Ham ’26: A Day in the Life of a Cadet-Athlete

Cadet Owen Ham ’26 has a schedule that would exhaust pretty much any working adult. As a football cadet-athlete, his day begins between 5–5:30 a.m. during the season, as his first commitment is often a 6 a.m. team meeting or an early morning lift session in the weight room. After that, Ham goes to Crozet for breakfast, then on to a full schedule of classes before heading back to Clarkson-McKenna Hall to change into his football gear and join his teammates for 3 hours or so of practice.

Supper in Crozet is often at 8 p.m., and then it’s time for evening meetings—Ham is an S9 sergeant in charge of athletics, and next year, he’ll be an S9 lieutenant. After supper, it’s time for homework, and academics take center stage until taps at 11 p.m. The next day, Ham gets up and does it all over again. As he notes, “[VMI] isn’t supposed to be easy. It’s supposed to be hard.”

Ham, a psychology major who plans to attend graduate school for forensic psychology and later commission in the Coast Guard, came to VMI for the chance to play Division I football. A 275-pound defensive lineman, Ham came to the team as a walk-on, eager to show Coach Danny Rocco and his staff that heart can triumph over build any day.

“I’m an undersized defensive lineman, but when I got here, I just kind of put my head down and did what I was supposed to do,” he explained. “I … got to work and [trusted] the process, and I got a chance to play my junior year and kept climbing up in the depth chart, and I earned a scholarship after my junior season.”

For Ham, receiving the scholarship was confirmation that his hard work from high school on hadn’t been in vain. “I’ve always kind of been overlooked, especially because of my size, and in high school, I really wasn’t sure if I was going to get a chance to play football at a high level,” Ham commented.

“That meeting with Coach Rocco, where he told me that he was going to be able to put me on a full scholarship after my junior season—it was definitely emotional,” he said. “I definitely had to call my parents and shed a couple of tears. It was a big-time moment for me.”

A native of Mechanicsville, Virginia, Ham had known plenty of future cadets growing up, so VMI wasn’t a total shock, but the double demands of the Rat Line and football were enough to make him question his choice at first. “In the beginning of my rat year, I was kind of struggling to understand the rules and struggling to buy in,” he stated.

“I just didn’t want to go home and tell my mom that I quit,” he continued. “I didn’t want to let my family down. And so I think just having that, keeping that in mind, and keeping the goal in sight … I think that’s what really kept me here. And once I figured that out, everything started to kind of fall into place.”

Ham has also found his place on the hill via the S9 staff, and from that, he’s learned that time management and a disciplined focus are essential to balancing the three-legged stool of academics, athletics, and military obligations. “I chose to apply for rank and take responsibility as a leader in the Corps,” he said. “That just adds another scoop of stuff onto your plate, and there [are] some times where you feel like there [are] not enough hours in the day. But like I said, it’s really just all about putting your head down and keeping your nose to the grindstone.”

In real life, that often means pulling out a textbook rather than taking a break to check social media. “If I have a free pocket throughout the day where I’m not doing anything, I try and get as much work done as I can then so I can kind of save myself later in the evening,” he said. “But sometimes you just have late nights and early mornings … and you just have to roll with it.”

It’s a commitment forged by the football team’s ethos and reinforced all over post. “We talk about that all the time at football: Our core values are a positive attitude, great work ethic, competing in everything you do, must be willing to sacrifice,” he said. “I think all of those are applicable over on the hill, as well. … I think that’s what makes us so valuable as VMI cadets coming out of here and going into the real world, just having that kind of mindset where we’re just going to get the job done.”

But even at VMI, there’s life beyond the job—and this year, Ham has enjoyed having the company of his younger brother, Cadet Jack Ham ’28, as a football teammate. Especially with a sibling on post, he’s well aware of his position as a role model. “I’m also the oldest brother out of four, so I take a lot of pride in that, as well,” he stated. “My parents have worked so hard to get to where they are. They had me and my brothers really young … and now they’ve set us up and done everything they could to give us the life that we deserved.”

At VMI, Ham has taken that family work ethic and learned that when you put in the effort, reward almost always follows: “If you attack everything with a positive mindset and a positive attitude, the sky’s the limit for you here.”