While growing up, Jeff Kemp would look across the dining room table and know that he'd someday want to be in the family business. The son of former two-time AFL champion quarterback and the league's 1965 MVP, Jack Kemp, he also knew that would be easier said than done.
"I kind of always thought I'd end up playing quarterback in the NFL because my dad did, but I didn't think it through intellectually," Kemp said. "I was a late bloomer, a little bit small going into high school, and didn't start many years other than my senior year of high school and my last two years of college.
"But dad was always giving me the vision. 'Your day is going to come. I believe in you. You're a leader. You looked good today.' I said, 'Dad, I didn't get in the game.' And he said, 'I saw you warming up. You were really throwing well.' He was just the ultimate encourager."
Kemp could have used a little encouragement after he wasn't chosen during the 1981 NFL Draft. And, in a sense, it came when the Rams reached out to the Dartmouth quarterback.
"Jack Faulkner was actually a coach when my dad was playing on the Chargers. He was the personnel guy with the Rams, and he called and offered me a free agent contract, the normal lowest rookie salary and a signing bonus of $500. I said, 'How about $1,500?' He said, 'Sure.' And I was like, 'Why didn't I ask for more?'" laughed Kemp.
Maybe not the best negotiator on the planet, but Kemp could rely on that family business as he made the move from the Ivy League.
"My dad's influence wasn't so much advice about the NFL, it was identity and affirmation and vision that I was going to be good," Kemp said. "I always sensed if you give me long enough, I'm going to rise and I'm going to be starting and leading a team and playing well.
"And I guess pressure. I probably learned a little bit about that from him. That pressure was a good thing and that you rise to the occasion and run the last play. It's like rolling water off a duck. You don't pay attention to the last touchdown or the last interception, you get ready for the next play."
Kemp saw some playing time in 1983, his third season, as the backup to Vince Ferragamo and threw the first touchdown pass of his career. A three-yard toss to Mike Guman against Washington.
And after Ferragamo was injured the following season, Kemp became a starter.
"My first start (in Week 4) against the Cincinnati Bengals, we won the game (24-14)," Kemp said. "And that week with Vince going down and me being so unproven, the papers were all panicked. 'What are the Rams going to do? Kemp is just an extra arm from Dartmouth. He's not ready to play.'
"So (Head Coach) John Robinson said in the team meeting., 'Hey, we don't need to worry about Vince going down and depending on Jeff. He doesn't have to win the game by himself. He's not going to do anything special to win the game for us.' And I'd been kind of demure and laying low before that, and so I spoke up and said, 'How do you know?' And John said, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'How do you know I'm not going to do something great and help us win?' And he looked at me and said, 'Damn right! You just might!'
"He liked that I spoke up and had some moxie and challenged him in that moment. That is a great memory because we went to Cincinnati and there was a lot of pressure. Obviously, my adrenaline was high. It was a significant win."
Kemp was also part of a significant milestone later that season when the Rams hosted Houston in Week 15 and Eric Dickerson crossed the 2,000-yard mark en route to setting the NFL single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards.
"I wasn't a big audible guy taking over the offense for the coaches. The coaches called the plays and we ran the play they wanted," Kemp said. "But we were at 1,990 yards or something like that from Eric getting 2,000. I don't know what the coaches called or if I even looked over there. I just walked in the huddle and looked at Eric and the linemen and said, 'What do you want, Eric?' And he looked at me with that big gleam smile and those goggled eyes of his, and said, '46 Gap.' And I said, '46 Gap it is. On two.'
"All the linemen nodded. That was play they wanted. There was just such an absolute confident brotherhood in the huddle at that moment after that was the play he wanted to call. We ran it, and sure enough, they opened up a giant hole and he ran for 15 yards and got the 2,000 yards. That is a very fond memory, just the power of the huddle and empowering your teammates, seeing how much the line loved taking Eric over that record."
Passing for 2,021 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions during that 1984 season, Kemp helped lead L.A. to a 10-6 record and the Wild Card playoff game, where they fell to the Giants, 16-13.
"We played kind of a lackluster game offensively and they brought in (a free agent quarterback from the CFL), Dieter Brock, the next year," Kemp said. "John Robinson was the classic motivator and inspirational guy. And he was very persuasive. He called me after the '85 season, when I was frustrated to be back on the bench after having played in '84 and gone to the playoffs, and thought that my career was on the rise.
"He said, 'You played great for us. Did a great job, but I know you were frustrated on the bench this year. And so we're going to trade you. It's going to be a great opportunity for you. We're sending you to San Francisco. Appreciate what you've done, Jeff. Good luck.'
"I got off the phone and said (to my wife), 'Stacy, John said he traded me and I've got a great opportunity.' And then I said, 'Oh, my gosh. San Francisco? Joe Montana! I'm never going to play.' And he told me what a great opportunity it was. Which is ironic, because it was a great opportunity to learn football from (Bill) Walsh and Mike Holmgren and Joe. And I ended up having my best season because Joe got hurt and I got to play."
With the 49ers for one season, Kemp went on to finish his 11-year NFL career playing with Seattle and Philadelphia. Following football, Kemp ran nonprofits whose main goals were to strengthen relationships related to family, to fatherhood, marriage, and the commitment to the family. He's now the CEO Soul Coach at JeffKempTeam and a motivational speaker.
"At the end of the day, I'm reminding people about the value of every individual and that humility is the thing that leads to great leadership and great teams and great relationships," Kemp said. "My best definition of humility is seeing yourself accurately. Through God's eyes so you're super-duper valuable and gifted in unique ways. Everyone is, but we're all deeply flawed and need to be aware of that because we need other people. We need a team.
"A lot of it ends up coming out of a principle of relationships and teamwork, which is that investors add value to the people around them, the relationships, and the teams around them. Consumers are looking for what they can get from it, and that drains the value.
"My real passion is I want to help men find and revive real, true life-giving friendship. I call it Level 5 Friendship. That's building a teamwork of friends, a teamwork of husbands and wives, any sort of teamwork. But it's got to go back to friends. Leaders need friends and all men need friends."
Also an ambassador for Fatherhood CoMission, a group of ministries, organizations, and individuals that champion fatherhood; Kemp and his wife, Stacy, make their home in Little Rock, Arkansas, and have four sons: Kyle, Kory, Kolby, and Keegan; and nine grandchildren.
"My family is No. 1. And No. 2 is I really feel like when my life is unfolded, my experiences from my inspirational father and the great coaches that I played for, John Robinson and Bill Walsh, Mike Holmgren, the lessons from football really has all teamed me up to do exactly what my greatest gift is, which is to impart vision to other people," Kemp said.
"To try to inspire and encourage and give people vision that their life can be more together than alone, that they are worth more than they might realize. They can find an identity relationally from a God who loves them.
"I love being in a place to cast vision and encourage people about who they really are and what makes relationships and families and teams drive. It's fun. I'm still quarterbacking, I'm just quarterbacking for families and quarterbacking for relationships and teamwork."
