Against All Odds, Gillum Achieves Lifelong Dream

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Today is Thanksgiving. Hayden Gillum will leave Manhattan and journey to Hoxie, Kansas. He will visit his grandparents, Gary and Clara Gillum. Their home will be filled with the smell of turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, and it'll be filled with laughter, and stories, and games, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Some of the children will go out into the yard and play football or basketball. Some of the men will go out into the rural field and hunt pheasant. Hayden will join them. But first, he'll sit down to eat a generous slice of his grandma's homemade lemon pie. Her lemon pie is Hayden's favorite.

"My grandma makes the best homemade pies," Hayden says. "Lemon is my go-to. She makes six different pies on Thanksgiving. All from scratch."

It's a traditional Thanksgiving feast, and a traditional occasion for the Gillum family, which includes 23 great-grandchildren, and features one heaping helping of love. It's a special time for Hayden, who doesn't have the opportunity to spend much time with his family in the fall.

He's busy starring as the starting senior center for the Kansas State football team, which since September has skated along a sweet journey toward a potential spot in the Big 12 Championship Game.

"I love this team," Hayden says. "I truly love every guy in that locker room, and it sounds cliché, and you hear every senior say that he enjoys the guys, but it's such a special group. I'm beyond thankful."

Hayden's immediate family — parents Ty and Camden, brother Hadley, sister-in-law Chelsea, and nephew Hudson, along with many extended relatives and friends — have been able to witness him in action, playing out a childhood dream that seemed improbable several years ago, yet has blossomed into a prominent role on a Power 5 conference team that heads toward its Senior Night with a head of steam.

No. 12 K-State, 8-3 overall and 6-2 in the Big 12 Conference, meets Kansas, 6-5 and 3-5, in the 2022 edition of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown at 7 p.m. Saturday (FOX) at sold-out Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Everybody knows the Big 12 implications if K-State, which has won a record 13-straight games in the series, takes care of the Jayhawks.

Also stake? The Governor's Cup trophy, which has resided at the Vanier Football Complex since November 7, 2009 — or every year since Hayden was 10.

"I've gotten to witness us bringing that trophy into the locker room each year," Hayden says. "It's special. It's more than a football win, it's the pride of K-State and what it represents as a whole for the great state of Kansas and western Kansas, and all who support K-State."

These days, it could be argued that few currently represent western Kansas, or the K-State tradition-rich walk-on program, better than Hayden, the happy-go-lucky 6-foot-3, 286-pounder who bleeds purple.

"Out in western Kansas, there's a division," Ty says. "You're either a K-State fan or a KU fan. We've always been diehard K-State fans. I'm so proud of Hayden. He's just an amazing kid. You couldn't make a dad more proud.

"I'm so thankful."

In order to understand Hayden, it's perhaps best to start with a photograph. Yes, he's a young boy in this photo, maybe in the first- or second-grade — time sometimes has a way blurring exact dates — but his smile is undeniable, as the sandy-blonde-haired boy stands in a purple sweatshirt and gray sweatpants to the right of Willie the Wildcat in the west parking lot outside of Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

In Hayden's grasp is a football, the Nike swoosh and laces ever apparent, as the ball settles between his right arm and tight against his body, and man, he has no idea, standing in the parking lot that sunny fall day in Manhattan, that he'll one day return carrying luggage, and a dream, and a determination to hold a football again, this time inside the very stadium where he watched the players in the silver Powercat helmets dominate their opponents.

"I remember seeing the guys and they were just huge, and this place was huge, and this place was incredible," he says. "We even got to go down onto the field after the game. That was the beginning.

"That was the beginning of the dream."

Hayden hails from Plainville, Kansas, which has nearly 1,800 people, according to the 2020 census, and is nestled 25 miles north of Hays along US-183 Highway, and about 175 miles west of Manhattan. Ty and Camden raised Hadley and Hayden in a roll-up-the-sleeves town bent on honesty and hard work. Ty runs cattle. The boys grew up around ranching and agriculture, church and Sunday dinner, and rodeos, and basketball, and football, and Wildcats and Jayhawks.

"We knew that K-State was just in his blood," Camden says. "He was so excited that day standing next to Willie the Wildcat. We want to get the photo recreated with the boys. I'd love to do that now."

A K-State rock sits outside the Gillum home. The rock is limestone and painted purple. It simply reads: "K-STATE." Ty earned his master's degree from K-State in 1996. That same year, Hadley was born in Manhattan. Hayden was born October 20, 1999 in Garden City, where the family resided until they moved to Plainville in 2005.

Before they knew it, Hadley and Hayden were calf roping, goat tying and barrel racing. It wasn't until fourth grade that Hayden put on shoulder pads for the first time.

Rod Chard, the little league football coach, put Hayden on the offensive line.

He told Hayden to play center.

Hayden wears an Army green t-shirt that reads "K-STATE" in black stencil across the chest one day in early November. A thin gold rope necklace hangs from his neck. He wears a gray Columbia coat zipped just below the chest, faded blue jeans, and brown ostrich boots. A black-and-gray ballcap conceals a head of hair while a neatly-trimmed, thin brown beard graces the edges of his face.

At the moment, he occupies a black leather chair in the second-floor lobby of the Vanier Family Football Complex, as sunlight pours in from wall-sized windows.

"I've had kids or families ask me, 'What does it take?'" Hayden begins. "To kids who are like myself, you can do this. I truly wasn't the biggest, fastest or strongest. I didn't have those things. If you truly work hard and stay after it, and surround yourself with good people, you can do it. I want to give back to kids like myself who want to do the same thing because it is possible. It's a lot of hard work but you can do it. I'm happy that I can be a light to those people now."

The story zigs and zags like a 4-wheeler tearing up rural western Kansas land, yet it began in earnest when Grant Stephenson became Plainville High School head coach after serving two years as a TCU graduate assistant under Gary Patterson in 2013 and 2014. Stephenson learned a great deal during his stint with the Power 5 football program, and a twist of game-changing fate brought him to Hayden prior to his sophomore season.

"Hayden was naturally just a bigger guy, but he also had a good motor, always fit in, was great with the group, and it always seemed like he was the center of attention," Stephenson says. "He always had people smiling in a good way."

Hayden was a 230-pound running back, linebacker and defensive lineman at the Class 2A school. Hayden helped Plainville to an 11-2 record and state runner-up finish as a junior. An all-state selection and Shrine Bowl invitee, Hayden recorded 364 career tackles, second all-time in the league, including 206 solo stops, 14 sacks and five fumble recoveries in his career.

From day one, Stephenson told his players, "You take a notebook and pen and be ready to work." He spotted Hayden's potential early on. Hayden attended football camps across the state. Stephenson and Hayden sat down inside the Plainville weight room one day during his junior season. Stephenson said, "We have to make a highlight tape if this is what you want to do."

Hayden direct-messaged recruiting coordinators and assistant coaches at FBS programs across the country, attaching his highlight reel. He messaged K-State director of recruiting Taylor Braet most of all — "I messaged Braet probably 30 times on Twitter, and just kept sending my highlights," Hayden says — because Hayden yearned to return to the spot where the dream started many years ago.

Braet and Hayden began communicating almost daily via social media during Hayden's senior season.

"The hardest part was his weight," Braet says. "He was so thin and he had to put on weight. I think he sent me tape of him playing linebacker and running back. I was like, 'Well, I don't think you're going to play running back, so we've got to try and figure out what position to project you at, and that's defensive line.'

"We talked a lot. He really cared about K-State. It mattered to him. To me, sometimes those are the most important guys, because they're going to work and they're going to find a way to be a guy."

Hayden sent Braet photos of his weight increases on the scales. Slowly he ramped up to 250 pounds.

"Hayden's story is his dedication, hard work, and never giving up," Hadley says. "He came out of high school as a running back and now he's starting center in the Big 12. It's about not giving up. It's unbelievable.

"I'd say it's almost a downright miracle."

Legendary head coach Bill Snyder gave Hayden a chance as a preferred walk-on in 2018.

They originally brought Hayden in as a defensive lineman. Things changed when K-State had an offensive lineman quit while another transferred the night before fall camp.

"Coach Charlie Dickey, the offensive line coach at the time, called me and said, 'Hey, we want you to play offensive line,'" Hayden says. "I drove up and started camp the next day. I had no clue what it would be like as an offensive lineman. Granted, I never thought I'd ever play offensive line in my life coming from Class 2A Kansas. I was told I could go back to defensive line at the end of the semester if I wished. Then when Coach Snyder and his staff left, I was like, 'I really don't have a home at a position.'"

Snyder's retirement prompted the hiring of Chris Klieman, known for his powerful offensive lines while leading North Dakota State to four FCS national championships in his five seasons as head coach. Klieman brought several of his assistants with him to Manhattan. That included offensive line coach Conor Riley.

"I remember meeting Coach Riley shortly after he arrived," Hayden says. "Coach Riley said, 'What position do you play?' I said, 'Well, I guess I don't know.'"

Riley sits in his office one day in early November and recalls his first conversation with Hayden. It was the spring of 2019. With a lack of depth at tight end coupled with Hayden's weight, Riley saw him as a possible blocking tight end. So Hayden played at tight end during spring practice. The move didn't last long. K-State had a lack of depth along the offensive line, and Riley knew that he needed to develop a young player.

He chose Hayden, who in less than a year moved from defensive line to offensive line to tight end and back to offensive line — a lot for any young player to digest. Hayden took the challenges in stride.

"I look back at myself as that little kid, and I did it, and I proved myself right," Hayden says, pausing, his throat tightening and his eyes growing glassy.

He pauses.

"It kind of makes me sentimental," he continues, "but to be able to look back and say to that little kid that you did it, it really means a lot.

"Not everyone gets a chance to live out their dreams."

Hayden tirelessly worked to add weight and muscle, gradually becoming the 286-pound player who now stars on Saturdays.

But before Hayden became a starter, he was a backup, and that's where Noah Johnson enters the story.

Care to talk about Hayden?

"How much time do you have?" Johnson says. "If you don't stop me, I could talk about him all day."

Johnson is a former K-State walk-on who went from Bishop Carroll High School to Butler Community College before landing in the Little Apple. He became starting center for K-State prior to the 2020 season. He replaced departed senior Adam Holtorf. Johnson started at center in 2020 and again in 2021 as a super-senior.

"We're the guy who snaps the ball," Johnson says. "Every play starts with it. The nuances and challenges of playing center starts with just being comfortable with the ball in your hands — being under center or in shotgun, and knowing the different quarterbacks. You must be comfortable. You make all the calls. You identify the defense, call out middle linebackers, but the No. 1 challenge is being comfortable with the ball in your hands."

Hayden was one of the first players to befriend Johnson when he joined the team. Johnson made a point to run next to Hayden during winter conditioning — "I could tell Hayden was a good athlete, and I wanted to run next to someone who was a good athlete," Johnson says — and the two players liked to exchange jokes when taking small breaks between workouts.

"Gilly is a goofball in every positive way," Johnson says. "He's always smiling, always having fun. That was my first impression. As a player, we worked in the offseason and I told him to prepare like a starter, because it would be his turn someday. He always had it in him."

One defining moment in Hayden's journey arrived one day in January shortly after the 2021 Texas Bowl. Hayden sat between Ty and Hadley in his father's feed truck in Plainville. Ty was driving along a hill, which gradually descended into a valley as they neared their ranch. As the truck climbed the hill, Hayden received a phone call from Riley and told his father, "We better stop," because of the unreliable cellphone service in the valley.

Riley informed Hayden that he was putting him on scholarship.

"It wasn't so much about the scholarship as it was a testament to me sticking it out and knowing I could be a starter here," Hayden says. "Coach Riley said, 'The work is just now beginning. This is a step in the direction but you still have more to prove. You have to earn that spot this spring.'

"Truly, it's a blessing. I'm so thankful."

Riley points to K-State's 38-35 victory at No. 3 Oklahoma on September 26, 2020 as a contributing factor in the decision to place Hayden on scholarship.

"We felt his work ethic and leadership and contributions on this football team stretched long before he could ever make a first start," Riley says. "I'll never forget Oklahoma in 2020, we were coming off a challenging loss (a 35-31 season-opening loss to Arkansas State), and Hayden was one who continually encouraged our guys to keep chopping wood and from a sideline standpoint he helped spark us to our comeback through his encouragement.

"You look at the contributions and body of work he put together and the conversations he and I had leading up to it, and we felt he was deserving of a scholarship. Hayden is kind of that textbook story of a young man who's come in and earned it. I'm just very pleased for him and his family. I know it meant a lot to him."

"Gilly," as Klieman, Riley and teammates call Hayden, took his game to another level over the offseason under the guiding hand of Chad Cain, assistant strength and conditioning coach for football. Hayden and six teammates were enlisted in "Elite Group of Training," which focused on specific lifts and training exercises in the name of enhancing their overall performance.

"I told Gilly every day we trained that it wasn't about what he put on paper, but it was about his effort, his intent, his will and passion that would make him a better individual," Cain says. "That's what Gilly did. He knew he wanted to be the starting center and leader of this team. You saw him start to win more reps, be more vocal in adverse situations, and gather and corral the guys more. He took it to another level. That came with confidence, but you can't have confidence without working your butt off.

"That's what impressed me the most — his confidence."

K-State has had at least one All-Big 12 offensive lineman every season since 2009. In Klieman's first three seasons at K-State, the list of All-Big 12 standouts included Scott Frantz, Josh Rivas, Johnson and Cooper Beebe.

Klieman could talk all day about Hayden.

"He's the guy who has the most fun in practice and who takes ownership," Klieman says. "He's the guy who's a great communicator and he's playing at a really, really high level. Gilly has had a great senior season. I hope our young offensive linemen look at Gilly and say, 'It hasn't been easy for him, but look what he's done and look where he is now.'"

K-State offensive coordinator Collin Klein is an avid supporter as well.

"Those were big shoes to fill not just from a playing standpoint but from a leadership and continuity standpoint," Klein says. "He's definitely grown into that as the year has gone on and he's done a fantastic job."

Junior running back Deuce Vaughn, the second-leading rusher all-time at K-State, and who is just the third player in school history to reach 1,000 rushing yards in multiple seasons, puts Hayden's impact this way: "He's the sparkplug of our offense."

"Anytime we're in the huddle, he's hyping us up getting ready to go. He's the guy," Vaughn continues. "He's always that beacon of light for us. My appreciation for him in undeniable. I can't put into words how thankful I am for him and how he plays for this team. He puts his heart out there. To run behind him, it's really reassuring."

But what are the odds, that a 230-pound Class 2A running back turns into a starting center at a Power 5 football program? What are the odds that a young man, who goes from defensive line, to offensive line, to tight end and back to offensive line, finds a home, and not just a home, but the spot in the middle of the offensive line? Hayden has gone from walking-on at K-State to being the first player to touch the football on every offensive play. He has traveled from Plainville to TV screens across the nation, helping lead an offense that has shined at Norman, Ames, Waco, and, most recently, in a 48-31 victory at Morgantown.

What exactly are those odds that the young man, the boy holding the football in the picture with Willie the Wildcat, one day returns to hold the football inside the stadium where the dream began?

"Those odds would be very small, but those odds continue to work in that young person's favor when he stays committed, doesn't look at the results that are right in front of him but can see what years of work and years of adversity can do for him," Riley says. "When you have someone with the makeup of Hayden Gillum, those odds increase significantly.

"The reason the odds are low? Because so many people don't have the same passion, commitment, attitude and toughness of Hayden."

Hayden sits in the second-floor lobby of the Vanier Family Football Complex in early November. He heads toward Senior Night against Kansas undecided of his plans following his senior season. Could he stay for a super-senior season? Might he pursue a professional career (he received his undergraduate degree in professional strategic selling last December and is currently working on his MBA) and embark upon a new stage in his life? He is undecided. That's a conversation for after the season. For now, he's focused on beating Kansas, the Governor's Cup trophy, but he takes a second to pause and put this improbable ride into perspective.

"K-State gave me an opportunity and that's all I ever wanted, was an opportunity," Hayden says. "I was able to come here. It's been a challenge the whole time, but I just worked hard, continued to work hard, and did what's right, and did the things that my coaches and parents preached to me, and here we are.

"I'm so thankful. It's been a special journey."

Like grandma's lemon pie, it was created from scratch.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cooper Beebe

Hayden Gillum

Noah Johnson

Josh Rivas

Deuce Vaughn

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