Charlotte FC remembers Anton Walkes with stories, powerful promise: ‘He’s going to be with us’
It was Wednesday, Jan. 18, when Mohammed Khalifa received the last call he ever would from one of his best friends. On the other end was Charlotte FC defender Anton Walkes, requesting a FaceTime. Khalifa couldn’t pick up the line.
“Working, call you back,” he texted instead.
Walkes texted back with a video of him on a boat, soaking in the Florida sun. He sprinkled in his trademarked humor, too: “Working too.”
Khalifa and Walkes had a friendship that dated to 2017, when Walkes first arrived to the United States from England to play for Atlanta United. The friendship resembled brotherhood immediately, Khalifa said. They traveled together. Laughed together. Khalifa would be one of the people he FaceTimed when he was having fun, living his joyous 25-year-old life, and Walkes would be one of the first people Khalifa called when he needed inspiration to continue making strides toward a happier, healthier lifestyle.
“He helped me so much and was there for me every step of the way to achieving a lot of the amazing goals, including losing 175 pounds from a year ago today,” Khalifa said. “One of his most recent texts to me was, ‘Go Twin! Can’t wait to come over to your place and wear your shirts.’
“It hurts to know you will never be at my place again.”
Khalifa was one of a handful of friends and family who spoke on behalf of Walkes, the Charlotte FC defender who died suddenly last week after a boating accident in South Florida, where his club had begun its 2023 preseason. The Celebration of Life event took place on Bank of America Stadium’s turf on Tuesday, six days after Walkes’ sudden death reverberated across states and oceans and leagues.
Charlotte FC players wore black and mint green No. 5 jerseys (Walkes’ number). Team owner Dave Tepper was there, teary-eyed, sharing hugs. So was the rest of the Walkes family — including Anton’s mother, Kelly; his father, Lee; his daughter, Ayla; his partner, Alexis; his brother, Anderson; and his sister, Alarna.
“As (Khalifa) said, God works in mysterious ways,” Charlotte FC head coach Christian Lattanzio later told the crowd, which looked up at the jumbotron to see Walkes’ smile. “And these have been a couple of days when I feel more energized. I can’t stop thinking about Anton on a daily basis, and I think I get more strength because I think Anton, somehow, is with us. We made a promise to him that he’s going to be with us.
“I’m not going to talk about him in the past tense. I said to the boys, ‘I’m always going to talk about him in the present tense because I want him to be with us. ... He will be with us, home and away, and the extra strength that we will have this season, without a doubt, will come from Anton.”
Stories flowed freely on Tuesday and were heard by the several hundred who attended the service. And a truth was affirmed in those stories: Walkes was one of those people who seemed to be loved everywhere he went.
He was a graduate of the Tottenham Hotspur Academy. He spent time with England League One side Portsmouth and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United before being acquired by Charlotte FC in the 2021 MLS expansion draft. He started in 21 of 23 appearances for the Charlotte-based club — earning the team’s trust for his loyalty and ferocity and consistency, and earning the supporters’ enchantment with his smile and his dancing and the unrelenting joy that accompanied “just being Anton.”
Andre Shinyashiki spoke on behalf of the players on Tuesday, speaking at times through sobs. Shinyashiki said Walkes never liked sushi, but if that’s where his teammates were, he’d be there, and “he’d be the first one there, complaining why everyone was late.”
“I remember Report Day in January,” Shinyashiki began. “I walked in for my physical. Anton is already across the room, doing his blood exams. We cross eyes, he smiles at me, and we just start laughing. No words were said, but I knew exactly what he was thinking: ‘This fat Brazilian hasn’t done a single thing in the offseason. He’s about 18% body fat.’”
The crowd shed a rare laugh.
“I can name 100 stories like that, but it would probably get me in trouble,” Shinyashiki added.
Shinyashiki also recalled some moments on the pitch with Walkes from the team’s inaugural season.
“I’ll never forget when I scored my goal against Nashville,” Shinyashiki said, “and Anton grabbed my jersey and my face, and said, ‘Kiss this badge, man. This is our club. Our house. We aren’t letting anybody come in here and disrespect us.’ And I just wish I could hear (him) say that one more time.”
On another moment: “I remember when (Derrick Jones) absolutely clocked one of the Chicago players right here (pointing to a spot on the ground). Anton sprinted across the field to back him up, pushed five people around, made sure nobody laid a finger on DJ. That’s the type of person he was, as loyal as they come.”
Stories of Walkes being “a great man” off the pitch echoed, too.
Khalifa, for instance, said Walkes planned on buying his mother a house. Shinyashiki promised to help take care of the Walkes family. Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber remarked to Tuesday’s crowd about something Walkes said a little over a year ago.
“Just about a year ago this week, Anton recorded a video to commemorate Black History Month,” Garber said. “In it, Anton honors the heroes who came before him. He pays tribute to his mother, Kelly, and to his father, Lee, for sacrificing their time as so many soccer parents do for his game while he was growing up in England. He went on to say that he achieved both his and his father’s dream because of the support system that they created. That they were always there for him.
“In his closing words, he makes a promise to his daughter, Ayla: ‘The world is still improving. But there are always more challenges that you will face. And I want you, Ayla, to know that I will always be there for you.’
“As anyone who’s ever met him knows, Anton will always be there. And he’ll be there for all of you, and for all of us.”
Tuesday’s event ended about an hour after it started. There were tears. Goosebumps. The end of another day of disbelief. Eventually, several minutes after the final speaker walked off the stage, people stood up from their seats and shared hugs and calmly headed home, the memories and stories making the Charlotte air somehow feel lighter, warmer.
“He truly was my brother,” Khalifa said in his speech. He said it with his neck craned upward as if Walkes was right above him, hovering somewhere in the sunny, cloudless sky.
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 5:51 PM.
