GREEN BAY – Aaron Kampman went from a fifth-round draft pick to a two-time second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler during his eight seasons with the Packers, and he's always credited his upbringing for pushing him to succeed.
Simply put, his small-town roots emphasized hard work as the only reality in which to live.
"It was just expected. It's hard to describe," Kampman said Thursday, shortly before being inducted along with fellow pass rusher Clay Matthews into the Packers Hall of Fame.
"It started with my parents. I grew up in a small, rural farming community in northeast Iowa, and if you didn't do the work, it didn't get done. There wasn't a choice. So that's what I marinated in as a young person. Both my grandparents were farmers. My dad owned his own lumber yard. My mom traveled around the county as a public health nurse. The ideas of working hard and taking care of others was just instilled in me at a very early age."
That work ethic carried Kampman along the path from Aplington-Parkersburg High School to the University of Iowa to the NFL, where he posted two double-digit sack seasons with the Packers and 54 sacks overall in Green Bay from 2002-09.
Knee injuries overshadowed the end of his football career, which included two final seasons in Jacksonville, but given Kampman's makeup it's no surprise he's gone on to succeed in multiple endeavors since.
He started by working with the NFL Players Association to help former players transition to life after football, and not long after he founded his own leadership development company called Align, for which he serves as CEO. A senior executive at Align, Joe Urcavich, was Kampman's presenter for Thursday night's Hall of Fame induction.
"I got out of football and started thinking about what I want to do with my time," Kampman said of the business venture. "I had a lot of leadership lessons, a lot of great people in my life, and I thought, well, how do I give that (back) in a meaningful way?"
He's also coached high school football back home in Iowa for about a dozen years, a passion that now features coaching one of his sons, whom he was quick to point out has a game Friday night.
In the coaching world, Kampman in his own small way is helping to carry on the legacy of his own high school coach at Aplington-Parkersburg, Ed Thomas, a beloved community figure who was tragically murdered by a former player during Kampman's final year with the Packers in 2009.
"I hope in my ability to coach high school football that I'm giving that to some of the kids I coach, because he made a difference," Kampman said, referring to Thomas. "He made a difference in how I saw the world. I loved football and he just stoked the fire for it. I love being able to do that."
Former Packers defensive end Aaron Kampman will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2024. Take a look at photos from throughout his career.
Green Bay Packers vs Minnesota Vikings September 8, 2008
He's also enjoyed the trip down memory lane his induction has allowed, as he's reminisced about his playing days both on and off the field. Kampman and his wife Linde were regularly involved in community and charitable endeavors, often connected to their faith, during their time in Green Bay.
"What makes the Packers special is the relationships, it's the people," he said. "I got a chance to live that out and now get a chance to re-look at all those relationships. I had kind of closed that chapter of life and moved on. One of the best things this honor has done for me is the ability to replay these chapters in a way that helps me just enjoy them and savor them just a little bit more, and thank some people along the way."
In his induction speech, he was planning to deliver those thank you's and describe how many of those relationships positively impacted his and his family's life along the way.
"I hope people have a sense that football didn't just define who I was as a person," Kampman said. "It was part of me, but it wasn't all of me, and I wanted who I was to be displayed on the football field in a way that honored my lord and my family and the community and the people that meant the most to me, and I did that to the best of my ability. Not always perfectly but I sure tried hard at it, and it helped me have some great success on the field out there."
