We're all from somewhere. Our home, our heritage, it shapes us, for better or for worse, and no matter where life takes us, that tether holds; sometimes faint, sometimes like a siren, but always present.
The NFL invites players to celebrate that heritage with flags on the back of their helmets, representing countries where they were born, if other than America, or have ancestors tracing back two generations. They are a reminder that players come from all around the world, with threads of stories that circle the globe. And as the NFL continues to grow its brand in new countries, sharing the sport with the world, it's crucial to remember that with each new country ventured, the world is also sharing itself with us. It's vital we listen.
The Carolina Panthers boast 11 players who display their history with the Heritage Helmet stickers. These are their stories.
Every year, around 10,000 kids are born to American military families overseas. It's a large enough number not to be unheard of, but small enough relative to make the group rare. Of those, most live on a base, move around, and return to the states fairly young.
Then there's someone like Patrick Jones II.
Jones was born in Yokosuka, Japan, about 45 minutes outside of Tokyo. His dad was in the military and stationed there, but the Jones family lived off base. Every day, he would bus through the city to get to school; his sister actually went to a Japanese school—"she used to be fluent"—the family was a part of the local town, and for the first 14 years of Jones' life, it's all he knew.
"It was just part of my life," he says with a shrug, indicating it's just what makes sense. "So it just had a big part of my life, just shaping my life."
An avid fisherman, he spent a lot of his time in Lake Okutama, Tokyo Bay, and the Pacific Ocean growing up.
"I grew up around a lot of military bases, all navy bases in particular, so we'd be by the ocean. So I remember a couple times my dad's friend had a little boat, and we would go out in the bay, kind of where Tokyo is, and we'd go out there and fish a little bit, and that was cool."
Few things made as big of an impression though as the 7-Elevens. Yes, 7-Eleven.
"They're elite. I promise you, they have the best snacks you could ever find, like anything. It's elite over there," Jones says, his signature laugh echoing around the room.
"So my favorite thing to do, they had these peanut butter sandwiches, but it was super soft bread, and then it was kind of like peanut butter and honey. The best peanut butter sandwich I ever had in my life, those. And then they have kind of, they're called rice balls. They were wrapped in seaweed, but it's similar to sushi, but it's not.
"It's like a ball of rice, and it has either tuna, salmon, or something like that inside of them. They're wrapped in sushi. That was my favorite two things to get."
Even after the Jones family moved back stateside, first to Virginia and then to the Charlotte area, Japanese culture remained part of their lives, from things they missed to aspects they incorporated into their own lives.
"When I was over there, my mom learned how to make a lot of different Japanese food. So a lot of times, when I come home, she'll make certain Japanese food, she'll make curry and different types of stuff like that," he lists. "My favorite Japanese food, it's like a beef bowl, it's called Gyudon."
Pat Jones is a citizen of the world. Through every step of his life and path to the NFL, the lessons and impact of an adolescence spent in Japan have reflected through.
