Football | 1/19/2017 12:12:00 PM

The fourth annual RMU Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner is set for Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport. The Voice of the Colonials and a 2012 inductee into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame, Chris Shovlin, will serve as emcee to induct six individuals who make up the 26th annual class.
 
In a special series leading up to the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner, veteran Pittsburgh sportswriter Joe Bendel takes a closer look at each of the inductees. Today's feature is former football and track & field standout Jason Hempstead. For more information on how you can take part in the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner, please visit this link.
 
Moon Township, Pa. – Jason Hempstead arrived at Robert Morris University as a relatively unknown athlete. He not only had nothing in the way of a scholarship, but was not even offered a chance to walk-on.
 
That is why his selection into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame in both football and track and field is extra rewarding
 
"I'm humbled," said Hempstead, now a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves and the chief of financial operations with the Federal Government. "And very appreciative."
 
For anyone who knew Hempstead, it came as little surprise that he evolved into one of the best two-sport athletes in school history.
 
He was uber-focused with an unyielding willingness to achieve his goals. He developed this mentality while growing up under the watchful eyes of his "workaholic" parents in Richmond, Va.
 
"I always believed that if you put enough effort into something, you could accomplish anything," said Hempstead, who resides in Laurel, Md., with his wife, Andrea Walekar-Hempstead, daughter, Priya, 5, and son, Jayden, 2. "I wasn't gong to let anything get in my way."
 
Hempstead earned a staggering eight letters at RMU. He was a four-year starter at safety in football and a six-time All-Northeast Conference Second Team selection in indoor and outdoor track as a triple jumper.
 
From 1999-2003, he was part of four NEC championship teams, two each in football and track & field. The 1999 and 2000 football teams also claimed mid-major national titles, according to Don Hansen's National Weekly Football Gazette.
 
"Looking back, it was a great ride," he said.
 
On Feb. 24 at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport, Hempstead will join five other inductees at the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner.
 
He paused, briefly, when asked what the night will mean to him.
 
"When you look back at all of the great athletes who have played at Robert Morris, it's nice to be recognized among them," Hempstead. "I felt that I might have contributed enough to get into the Hall, and when they called, I said, 'Wow, sometimes you ask and you shall receive.'"
 
That is pretty much how Hempstead wound up on the football and track & field teams. He bravely entered the offices of coach Joe Walton and Bill Hodge and requested an opportunity to compete.
 
Nothing more.
 
Each gave him a chance.
 
And each was rewarded handsomely.
 
"I gave them everything I could for those four years," Hempstead said. "That's how I always approached things."
 
Hempstead was not the typical student-athlete. A sports management and finance major, he juggled several odd jobs while competing.
 
That included slicing meat at the Giant Eagle deli, working various details at a nearby hotel and moonlighting as a security guard at both an Aliquippa power plant and at the University of Pittsburgh.
 
All the while, Hempstead served in the U.S. Coast Guard, which he joined as a 17-year-old while at Highland Springs High School.
 
"I was taking 12-15 credits and working 30 hours a week," Hempstead said. "I'd go to class, then practice, take a shower and go to work. My friends would talk trash on me when I'd put the big security guard hat on. It was a lot, but that's how it was."
 
Why so?
 
"I guess it just came naturally because of my upbringing," he said. "I've always been one of those people who like to stay busy. The important thing for me, especially in college, was that I still excelled in school. I had a 3.0 GPA and was taking honors classes."
 
Hempstead's efforts as a collegian paved the way for a journey through life that few have experienced.
 
The truest of patriots, he attended Officer's Training School after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. This led to deployments in Afghanistan (2005-06), Iraq (2009-2010) and Kuwait (2012-13).
 
As a company commander, his role was to aid those regions in rebuilding their financial infrastructure while overseeing millions of dollars for U.S. servicemen. He would earn both a Meritorious Service Medal and an Army Achievement Medal.
 
Hempstead said the deployments were fulfilling, yet harrowing.
 
"When we were in Baghdad, it was hostile, and it required a lot of discipline," said Hempstead, who will celebrate his 20th year of military service in February. "We had to overcome IEDs, things of that nature. We definitely had our challenges, but we also found success."
 
Sort of like Hempstead did on the athletic fields at Robert Morris.
 
It took just three games into his freshman season to grab the attention of Walton and revered defensive coordinator Dan Radakovich. That's when Hempstead, making his second career start, set a school record with 18 tackles against Central Connecticut State.
 
He would go on to amass 168 tackles and four interceptions over the next three-plus seasons.
 
Pretty impressive for a kid who quit his high school team five games into his senior season after a switch from the secondary to the defensive line.
 
"When I got the chance to play again at Robert Morris, I wanted to take full advantage of it," Hempstead said. "I wasn't one of those people who came in with a big head. I figured, if I could come in and replace a starter, somebody else could come in and replace me.
 
"I felt like I really made something of myself when Coach Walton said in an interview with an NEC magazine that I had come out of nowhere and that I was a difference-maker for the program. That meant a lot coming from him."
 
In track and field, Hempstead regularly finished second in NEC meets behind teammate and RMU Hall of Fame member Jarrad Pencek. He found that difficult, at times, given his competitive nature, yet he still earned All-NEC Second Team honors six times as a triple jumper.
 
"Jarrad always got me," Hempstead said. "But it was fun being a part of so many great teams."
 
Hempstead feels the same way about his time at RMU.
 
"It made the person I am today," he said. "I wouldn't take it back for the world. I had great teaching, coaching and mentoring there. I couldn't imagine having gone to college anywhere else."

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