How the love of a single mother helped 8-man Kansas football player reach NFL dreams
How does a 6-foot-6, nearly 300-pound behemoth of a man raised in a tiny town in Kansas named Howard (population: 602) and played 8-man high school football reach the NFL?
It’s an outrageous question and the story of Isaiahh Loudermilk doesn’t disappoint.
Many know that Loudermilk, a defensive end who played at Wisconsin, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round with the 156th selection in the 2021 NFL Draft.
But few know exactly how Loudermilk went from suiting up for the West Elk Patriots on an 8-man football field on Friday nights to wearing the black and yellow of the Steelers in front of nearly 70,000 fans at Heinz Field on Sundays.
From being blessed with size to a work ethic he learned from a single mother who worked two jobs so her son could live his athletic dreams, Loudermilk’s journey to the NFL is just as improbable as it sounds.
“I hope my story can show people that no matter where you’re from, a small town, a 8-man football team, as long as you keep putting in hard work every single day, then your dreams can come true,” Loudermilk said. “This is my dream.”
How an 8-man football player made it to the NFL
This story still doesn’t seem real to Chris Haag, the football coach at West Elk who watched Isaiahh Loudermilk transform from a tall, chubby kid in grade school to a physical specimen as a high school senior who had Division I football coaches from all over the country flying to Kansas and looking on maps trying to figure out where the town of Howard was.
It’s a rarity for a school the size of West Elk, with a current enrollment of 122 students, to have an athlete good enough to play sports in college at any level, let alone a powerhouse program in the Big Ten Conference.
“I’ve had a lot of proud moments as coach and I would have been proud of him no matter what, if his name was called in the draft or not,” Haag said. “I never thought in my wildest dreams when I took over 21 years ago that we would have a kid drafted to play in the NFL. It’s pretty surreal and pretty crazy at the same time.”
Just earning a scholarship to Wisconsin is a fairy-tale story in itself for a small-town kid like Loudermilk. And that’s where the story could have ended, as Loudermilk tried to adjust from manhandling his competition at the 8-man football level to pass rushing against future NFL offensive linemen every day in practice his first year in Madison.
No longer could Loudermilk rely on his size to bully opponents. He learned quickly that he would have to work harder than he’s even worked before.
“It was extremely tough for me that first year because coming in as an 8-man football player from a small town, I didn’t know if people were going to take me seriously,” Loudermilk said. “I went from practicing two hours a day and that’s it to putting in so many hours every day practicing, lifting, studying the playbook, doing film work. It was definitely a shock for me when I first got there, but I think I adapted well to it.”
Whether it’s Haag speaking about Loudermilk from his West Elk days or Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst on Loudermilk’s five years for the Badgers, coaches praise Loudermilk’s work ethic.
On the day Loudermilk was drafted by the Steelers, it was a late afternoon on a Saturday and he had already completed three workouts. It’s a dedication that has been with him since his junior year of high school when he made up his mind that he was going to see how far he could go in football.
Ever since then, Loudermilk has dedicated himself to self-improvement, whether that’s multiple workouts in a day or watching hours of film to improve technique or eating healthy, Loudermilk has been diligent in his pursuit.
“Ever since I went to college, this NFL dream has been in my sights,” Loudermilk said. “Once I got here, I saw what NFL-caliber talent was like and I knew that I had the body and the frame to do it, I just had to work hard enough. Everything I’ve done has led me to where I am now and I know I still have a long way to go and a lot more work to do, but I’m going to keep that same mindset going forward. Everything that I do is to get better.”
It’s unlikely that West Elk will ever have a force on the football field quite like Loudermilk again.
It might not be realistic for kids from Howard to dream about growing to be the size of Loudermilk. But Haag said the program’s most famous alumni will inspire future generations of Patriot football players with his work ethic.
“Isaiahh set a dream to be the best he could be and he went out there and made the most of it,” Haag said. “I think any kid can learn from that. That’s why all of our little kids in our youth program and on our junior high team want to be the next Isaiahh Loudermilk.
“And what makes him special is that whenever he’s around them, he’s always the big brother, big teddy bear to them. Wherever he goes, little kids just flock to him and he’s such a genuine, good-natured person that I think Isaiahh enjoys those moments just as much as they do. That’s why those kids idolize him.”
How Loudermilk’s work ethic comes from his single mother
It was evident from an early age that Isaiahh Loudermilk was going to be blessed with the size to be a great athlete.
But for the first 16 years of his life, Loudermilk was convinced that size was going to be used on the basketball court. His mother, Stacy Howell, worked two jobs — one in Independence, which was more than a two-hour round-trip commute from their home in Howard — to be able to afford Loudermilk to practice and play in summer basketball tournaments with the Heat Elite, a team based out of Coffeyville, which was another two-hour round-trip commute.
“We seriously thought he was going to be a college basketball player,” Howell said. “We were hoping he would go to a juco or a D2 to play basketball.”
As a junior at West Elk, Loudermilk averaged 19 points, 15 rebounds and 6 blocks per game to earn first-team, all-class honors on the basketball court. Up until then, he still thought of himself as a hooper who just so happened to play football in the fall.
“If you would have told me I was going to be drafted in the NFL back then, I would have told you, ‘Wrong sport,’” Loudermilk said, laughing. “I had NBA dreams back then.”
But when the Division I football scholarship offers began to pour in that spring, Loudermilk quickly realized he was chasing a dream in the wrong sport. It was around that time when he remembers first beginning to realize just how much of a burden his mother was handling.
When Loudermilk was in the second grade, his mother moved him, his older sister and his younger brother from Wichita to Howard, the same town where her parents and sister still lived. Having family that lived right up the block allowed Howell to work two jobs to support her children, while the grandparents and aunt watched the children.
“It was very difficult when I first moved to Howard,” Howell recalled. “I didn’t get child support and they haven’t seen their father for the last 13 years. I worked hellish hours, but you sacrifice for your children. It’s what mothers do. It’s our basic instinct to take care of our kids. You sacrifice for them and you put yourself on the backburner a little and give all you have to the kids.”
Now when football coaches praise Loudermilk for his work ethic, he smiles and beams with pride because he knows the source of that work ethic is from his mother. He may not have always known it at the time, but all of those years watching her sacrifice engrained a different type of mentality in him.
“My mother is the strong person I know,” Loudermilk said. “Being a single mom can be really tough at times, but she’s always been a warrior. She’s the reason why I’m able to put my head down. I grew up watching her work two jobs to provide for us and she did whatever it took. So that’s why it’s easy for me to put my head down and work because I’ve seen first-hand how to do it from the people around me. My mother really is the MVP.”
Howell sacrificed hours upon hours of her life, spent years putting herself second so her son could chase a dream. She pulled all-nighters. She didn’t always get to tuck her own children into bed at night. She even worked a construction job to help pay the bills.
Not only did her oldest son reach the NFL, but her youngest son, Devin, currently a senior at West Elk, just accepted a Division I scholarship to join the University of Kansas track and field team.
So what is that feeling like when years and years of sacrifice turn into blessings?
“Oh my God, I had to work my ass off, but looking back on it now, I wouldn’t change a thing,” Howell said. “Watching Isaiahh get to the NFL, it’s a dream come true for him and as a mom, watching your child’s dream come true is just overwhelming. Coming from Howard, Kansas, he worked so hard and now he has the life that he’s always wanted. As a mom, your heart just bursts because that’s what you want for your kids. That’s why I worked so hard to get my kids to where they needed to be and now they’re there. Everything worked out in the end.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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