Two-year-old Kamari Jordan already enjoys playing a variety of sports.
Just like his father.
“Football’s his favorite,” Jordan Woods said of his son, “KJ.”
Woods, Hammond Central’s multisport senior star, earned a scholarship to play football at Eastern Illinois. He will rejoin the Wolves baseball team after completing a round of football workouts.
And, of course, the 6-foot-3 point guard has been the centerpiece of the Hammond Central boys basketball team.
Woods, the 2022-23 Post-Tribune Boys Basketball Player of the Year, could’ve played that sport in college instead.
But Woods, who was recruited by Eastern Illinois as a wide receiver while playing a variety of positions for the Wolves for the benefit of the team, views football as the best path forward to help secure the future he wants for his family.
“It’s not about me anymore,” Woods said. “I learned that when I had my son. Everything I do is really for him — that’s all it’s about. Whatever I do, I have to sacrifice for the people I love. That’s why I put so much into this team. It’s more than just basketball. This is a lifestyle for everybody. Everybody wants to feed their family. Some people don’t have that opportunity, and I’m thankful and appreciate the opportunities I have.
“We’re a family. It’s family. I do it for them always. His mother is there to hold me down. She’s always been there for me, ups and downs. Us together, it’s always a bond. I do it for them, I do it for my family, my friends — my closest friends.”
Woods considers people such as senior guard Kenneth Grant, as well as junior guard Matthew King, as part of that group. They’ve been playing together since elementary school.
Grant has not stopped being impressed by Woods.
“This is a Hall of Famer right here,” Grant said. “He has done so much for this school and the community. He basically put Hammond Central on the map.
“Jordan’s always been this way. He’s never been about himself. He’s always about everybody else. He wants it to be about the people around him, making everybody smile, happy and feeling good about themselves. People he doesn’t even know, he does that for. He gives away his shoes, signs autographs, talking to people, texting everybody back. Celebrities don’t do that, and he does that for them, and they’re so excited. That’s an amazing feeling, especially for the younger kids. He’s a great role model and a great leader, so I give him the praise he deserves.”
Woods propelled Hammond Central (26-2) to a Class 4A regional title in the tweaked postseason format before its loss in a semistate semifinal. Hammond, the school’s predecessor, last won a regional championship in 1954.
Woods hit the decisive free throw in the waning seconds in a sectional final against Munster. His importance to the Wolves was underscored in their regional win against Mishawaka when, with him on the bench for several minutes with foul trouble, they went scoreless in the third quarter.
Woods averaged 13.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 3.4 steals this season, his third as a starter. His numbers were somewhat down from last season, when he put up 17.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 3.6 steals.
But he improved as an all-around player. Hammond Central coach Larry Moore Jr. noted Woods’ strides in shot selection and rotations on defense. Moore also said Woods, along with several other seniors on the team, had accumulated enough credits to graduate in December but didn’t because of basketball.
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“He had a better understanding of the game, and his teammates, with a year more of experience, did too,” Moore said. “He elevated them, and they elevated him. They followed him.
“Jordan was a leader for us for four years. He made people better. He’s just a winner. He always put us in position to win and willed us in a lot of different ways — scoring, passing, rebounding, steals, dunks to get the crowd into the game and pump his team up. He’s just a natural leader.”
Woods said he believes he learned more about fulfilling that role this season. Hammond Central lost a 2022 sectional semifinal to Munster in the school’s first year, and the team returned virtually intact.
“Just getting more reps together in practice and trusting my teammates more, my leadership changed a lot from last year to this year,” Woods said. “That helped all of us out. If there are leaders on the court just yelling at you, it’s going to start arguments, putting teammates down. But if you’re a good leader, it’s a good season.”
Grant also can attest to Woods’ ability to inspire and motivate.
“He’s one of the greatest people I ever met in my life,” Grant said. “Jordan’s like a brother I always wanted. He helped me on the court. He helped me when I was down my sophomore year when I got kicked off the team. Jordan picked me back up and told me I have another chance to make something big for myself, and that’s what I did. He helped me a lot. … That’s a real leader right there.”
When Woods was a sophomore in 2020-21, Hammond’s final year of existence, the team lost a regional championship game in overtime to South Bend St. Joseph. The top player for Hammond that season was Woods’ older brother Harold, a guard who recently completed his freshman season at Northeastern.
His brother Dashawn is a sophomore at Hammond Central who plays football and basketball, and brother Michael in eighth grade and sister Tiffany in fifth grade also are talented athletes.
“They mainly learned from what my oldest brother did,” Jordan Woods said. “We all learned from him. Growing up, we watched him.”
Woods knows he has a lot of eyes on him now.
“My teammates, we all have a bond growing up, and that’s not going to change with the outcome of a game,” he said. “We lost — everybody loses. We didn’t get angry at each other. We’re still brothers.
“This season, it was a lot of fun. All of my years of high school, this was the most fun. We got to know each other more as a team and as a brotherhood.”