5 minute read
FEATURE STORY
bviously, Jalen Ramsey has mad love for Los Angeles. After all, the City of Angels has been hella good to him. But despite his love for La La Land, there is one thing he’s truly not a fan of (and nor is anyone else, for that matter, because LA traffic well and truly sucks). But on Ramsey’s end, at least he’s crawling down the 405 in style.
His collection is extensive. It includes a newly-wrapped Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which was his to-me from-me gift of two Christmases past. He also owns a Mustang GT convertible, a gorgeous green Mercedes-Benz G-Class wagon, and his latest, a Lamborghini Urus, a big and well-deserved reward for his recent Super Bowl glory.
“I’ve always wanted a Lamborghini, but I give myself goals and milestones to hit before I buy myself something or give myself something expensive. It’s something for me to shoot for, to achieve. So this Urus was definitely one of my goals. I remember having a conversation with my finance guys a year ago, and saying at the end of our conversation, ‘If we win the Super Bowl, I’m going to buy myself a nice gift.’ This was that gift.”
And a well-earned one, too. No one helped Ramsey get to where he is today — he did that all on his own through hard work and dedication, practicing purposefully in his hometown of Nashville before enrolling at Florida State University. It was here, during his 2015 season with the Seminoles, that he was named as a Consensus All-American, and why, ultimately, he cut his college career short, opting out of his senior year to enter the 2016 NFL Draft.
And we all know what a smart decision that was, given the trajectory of his pro career and his current monster contract. Equally intelligently, Ramsey hired a dedicated financial team, intent on reaping the most long-term rewards, and became a practical investor. Currently, his investments run the gamut from real estate to valuable timepieces to innovative technology, like the sports nutrition company BioSteel, Oxe Fit, and Rally.
There is a purpose to these financial endeavors, clearly, and that is this: “My end goal is to create generational wealth so that my daughters and their kids never have to worry; they will be set up,” he says.
This is part of the reason that he doesn’t automatically let his girls win — he wants them to learn some important life lessons (and there you were thinking he was harsh!). He wants Breelyn, 4; Brooklyn, 2; and Joonie, 1, to learn the value of hard work, just as he himself did.
“Sometimes it’s probably a little overkill [the way that I operate],” he admits. “[My daughters are] growing up differently than I did, than their grandparents did; they’re growing up a bit spoiled. They have a nice, big home, whatever snacks they want. If they want to stop at McDonald’s on the way home, I can make that happen. They’re riding around in a Rolls-Royce or a Lamborghini when I’m taking them to play dates. It’s quite different from how I grew up, which is probably why I go tougher on them. I’m like, Yo, look, Daddy got all this because I work extremely hard; nothing was handed to me, and nothing will be handed to y’all, either. At the end of the day, I want to instill in them that they’ve got to work hard for the things they want in life. I’m super big on making them be independent; taking any opportunity that I get to show them that they can figure things out on their own.”
I wonder out loud if the attributes Ramsey is trying to create in his kids are traits that he is proud of in himself, and that answer is a resounding “yes.” When I ask him to describe himself in five words or phrases, he comes back with “faith-filled,” “trustworthy,” “loyal,” “having integrity,” and being someone who does “everything in love.” To summarize for a man of such strong faith (and Ramsey is a man of faith, frequently sharing Bible quotes and his love of the Lord on social media) a verse from 1 Corinthians 13: “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully as I am fully known. And now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” It’s his raison d’être, he believes. [And also why he works so relentlessly on upping his philanthropic, goodwill game with his nonprofit, The Safety Corner, which, last year alone, provided 345,000 meals to LA food banks. For every interception recorded by the Rams defense, 5,000 meals were donated; for every sack and forced fumble, twice as many meals were donated.]
Love, he’s told me repeatedly, is at his core. He believes it, and I do, too, especially after he tells me what really gets to him, what really gives him pause. “When people have misconceptions about me, it’s never bothered me, ever. When someone reads something about me and bases their experience on that, who cares? What will bother me is if I’m talking to someone, and they go away saying it was an unpleasant experience. Even if they see me one way on the field, if I met them in person and they said, ‘Yo, I could tell his vibe was different, that he had a lot of respect for the people he was around, and he had a lot of love around him’ I’d be happy. I just want to impact more people’s lives positively. I want to be in a position to open doors not only for myself, but also friends and family,” he declares.
Yet, one question remains: Overall, is Jalen Ramsey winning in life? I’m fairly sure y’all know the answer.
“I definitely would say I’m winning in life, for sure,” he says with a nod. “Even if I wasn’t like this great football player and had all this quote unquote success, I would still say that I’m winning in life. I do everything faith-filled, with love, with a lot of trustworthiness, loyalty, respect, and integrity. I think that’s why I’ve been as successful as I’ve been.”
A winning strategy, to be sure. No trash talk necessary.
