24. Rodney Hampton

Running Back

College Georgia

Drafted by Giants

Years in N.F.L. 8

Career Earnings $11.7 million

Current Residence Houston

HOUSTON — On a sweltering spring day this month, Rodney Hampton pulled up to an elementary school in his black Harley-Davidson edition Ford F-150 pickup truck.

In a golf shirt, warm-up pants and wide-rimmed sunglasses, he grabbed a bag of footballs and cones from the back seat and walked with a slight limp, into the school.

Hampton, who has “The Big Nasty” tattooed on his arm, seemed out of place amid the hundreds of children scampering past him.

But when he arrived on a grassy patch of the playground, Hampton — who played his entire eight-year career as a running back with the Giants — was very much at home. He changed into a blue Giants jersey with his name and number (27) on the back, dropped cones to create the boundaries of a small field, and then was mobbed by the seven boys who arrived for a one-hour workout.

About a third of the first-round picks from 1990 have made second careers as football coaches. But instead of working in stadiums and under the glare of television cameras, Hampton chose to focus on teaching young boys and teenagers the fundamentals of a game that turned him into a hero in his native Houston and provided him with a comfortable life.

“Sports was the best thing that happened to me,” he said, adding that he was not much of a student. “My mom and dad told me, ‘Go out and help people.’”

Five years ago, Hampton started Hamp’s Camp, a nonprofit that hosts free football camps, provides scholarships and puts on toy drives and other charitable ventures. Hampton finances the organization by teaching after-school sports classes, making appearances at autograph sessions and soliciting donations.

The foundation, which Hampton’s wife, Detra, set up, formalized what Hampton had been doing ad hoc since he joined the N.F.L., and it crystallized his love of sports with his desire to give back to the community.

Hampton said his family was a big reason he was able to have enough money to live and give. After he was drafted, Hampton chose Harry Daniels as his agent. Hampton’s father, Lee, was worried that Daniels might be unscrupulous, so he sent his oldest son, Kelvin, and his oldest daughter, Debbie, to Los Angeles to vet him.

“Dad told us if Rodney loses one red penny, it’s on you,” Kelvin said.



Daniels was told that he would negotiate Rodney’s contract (with Debbie sitting in on negotiations) and that his family would handle his personal finances. To preserve his newfound fortune, Rodney sent his paychecks to his family in Houston and lived off money earned from endorsements and appearances. Instead of buying a fleet of cars, he drove cars lent to him by dealers seeking his promotion.

“My strategy was like, hey, I made it this far without money, so money don’t make me, you know, I make money,” Hampton said. “I’m not going to buy four or five cars and two or three houses. I can only drive one car at a time. I only stay at one place at a time.”

Having won a Super Bowl his rookie season, Hampton used his celebrity to help promote A Better Bail Bond, his family’s business. Over the years, he has appeared in radio and television ads, and nearly two decades into retirement, Hampton’s face appears on billboards in Houston. He also plays cameos in video ads with lines like “Let running back Rodney Hampton show you how to be home for Christmas.”

“His name, his notoriety, all that got us to where we are now,” said Kelvin Hampton, who has spearheaded the marketing of A Better Bail Bond, which has five locations.

Hampton, though, spends most of his time teaching football and basketball to children. Except for the diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring, Hampton looks like any other father coaching sports. “He’s a big kid who likes it more than the kids,” Detra Hampton said.

Despite his football success, Hampton said his first love was basketball. Sitting at Triple J’s Smokehouse near his old high school, Hampton reminisced with the restaurant owner’s father, J.B. Scales, who is his godfather and former youth football coach. More than 30 years ago, Scales pushed Hampton to stick with football because he would have a better shot at a college scholarship.

“I said, ‘He doesn’t have a future in the N.B.A., he has a future in football,’” Scales said.

These days, Hampton copes with injuries: His left knee was replaced two years ago, and each morning he takes a hot shower to loosen his muscles. He started taking hot yoga, too.

“I’m just, you know, taking one day at a time, trying to do something to stay active, move around,” Hampton said. “And I’m just blessed that I was able to play the game and get out while I could still walk.”

