C.J. Ham has stayed connected to his roots, supporting the organizations he frequented as a kid, including the Denfeld High School football program.
Fullback C.J. Ham is the Vikings’ nominee for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
DULUTH – For one of its biggest games of the year, the Duluth Denfeld High School football team — still undefeated midway through the season — traveled to North Branch for a matchup that found an extra booster on the sidelines supporting the Hunters.
There had been a rumor that Vikings fullback C.J. Ham, a Denfeld graduate, was going to be at the game. The Hunters’ star running back, senior Taye Manns, didn’t believe it until he saw it. The Vikings were two days out from a game against Green Bay at Lambeau Field — Ham was going to hit up a high school football game?
He did.
“It’s pretty cool that an NFL player went out of his way and showed up to a game,” Manns said. “I feel like it’s kind of crazy to see — to watch someone on TV and then see him in person.”
Though the Hunters lost, Ham spent the game beside the team, sometimes dipping over to the mass of kids at the stadium who had noticed him and migrated to Denfeld’s side of the field. He was captured in selfies during timeouts and halftime.
Ham is ubiquitous in the city were he was raised: rooting for the Hunters, coaching kids at a daylong football camp (and offering scholarships to kids who can’t afford it), dropping into the Boys & Girls Club. Ham was here in mid-January to give a eulogy for his high school football coach, Frank Huie; he’ll be back in mid-March as the keynote speaker for Northwood Night Out, a fundraiser for the Valley Youth Center, another of his go-to drop-in spots in West Duluth.
The Man of the Year Award is given annually to a player who is successful on the field and also contributes to his community. Each team in the league picks a nominee. The winner gets $265,000 for the charity of his choice; all 32 nominees get up to $55,000. This year’s winner will be announced during NFL Honors at 8 p.m. Thursday on Fox and the NFL Network. It is the NFL’s most prestigious such honor.
“There is not a person more deserving,” said Denfeld football coach Erik Lofald, who considers Ham a friend. “I texted him right away and said, ‘Let’s go!‘”
Ham grew up in Duluth and, with working parents, spent his days at the Boys & Girls Club. He was, in the parlance of the place, “an every day kid.” He was competitive and quiet but also a leader. By the time he was in high school, Ham had a “Pied Piper quality about him,” said Tim Stratioti, who was the executive director at the Boys & Girls Club for years.
Ham has held tight to his connection with the local branch, and other places where kids gather. He drops in when he is in town, a welcoming face for kids who all know who he is.
“It’s very clear that he understands how kids look up to him and what a role model he is, and he’s doing the best he can to be a great example to those kids,” said Todd Johnson, who now runs the Boys & Girls Club.
In 2022, Ham and his wife, Stephanie, started the Ham Family Scholarship Fund. It provides financial support to students of color in and around Duluth and Superior, Wis., so they can attend higher-level education. They are also behind Pamper Her Purple Night, which gives women who have or had cancer a day of spa treatments. C.J. Ham’s mother, Tina, died from pancreatic cancer in 2021.
Tony Klaas played with Ham in high school and now is an assistant coach for the Hunters. The Ham he knew then is the Ham he knows now.
“He was always so consistent with work ethic, being a good person, always being a family man,” Klaas said. “He walked into the room and the room lit up. When I think of C.J., more than anything it’s the amount of impact he has on people.”
In recent years, Ham has hosted a midsummer youth football camp adjacent to Denfeld High School. The day is divided into two sessions, and hundreds of kids fill the field and practice drills alongside Ham. In addition to the sport, Ham teaches about character.
Fifth-grader Rogan Senarighi has been to the camp four times. He made a connection with Ham because his grandmother worked in the front office of the high school. Ham remembered her; he had served as her cadet. Rogan described Ham as funny, nice and someone who enjoys working with kids.
Senarighi said he appreciates knowing such a high-level athlete came from his own city. Ham’s accessibility, he said, makes him feel closer to the Vikings as a whole.
He’s come to expect to see C.J. Ham around.
“I go to Super One and I think in my mind sometimes, ‘I could just see him at the grocery store,’” he said.