Episode 15: First-Round Mom With Jackie Hamilton

Jackie Hamilton, mom of Ravens first-round rookie safety Kyle Hamilton, joins Cassie Calvert to talk about her son's football journey, her role in supporting his dream, and their special relationship.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome back to the Purple Chair Podcast, where we amplify
women in and around the game. I'm so excited to
introduce you to Jackie Hamilton's this week, mom of Raven's
first round safety Kyle. I left this combo with Jackie
wanting to be her friend, and I know that you
will too. She even moved her flight to come in
early to take this with us. I mean, how awesome
is that? So, without further ado, I give you Jackie Hamilton's. So,

(00:32):
just to start, kind of, what's your first memory of
Kyle playing football? So this is a it's a cute story. Um,
when he was three. Um, I have an older son, caused,
an older brother that's four years older. So he started
playing football. So I used to take Kyle to all
the practice. So he was three and he came to
me he said, Mom, Mommy, I want to play football.

(00:54):
I was like, well, honey, at the park where they
were playing, you have to be six, I said, honey,
you have to be six to play? Was that okay? Nothing?
You know, it's okay. So fast forward three years later
on his birthday, he comes into my room. He said,
I mean, we haven't talked about it since that day
he comes to and says, um, Mommy, I'm ready to

(01:14):
play football now. His birthday's March. I'm like, well, honey,
you have to wait to a football season, so I guess, um, yeah,
So that's my first memory of him wanting to play.
That's crazy. He has a three year old, Like three
year olds don't sit on information for three years. Three years,
and we haven't talked about it since that day. And

(01:35):
on this birthday he walks into my room and just casually,
first thing in the morning, I'm ready to play football now.
Was it like always football from then on? I know,
like his older brother played basketball as well in college,
and then his dad played basketball. Was it always for
Kyle football or was there other sports in the mix? Um?
It depends. During football season, it was football, During basketball season,

(01:56):
it was basketball, and for a while it was baseball also.
And he kind of banked me that he wanted to
stop playing baseball at eight. He was pretty good at
that too. But it's like, okay, it shouldn't be a punishment,
so I just let him stick with the football and basketball.
He did pick up lacrosse one year on a dare
from his friends in high school. That's funny. Yeah, I
would have expected lacrosse in there, So I guess kind

(02:17):
of fast forward, he sticks with football. Obviously he ends
up at Notre Dame. What was kind of the process
through like high school of deciding, throughout the college recruiting
process and all that. How did he end up at
Notre Dame? So this is also um, a kind of
funny story. Kyle was he was always on the thinner side,
like skinny, I call him any baby. He steals and

(02:40):
he feels out a lot. But for a while he was.
He was never the tallest or the biggest kid. UM.
So we and with the family history, we thought he
would go into a basketball side, um because in Georgia,
those football guys are pretty big, and I was kind
of scared. And he was pretty good at basketball. So
he had some basketball opportunity at ninth grade. And my

(03:02):
goal was this was never my goal. I mean, who
knew this is attainable? Right? So my goal was, you know,
maybe he can play in college, UM and have fun
and go to go to school. So that was and
then and always been. UM high academic school was not
it was not negotiable. So UM, he had some basketball opportunities.

(03:22):
So we thought that would be the thing. And then
one day he calls and says, um. He's like, mom, Um,
you offered me. I was like really. I was like, um,
is that a basketball school? He was like, no, it's
for football. I'm not really And this was in tenth
grade and I was like okay. So two days later
he was like, oh, this is during basketball season. Also

(03:43):
he was like mommy, Um, Louisville called me. They offered me.
So I'm thinking, okay, this is a basketball school, but
are you Louisville Good? No offense, but I was like,
you know, that's a big time basketball school. Teams like
is that? Are you Louisville good? He was noise for football?
I'm like really. So that's when I realized maybe there

(04:03):
is something to this football thing. He's always been one
of the better players on the field. But I mean, again,
with the sample size being so small, how do you
know whether your kid is Notre Dame Good? You know
d one good? Who knows? So I Um. So that's
how I found out that football might be his thing.

(04:25):
And and soon after that, bigger football schools were calling
them basketball schools. So that's when he decided that maybe
football is going to be his future. So that was
really like the tenth grade. Then that it kind of turned. Um,
he started to turn but um, the floodgates open and
his junior year and went crazy. So what is that

(04:46):
process like when all these offers are coming in as
a family, how do you kind of weigh you know,
the academics, the big college football program, like and two
years ago you didn't even know this was gonna be
a possibility, right, So again the high acted MT school
is that was non negotiable. So some schools no offense
as soon as they called, like, uh, you're not going there.
Just that's not happening. And you know, some of the

(05:09):
better academic school, stronger academics, we kind of those offers
get away from the pile, so to speak. So he
narrowed down the few schools and um, ultimately I think, um,
I think he made the right decision. Not his high
school is very similar to Notre Dame. They this we
call it like Notre Dame on training wheels. So I

(05:31):
think it was a good fit for him because it's
smoother transit transition. So why was the academic piece so
important to you? I'm Korean, that's what we do. Um,
you know, it's just one thing that I mean, Okay,
he might be taller, faster, stronger now, but one thing
that nobody can take away from you as your brain

(05:54):
and and how you apply your knowledge and skill set.
So if a ball thing happens, great, basketball thing happens, great,
But even after those things are over, what do you do?
I mean, if you're blessed enough to to play in
this league, what at most what ten thirteen years? And

(06:15):
Kyle's twenty one now, so when you're thirty two, thirty three,
you still have the best of your life. What will
you do? It's only so much golfing you can do, right.
I love that. I think that's really that's really great perspective. Um.
So he does get to Notre Dame. Obviously, there's so
much history with that program and there's so many eyeballs
on it. I mean, the I think I saw you

(06:36):
post about this, but the Man Titano documentary that came
on this year, it's just like the amount of media
attention on that school is so wild. When you think
about these guys coming in at eighteen and are expected
to like handle that. What was that like for you
as a mom to kind of have your son thrust
into this like national spotlight in that way. So I
had no idea. I love college football, however, I didn't

(07:00):
follow Notre Dame like that. And to be honest, when
he got the offer, I had to google and see
where it was. I didn't know it was in Indiana,
much less a place called South ben Indiana, so I
had to look it up. And once I got there,
a beautiful campus. And but I didn't realize the magnitude,
like you said that all the eyeballs it was bananas

(07:21):
game days, I mean even even during the recruiting days,
like the reporter's calling and just it was crazy. I
had no idea, And I think it was like a
surreal moment, like every time I go to the game
and it's like I'm like, this is this is the thing.
This is really happening. But um, I think he handled
it a lot um better than I did initially. How

(07:46):
he's just he's just an even killed guy. He never
gets too high, he never gets too low. And sometimes
you know, fans they love you women and they hate
you the next minute, right, So um, so you know
I rethink and I'm like, as a mom, you know
you want to protect your baby, like, that's not him.
He didn't do that, And you know he was like, Mom,

(08:07):
don't listen. It's like, don't read, don't listen, just leave
it alone. It's like they're gonna say what they're gonna say.
Do you have a hard time like not jumping to
his defense and those moments as a mom, like like
that would be tough to see someone that you love
like criticized, especially when you know that it's not fair. Yeah,
I don't mind if they're criticizing his playmaking ability or

(08:29):
lack thereof. When he you know, when he whipped on
the tackle, he's going to hear from me before anybody else.
It's just that that's just the way how he was raised.
Since you know, we don't there's no kid glove in
our household. Whatever. Other people may tell you what you
want to hear, but I'm going to tell you what
you need to hear. You know, he's he was raised

(08:50):
that way. Um. So I don't mind people, you know, saying,
oh he missed this tackle, that tackle that, those kind
of things don't bother me. But when they start attacking
his character or um wishing for bodily harm, those kind
of things like that's not cool. I mean because these
these guys, they are somebody's child brother. You know, those

(09:14):
things are hurtful. Yeah. Do you think that being at
a program that was so public like that helped prepare
him for coming to the NFL? I like to think so.
But I think he's just he's just wired different. He's
he never again, he never gets too high and he
never gets too low. He's like it's whatever. Like at
a certain point, it kind of takes that personality to

(09:36):
be that successful at something like this. You know, yeah,
I would think I would think that that would be helpful. Sure, definitely.
So then after his junior season at Notre Dame he
kind of begins that pre draft process. What was that
time like for you? Crazy? Like almost like watching the movie.
I'm like, is this really happening? Like people that you

(09:57):
see on TV, those people like calling and I'm like,
really like, is this a real thing? Yeah? Um, So
it was like watching the movie all the way from
the whole draft process, people agents and UM reporters and
people calling on wanted UM asking him to appear on

(10:17):
their podcasts in different shows, and the whole draft process
and in Vegas. I mean it's it's like a movie.
How do you balance like all those requests that he's
getting at that time, because obviously he's still trying to,
you know, prepare for the draft, like on the from
a football side, but there is that whole kind of
other beasts of an animal. That's the media scrutiny, you know,
the calls with teams and meetings with teams and all

(10:40):
that sort of stuff. So I think, um, collectively, we
decided that we weren't gonna do any fluff stuff unless
it is necessary that We're just not going to do it.
Whatever you say or do, then people can take whatever
they want out of it, right, So why I gave
them any kind of ammunition to twist and turn what
you say how you say it? So he just didn't

(11:02):
that makes sense at that time. Did you kind of
have any idea, Okay, here's where we think he's going
to end up? Or you just kind of Draft night,
you're there, you're waiting to see kind of like the
rest of the world, what's going to happen. Again, you
read things and you hear things, but it's garbage in
and garbage out, so so you really never know. I mean,

(11:24):
they tell you you could be from you know, number
whatever to you know, they give you a range. So
we look at those teams in between that range, and
there were a few teams that I was like, please
don't pick camp, Please don't hopefully not here, No, no,
not here. I'm actually we're happy he's here totally. That's great. Um,
So after the draft, you know, he comes back here

(11:47):
shortly obviously comes here you know, right after the draft,
press conference, all of that, but then he leaves, he
comes back for rookie mini camp. What is that like
sending your son off to Like, Okay, he's starting his job,
you know, his big boy job is Like now it's
really becoming real. He's in the NFL. What is that time? Like,
it's almost like sending your kid away to college for
the second time. And he tells me later, I figure

(12:09):
a guest, but he said, he's the youngest one on
the team. So, and it's the dynamics a little bit
different than college. And college you got what at most,
you got, you know, four year age difference between freshmen
and senior. But here you have guys that are in
their thirties, um, married with children. Though the whole dynamics
a little bit different. I think, Um, I think he

(12:31):
had to get adjusted to it, adjusted to the whole
dynamics of the team. But I think he's It took
him a minute, and I was checking on him because
he was always in this hotel room. How often are
you checking in on him? At that point? We text
almost every day. I don't call him all the time,
but I text him like almost every morning. And I

(12:52):
have to practice, like how did you do? Did you
make a play? No miss tackles? So now that he is,
you know, in season, what's kind of your routine? But
obviously you're so kind of figuring that out as your
first time going through all this too. But do you
plan like to be at every game? Do you travel?
How does that work? That's the plan? Um, I miss

(13:14):
one of his college college games. I went to every
game home game, away games. Yeah, I haven't. I can
probably only count on one hand how many games I
missed since he was five. Yeah, So, um, that's the plan.
But um playing you know, going to twelve games versus
seventeen plus. Um, it's a little different, but that's the goal.

(13:37):
So that's really cool, and I'm sure that's rewarding for
you too, to be able to be there in person
when you know these big moments do happen exactly. That's
that's my um, I guess fear I feel like he's
going to do something if I'm not there, and I
would Yeah, I wouldn't have seen it. So speaking of
for coming off a game at the Patriots where he
had his huge force fumble that helped seal the game.

(13:58):
And you know, the game the week before Miami was
a tough one for the raven secondary and they kind
of had to come back, you know, to have this
big redemption moment, so call it in in that New
England game. What was that like for you especially to
be there in that moment and see him make you know,
he's on this new big stage now, to see him
make a play at that level. Yeah, So let's go

(14:19):
back to the Miami game. UM, I felt like he
was doing well until the fourth quarter. Um, and you know,
something happened obviously, whether it was him or somebody else,
something happened. So that wasn't fun. And again I was
reading a lot of stuff and that wasn't fun. But
and then come back the following week, he makes one

(14:39):
of the major turning point type of cliff Site. So
I think, being who he is, he's probably still even killed.
I don't mean he's kind of weird that way. He's
I don't think he ever got I'm sure he was upset,
but I don't think he was like distraught, nor is
he like elated, like you know what I mean. I think, Um,

(15:02):
he wasn't happy the outcome of the Miami game, obviously,
but he was happy about the Patriots game. And you
kind of mentioned this, but like, because he's so even killed,
even during training camp, I remember, like if he does
feel like something is deserved, he really takes that kind
of head on and he owns that, which I've been
really impressed with. I think that's tough, especially as a

(15:22):
first round rookie, because you know so many eyeballs on
are on you. Where do you think he kind of
gets that from? Accountability is a big, big thing, right.
He's always been raised to do what you say you're
gonna do. I mean what you say, and if you
do something wrong or if you make a mistake, own
up to it and and try not to make the
same mistakes over and over. That's how you learn, and

(15:45):
that's how you roll and you evolve. He has practiced
that in his um life. Yeah, do you think there's
any more of that because he is a first round
pick or do you think that it would have kind
of been that way regardless. I think it's just him.
I think it's just I mean, I think you're wired
the way you are wired, So you don't And I

(16:05):
always tell them myself, all this many and fame, it
doesn't change anybody. It just makes you more of what
you already are. Because if you're a nice, kind, gentle person,
then you have this great platform and resources to do
much nicer, gentle, great things. And if you're the other
you know, if you're on the other side, I love that,

(16:27):
that's that's awesome. So I wanted to dive in a
little bit to the two of you relationship. I actually
interviewed him a few weeks ago, and you kind of
alluded to this too. But he said that you are
tough on him, you hold him accountable out of and
he knows that's out of love. So is that is
that fair anything, that's a fair assessment? Yes, Yes, he said,
he says, I'm me. I don't think I'm me. He

(16:48):
didn't use that word to me. He tells me. I mean,
but look, I mean look where it's gotten mensipid off
and like now he is able to kind of like,
you know, hold himself accountable in that way too. That's
really cool. He also said that he credits you for
one of his game day superstitions. Do you know what
that is? I think I saw this, um to turning

(17:09):
off the lights. Yes. So my guess is you don't
have children. I do not have children. So, um if
you have kids, you know what, you would look back
on this later and like, oh, that's what she was
talking about. Kids would leave the water on, the lights on,
the TV on for I mean in everyone that they

(17:29):
go to, I mean the waters running for fifteen minutes
before they even get in the shower. So you know, try,
you know, trying to teach them not to be wasteful.
Um So, and I'm like, if you're not watching or
if you're leaving, just turn it off, whether it's TV
or light or whatever. And I always tell them, I say,
you don't understand this until you get your own house

(17:50):
and you have to pay your own expenses, because now
it's like, you know, you got the big money that
you're in the back and just whatever. Yeah, I'm is
paying for it doesn't matter, It doesn't matter. It was
funny to me that he feels like it's like a
karma thing too, when he leaves his hotel room. He
was like, it's a bad karma if I leave the
TV on and then I'm not gonna play. Well, I'm

(18:11):
not sure there's a correlation there. Okay, with that, there
you go, Um, do you have any game day superstitions
of your own? I text him every morning, um, and
pretty much like it's not the exact same thing, but
pretty much the same thing. And I have done that
since like high school. It's clearly works. So we'll keep it.

(18:32):
We'll keep it going. What is he like as a son?
We talked about you as a mom, But what's he
like as a son. He's a good kid. He's thoughtful,
he's kind, he's funny. I mean he's he has very
dry sense of humor and it takes him up. He
has to know you for that side of how to
come out. But he's very funny. I did pick up

(18:52):
on that. We had him do stuff for media day
and I was like, Okay, there's like a sneaky sense
of paper in here. He's witty, and funny again, he
has to like really know you and then it's going
to be like getting very So that's a little about
your relationship and like as a family. Something that's really
impressed me is like kind of the community involvement that
you guys have together. I saw, you know, when he

(19:14):
was in college. You guys attended to Black Lives Matter
rally together. And now he's doing this donation where every
time you know, the team gets an interception, the raven
Stephens gets an interception this season, he's making a thousand
dollar donation to the Why here? So how did that
kind of come about? And why is that so important
to you? Guys? You know, we're we're only here for
a finite period of time, all of us are, and

(19:37):
it's just just not about us. Me me, me, me me,
It's about the community. It's about the person next to you.
And I've always told them that you help those um
that aren't able to help themselves when you speak off
for those that can't speak speak off for themselves. So
and you do what you can. And you know, there's
a lot of things going on in the world, and

(19:59):
just because it's not your problem, that doesn't mean it's
not a problem. And whatever you can do to contribute
and help um, and you should, especially now that he
has this you know platform exactly exactly. And you know
that knife cuts both ways, right, so when you know,
the things you say or do could have never negative
effect though positive effect on whomever, and it's up to

(20:22):
you to figure out, you know, how you want to
communicate that well. But it's kind of like you're saying before.
You know, the money doesn't change people, it just magnifies.
So what impact are you going to make? A positive
one or a negative one? That's really neat, you know,
kind of talking about impact, but sort of in a
different way. He had a lot of success. I know
when he was in college when the n C double
A opened up, the n I L deal UM so

(20:43):
much sot un faculty about your tesla with his earnings
as a mom. What did that mean to you? You
know that he said that, you know, this was because
of all that you'd sacrifice for him. He wanted to
be able to kind of get back to you in
that way. I was so surprised and thankful, but it
was so unnecessary And I told him that, and I've
been drilling him since. Um, you know, since we thought

(21:05):
that this may happen. I was like, hey, don't don't
buy anything big or stupid or crazy off your first contract.
You don't do that. I said, if you're blessed enough
to get a second one, then maybe it can splurge.
But not on the first one. I said, you know,
I'm good. I have a house and I have a car.
I'm okay, So just you know, make sure you save
it up for him any day. And he surprised me

(21:26):
with that just before the draft, and I told him,
I said, you don't even have any money yet. He's like,
I got it, don't worry about it. Yeah, And I
love it. I love it. I'm not going to the
gas station. It's a plus. Yeah, especially these days. Yeah,
I feel that, and I think correct me if I'm wrong.
But I think his brother was kind of involved in
helping like manage that. I know. That's kind of his

(21:47):
bread and butter now too. So it's kind of a
whole family aspect there with the and I all deals
coming in and all that. Yeah, so he only had
like small window, right, they were like so his class
was like what practice dummy with n I L So
it passed on July one, and he knew that he
didn't want to do too much. Um once the season started,

(22:07):
so you only had like a couple of months to
get everything, um, you know, locked and loaded, so to speak.
So and we decided that we didn't want to go
with an agency to do this. We just wanted to
do it ourselves. UM. So we created like a little
Gmail like I think k h Inquiries or something like that. Um,
and he put it on his m Twitter bio and

(22:29):
his Instagram bio and next day, I mean we just
had emails after emails and his brother and now we
kind of sifted through and we were kind of like
the gatekeepers kind of figure out this might be worth it.
This is like dead on arrival. Um, we've had like
a liquor company of vodka. I'm like, he's twenty. He
can't legally cannot do that for you, right, and we

(22:52):
can't do this. So yeah, we were kind of like
a gatekeeper. So once we decided that something was worth pursuing,
then we took it to Kyle and say are you
interested and then if he would say yes or no,
and then we would then work the deal. But he
didn't want to do too much he's like you say,
it's not that big of there is that I just
want to do something, but I don't want to do
too much. When you're also balancing college, example, it's a lot,

(23:15):
especially when you're in college. I also read that you
both share a love of painting, and you were high
and painter I believe, and he had some art displayed
at a museum as a child. So is that still
a passion that you both share. I still paint and
him not so much. I think I saw during the
draft process of Raven logo things. Oh my god, it

(23:39):
was not as bad as some others. Probably couldn't used
little work. Yeah, we talked about that. I'm like, it's
like what happened. Yeah, he was pretty good when he
was younger. I think he was in third grade. He
actually came in second place and his school contests and
the following year they selected like three or four different

(23:59):
pieces and that they had a showing at a local museum.
Really cool. Yeah, it was really cool and I still
have it. That's awesome, of course, really cool. So not
so much anymore, but you still you still do? Yes?
All right, one last thing for you before we let
you go. You finish the little game this or that
called the Purple hot Seat. It's gonna give you, just
pick one. The first one is a fighting Irish win

(24:20):
or Ravens win on Saturday Irish and Sunday Ravens. That's fair.
A Kyle interception or forced fumble interception more fun? Yes?
And what's the home cooked meal Kyle asks for when
he comes home? He has two things? Actually, um, I
guess he's a Southern boy at heart, fish and grits.

(24:44):
So fi cat fish and grits. And second one is um,
seafood gumbo. I love gumbo. I'm sun this is These
are some meals after my own heart. I love that.
Make me seafood gumbo, So I have to try that someday. Perfect.
Thank you so much for the time. This was great.
Thank you. I really enjoyed getting to know Jackie Hamilton's

(25:06):
this week. I think her perspective on life outside of
football is really refreshing and it's clear why Kyle's so
grounded and humble. Okay, so I teased this on Twitter,
but I have a good story for y'all this week.
This past week, Brittney Spears husband deemed me on Instagram,
and that is a sentence, I quite literally thought I

(25:28):
would never say allowed. So our last game at home
was Sunday Night Football against the Bengals, and it was
wild for multiple reasons, not just Tucker's game winner, but
off the field too. So Katie Bollinger, who you may
remember from season one of the podcast, is in charge
of coordinating influencers and celebrities who come to our games,
so I work closely with her to come up with

(25:50):
who we want to feature on our social channels. This
past home game, we had probably one of the longest
lists yet. I mean, it's Baltimore, so we don't always
have a ton of quote unquote celebrities, but this week
that included reality stars Page to Sorbo, Craig Conover, and
Robin Dixon, along with basketball legends like Robin's husband Juan

(26:12):
Dixon and Kelsey Plum, Peloton instructor Dennis Morton, actor Josh Charles,
and we can't forget Nellie was there. So already a
pretty solid list right Well, Friday afternoon, I'm sitting at
my desk and I noticed I have a d M
request on my personal Instagram. Anytime someone I'm not following
messages me, it goes there just a little security measure.

(26:35):
So I opened it up and I see a blue
checkmark and the name sam Ascari, and I'm like, why
is that name so familiar? Holy Cow? That is Britney
Spears husband. So to make a long story short, we
determined that he had, in fact not been hacked, and
that I should definitely start checking the Ravens d M
requests more often because he'd messaged us there a few

(26:58):
days before, so Katie was able to hook them up
for Sunday's game. He was super nice and we are
praying that Brittany wants to come back with him soon.
So for all the haters that think social media is
so bad, you just never know what can happen, and
I've probably peaked in this job. Anyways, thanks for listening,
and don't forget. Next week right here at the Castle,

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Friday October, we are going to have a live taping
of the Purple Chair Podcast with Chanelle Smith, wife of
Raven's Legend and Super Bowl champion Tori Smith, who I'm
so excited to get to chat with. So don't forget
to get your tickets for that. They're available on our
website and I look forward to seeing you there, don't
forget to share the podcast with your friends. If you're

(27:41):
enjoying it, leave us a rating and subscribe, and I'll
talk to you soon.