Reno. Both teams had their reserves in the game, which meant the sophomore Ali-Walsh was going to get the ball.

So much for running out the clock.

Ali-Walsh, who had spent most of his first varsity season as the Gaels’ third-string running back, was eager to make his mark in the season’s final game. Poppy was in the stands.

The rookie raced 92 yards untouched for his second long touchdown run of the day.

In the spring before his sophomore season, Ali-Walsh ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash during testing at Gorman. It’s the fastest time in the Sanchez-brothers coaching era. Tony Sanchez coached from 2008 to 2014 before leaving for UNLV, and brother Kenny has run the program since.

“With the elite speed, you knew right away he would be really good,” Kenny Sanchez said. “But what you don’t know is how a kid’s work ethic will be. But that has never been a question with him. He has gotten better and better. We make them put in the time, and he has made the most of it.”

Ali-Walsh has scholarship offers from major-conference schools such as Arizona, Cal, Colorado, Louisville and others. He’ll be able to continue modeling in college, where scholarship athletes are forbidden from using their likeness to earn money, because he agreed to the contract while still in high school.

“If someone wouldn’t have told me he signed a modeling contract, I would not have known,” Sanchez said. He’s all football first. He has a passion for the game.”

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21