From the NFL field to building a brand, Tommy Reamon, Jr. embodies pride in his hometown. With City on My Chest, he’s putting Newport News on the map while honoring a legacy of legends.
Raised by his Grandmother, Father, and his father’s football team, Tommy Reamon, Jr. walks in his father’s footsteps as a NFL player. Filled with pride for his city, he started the brand City on My Chest to encourage pride in his hometown, and its track record for birthing legends.
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Tommy Reamon, Jr.: I was born uptown, but my Grandmother raised me downtown. So when I say I'm from all top to bottom, I'm literally from top to bottom.
Nichole Hill: This is Tommy Reamon Jr., a former football player, entrepreneur, and a man that is SO Newport News.
Tommy Reamon, Jr.: A good day would be I'm playing football with my friends at my Grandmother's house.
My Dad comes and get me and takes me to the pool. I do a lot of swimming. I get out the pool. We go outside the fence, start throwing the football again, along with like a back flip contest. And I couldn't flip. So I was always like the judge. But, you know, I lived through my friends who could flip. Ice cream man may or may not come by.
(Sound of ice cream truck)
And then we will end it probably with some pizza. That's a great day growing up. (laughs) That was a great day growing up.
If you saw one person with a football throwing it up in the air, you know what time, it's game time. People would just start coming out of the woodwork. The alleyways from the streets and the blocks over. And before you know it, we got 12 kids outside going full speed, tackle football, sometimes even on concrete, which is crazy, but that's what it was.
(Sound of kids playing football outside)
I grew up in a single parent home. My parents got divorced when I was five and my Dad took custody. And he works in the school system. So school starts around seven a.m. My school elementary doesn't start till nine. What am I do with my son?
One answer. You're going to Grandma's house. My Grandmother was a beautician, so she worked from home all day.
(Nostalgic, gentle music underscores the following)
So every morning I could look forward to either P. B. and J. Or bologna and cheese sandwich with some sweet tea to go with it. Homemade that she made. she would cut it up into the four slices for me.
She’d cut the crust off because, you know, you don't like the crust when you were a kid. Cut the cross crest off for me. And yeah, that started my day for about nine years.
Do I still cut the crust off? No, ma'am. No, ma'am. I am an adult now and I eat all parts of the sandwich.
So, but all in all, she demanded respect and that taught me early, you know, I still wear respect around my wrist with my logo. So I'm really big on respect.
(music ends)
When I think about my Grandmother, I think about the love. And then I think about how much my Father loved her and the relationship they had. Which ultimately made me and his bond super tight.
Watching how he loved his parent and seeing her be an entrepreneur, a hairstylist, which led on to my Dad going into the movie business, moving out to Hollywood for years, chasing his dream as an entrepreneur. It was only natural when entrepreneurship fell upon my life and I took that leap of faith in starting my own company.
I own a clothing brand called City On My Chest. We have a retail store in Patrick Henry Mall. City On My Chest started as a t-shirt idea that said, I'm so Newport News.
I had no intention of selling a t-shirt at the time. I was just proud to be from my city. I wore this shirt probably 3, 4 times a week. And then finally somebody asked me if they could purchase the same t-shirt, which I said yes. And then the light bulb went off when somebody asked if I could do a custom shirt with a different city.
And that's when City On My Chest was born.
I'm so Newport News means rich sports history to me. I come from a city that has produced some of the greats, Michael Vick, Allen Iverson, Mike Tomlin, um, Tyrod Taylor, BWFs.I can go on for days about NFL guys and NBA guys that come from the same hallways and streets that I walked.
I just didn't think we got the credit we deserved when it came to the caliber of athletes we were putting out. You will hear about, you know, South Florida, Texas, California, big popular football states, but when it comes to the little 757, we never got any credit. So that's where that chip on my shoulder came from.
Nichole Hill: Lawrence Taylor, Gabby Douglas…
Tommy Reamon, Jr.: Michael Vick and Allen Iverson both went number one in the draft, like, they lived in the same neighborhood. Like, that doesn't happen. But it does happen in Newport News, Virginia. And if you don't know, I'm here to tell you, to let you know. Why I walk with so much pride. It's because the people that came before me did it to the biggest level, even from musicians, the Missy Elliott's and the Pharrels, I can go on for days.
Nichole Hill: And to keep it Newport News specific: Fortresses, Ella Fitzgerald, Hannan Lane…
Tommy Reamon, Jr.: So if you don't know, it's like this symbol of pride is here to tell you and remind you or even provoke the question for you to ask me and I gladly tell you why I walk around with so much pride.
Nichole Hill: It might also have something to do with his dad, Tommy Reamon Sr.--who played in the World Football League, then became an actor–He is a legend. But he never let that fame take him away from the kids he taught and coached.
Tommy Reamon, Jr.: I saw it every day. It was my lifestyle of just having these guys in the house around playing the game on the weekends, making sure they stay out of trouble.
They were inside of my house just so he knew they weren't in the streets. And overall, it's like years go by. And next thing I know, I don't think nothing of it, but it starts to build my foundation of the young man, the young adult I was becoming.
My first memory, I probably had to be around four or five. And it continued like, heavily all the way up to, like, my teenage years. So probably seven to eight years of consistent, the whole team doing sleepovers and being in my house.
It was, you know, Sega Genesis, Madden 64, um, Super Mario, the classics. The classics that I thought I was pretty good at until they come over and then they showed me I'm not that good. But all in all, I feel like, I got better playing them definitely. And then it was time to play my friends, it was over for them because I got my practice versus the older guys.
Playing hide and go seek, making hot dogs, spilling mustard on the cover, trying to get it out. Going in, playing with my clothes, wearing my hats and stuff, it was like a fraternity at the time, man. I had no idea, but I loved every second of it. Um, and I'm still close to a lot of those guys to this day.
They still treat me like a little brother and they support me and come through and shop. But you know, those memories are priceless.
Nichole Hill: And so was the advice of his first coach, his dad.
Tommy Reamon, Jr.: You know, there's a Tommy Reamon senior, but then there's also a Tommy Reamon Jr. And there's some things that he accomplished that I would love to and vice versa. So I feel like as a father, he did nothing but support and wanted the best for me, no matter what it was. And it's funny because he always said, I don't care what you do, even if you play pinochle, just be the best.
And to this day, I still don't really know what pinochle is. But that was just him trying to say, like, "Yo, whatever you want to do. I'm here for you, but you're going to compete, and you're going to, you know, give it all you got."
His lane was his lane. My lane was my lane. He kind of just gave me all the nuggets that he learned along the way in the gems, which ultimately I still used to this day.
(Sound transition, lullaby)
I had my first son, Tommy Raymond, the third. The legacy continues. I call him Trey.
It's funny how the story kind of repeats itself. The same way my dad had his players is the same way when I walk into a school. They screaming out, "What's up, Unc? What's up, Unc? "
Nichole Hill: And what would his Grandma say?
Tommy Reamon, Jr.: She did pass and 2015. And if my grandmother was here today, she would smile ear to ear and then she'll be like, "You go, boy."(laughs)
(Music swells)
Nichole Hill: Visit our website Truthbetoldcommunity.com to find out ways to get involved, and share this episode with friends.
This series was written by Jackie Glass and Hannah Sobol, edited and hosted by me, Nichole Hill, Sound Design by Trendel Lightburn, and our work has been supported by the Virginia African American Cultural Center through a grant from Virginia Tourism Corporation. Follow our work by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. We couldn’t do this without people brave enough to share their experiences, so thank you, Tommy Reamon Jr.