Vikings veteran fullback C.J. Ham is the team’s nominee for the 2024 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, the team announced Thursday morning.
Vikings fullback C.J. Ham nominated for Walter Payton Award: ‘He truly is Minnesota’s favorite’
C.J. Ham and his wife, Stephanie, launched the Ham Scholarship Fund in 2022 and have supported a number of Minnesota organizations since he joined the Vikings.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 5, 2024 at 2:00PM
The Walter Payton Award is considered the league’s most prestigious honor and recognizes players who show a commitment to impacting their communities beyond the football field.
Thirty-two nominees, one from each franchise, will be recognized during the week of Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. The 2024 winner will be announced during NFL Honors on Feb. 6 on Fox and NFL Network.
Ham, who is from Duluth, and his wife, Stephanie, have supported a number of regional organizations and causes since Ham signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Augustana University in 2016.
“It means the world,” Ham said Thursday. “Growing up in Minnesota, these are the people that are close to home, these are the people who had a lasting impact on my life. If I can go out there and try to make an impact on another Minnesotan’s life, that’s what it’s all about.”
On Dec. 10, the Hams and the Vikings will host the Southside Village Boys and Girls Club at TCO Performance Center in honor of his nomination. Ham spent time as a child at the Boys and Girls Club as his parents worked and has participated in a number of events benefiting locations across the Twin Cities.
Ham started the Ham Scholarship Fund with his wife in 2022. Its goal is to provide financial support to students of color in the Duluth area so they can pursue higher education and improve retention and graduation rates.
C.J. and Stephanie Ham also host the annual “Pamper Her Purple” event for women who have survived cancer or are being treated for cancer. In October, 15 women received a day of pampering and dinner for the fourth annual event.
“He truly is Minnesota’s favorite, and rightly so — and he doesn’t take that for granted, either,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said in a press release.
Ham’s mother, Tina Ham, died from pancreatic cancer in 2021. He is also involved with the American Cancer Society.
Both in the season and during the offseason, Ham participates in a variety of other initiatives: visiting Children’s Minnesota, leading a church group for high schoolers and hosting a celebrity softball game among them.
Ham will wear a special helmet decal as a nominee for the award starting Sunday against the Falcons.
Adam Thielen, the former Viking and Detroit Lakes, Minn., native, was the Panthers' nominee. He was nominated for the award by the Vikings in 2022.
Each nominee receives up to $55,000 as a donation to their charity of choice. The winner receives up to a $265,000 donation. Donations are funded by the NFL Foundation and Nationwide Foundation.
Fans can vote on X or at NFL.com for their favorite Walter Payton Award nominee through Jan. 6. The top three vote-getters will receive additional donations to the charity of their choice.
The Vikings' NFL playoff game Monday night against the Rams has been relocated to Glendale, Ariz., because of multiple wildfires that are burning out of control in the Los Angeles area.
