Kept away in a box of memories at his parents’ house, there’s a piece of Jacob Tamme’s life that feels almost serendipitous. Even as a first-grader, he had big dreams. 

Charmingly scrawled in childish script on a sheet of paper, he declared, “I want to work at Dairy Queen and play in the NFL.” 

Today, as he sits at his home office in Danville, Ky., surrounded by NFL memorabilia from three teams, Tamme admits only half of that original wish came true. 

“I never made a Blizzard^®,” he laughs, but explains, “I was blessed to get to go live out my dream playing football for the Kentucky Wildcats, and then got to have an experience as a professional football player.” 

Jacob played nine seasons in the NFL with three different teams and stepped on the field for three Super Bowls, so he’s no stranger to a busy schedule. But since coming back to his hometown and Tamme Valley Farm in 2016, that emphasis on living a life ruled by busy seasons hasn’t wavered. 

“When I got done playing … I knew I wanted to have a chance to carry on part of our family’s legacy in cattle and in agriculture,” Jacob says. “There’s just something that’s deep down in your blood when it comes to raising cattle, and I can’t change my blood. It’s in there.” 

In the beginning

The land Jacob currently farms was purchased in 1910 by his great-great-grandfather. The Tammes have called the area home for more than 115 years. 

While he grew up in a subdivision, Jacob has fond memories of time with his grandfather, Jess Tamme Jr., learning about that farmland. 

“My grandfather really was my hero and definitely one of the more important figures in my life growing up,” Tamme says. “He was a cattle farmer amongst other farming endeavors, but he was part owner of the stockyards. He was just a real inspiration to me.” 

Pointing out the window of his home today, facing the driveway, Jacob says visitors pass his grandparents’ old house on their way to his. 

“That front yard, on Sunday afternoons, is where I learned how to play football,” he recalls. 

It’s safe to say, however, it wasn’t just football practice that made weekends at his grandfather’s house so special. 

“Being with family there [on the farm], I think it instilled in me a desire to help carry on that legacy one day.”

The Tamme family farm wasn’t quite big enough for all of Jess Tamme Jr.’s children to make a career of farming. Jacob’s father, Theo, found work with Kentucky Utilities, while Jacob’s Uncle Joe stayed involved in the agriculture industry. Theo was more than happy to have Jacob’s childhood summers spent trailing Uncle Joe and Grandpa Tamme. 

“I learned the details of following instructions and what it meant to put in a good, hard day’s work and see the rewards of it reaped over time,” Jacob explains. “That, I think, is a more valuable lesson than anything else that you can learn working on the farm as a kid.” 

The three other seasons of the year were dedicated to sports. In middle school, Jacob says pursuing football past the high school level started to really feel attainable. 

He went to the University of Kentucky to play for the Wildcats in 2003, starting as a wide receiver but transitioning to tight end. Joining the team was a big moment of success, but Jacob says he still took his schooling seriously. 

“I’m a little bit of a nerd,” he jokes while explaining that he finished his undergraduate degree in strategic communications in three and a half years.

Having redshirted his freshman year, there were two full years of football eligibility facing Jacob after he received his diploma. He pursued his MBA in that time, taking night classes while spending his days with the football team. He finished his college career as Kentucky’s all-time pass-catching tight end and second in the history of SEC tight ends, with 133 catches for 1,417 yards. 

The wins in Kroger Field were monumental, but Jacob says the Music City Bowl of 2006 was one of the biggest games for him. 

Dec. 29, 2006, the Wildcats defeated Clemson University 28-20 in Nashville, Tenn. But after Coach Rich Brooks was covered in Gatorade^® and the confetti had fallen, Jacob’s biggest win of the day occurred. 

He proposed to then girlfriend, Allison. They were married his last year of college.

“People talk about high school sweethearts a lot,” Jacob says with a smile. “We were actually preschool sweethearts.” 

Allison had grown up just down the road from the Tammes, but after the wedding, the couple was excited for a change of scenery when Jacob was drafted to the NFL. 

Indianapolis became home base as he joined the Colts as a rookie. Coming onto a good, veteran team with Peyton Manning at the helm and receivers like Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison in the locker room next to him, Jacob says he had his first “I made it” moment when teammates started to know him by name.

He became a free agent the same year Manning went to the Broncos. While he was sitting in Pete Carroll’s office in Seattle on a free agent visit, Jacob’s agent called. 

“‘Peyton wants you to go out there and play with him in Denver, and by the way, the Broncos want you to do it, too,’” he remembers. 

By then, he and Allison had welcomed their son, Luke, to the world. The trio packed up and moved to Colorado, where they quickly added daughter Lyla to the family roster. 

They finished Jacob’s professional career in Atlanta. He spent two years with the Falcons before retiring in 2016. When the helmet came off for the final time, Jacob says he and Allison knew where they wanted to spend their next season of life.

He says simply, “We’re Kentucky people, through and through.” 

There had been opportunities to coach professionally, but Danville was calling them home. 

“Allison and I decided that we would rather live out the next chapter of our life being here,” he adds. “We really wanted to raise our kids here.” 

It seems God felt the same way. Not only was the couple able to buy a piece of the family farm for themselves, but that’s also when He gave them an important win on an important Sunday. 

“I love that God said, ‘I’m not going to give you a win as a player, but how about I give you a child on Super Bowl Sunday?” Jacob laughs, noting that youngest daughter Ella is well aware of her title as her dad’s only Super Bowl win. 

Changing times

Those first two years back in Kentucky, Jacob was farming full-time. Like most Angus cattlemen, he’d asked a few other breeders in his life for direction when starting to expand the herd and had been told, “There’s nothing better than black cows on green grass.”

Researching the Angus breed, Jacob realized just how good of a fit the animals would be for him. They were maternal, functional and versatile; but the Association also appealed to what Jacob calls his nerdier side.

“The idea of being able to raise cattle and use data and pedigrees to try and make great ones was something that was really intriguing to me,” he explains. 

In those initial years of growth, Jacob says he leaned heavily on the two Joes in his life: Uncle Joe and neighbor Joe Myers. With those two unique perspectives from individuals who still serve as mentors today, he was able to build a foundation for his Angus herd. 

But that didn’t mean the lifestyle came easy. 

Jacob picked up the phone one day to share a vulnerable thought with Uncle Joe. 

“I said, ‘Raising cattle is tough,’” he admits. 

Jacob remembers his uncle laughing before telling him, “You work as hard as you can every day, all year long, and then, at the end, you hope it works.”

It was half joke, half hard truth, and that’s when Jacob knew it might be time to take the step he’d always planned for: putting his MBA to use as a part of the staff at Meridian Wealth Management, a registered investment advisory firm headquartered in Lexington. His love for numbers had kept his eyes on the career since he went to college, but Jacob had used those two years full-time on the farm to gather the knowledge he’d need to be able to juggle both jobs. 

Chores and time on the farm are still on the schedule, and dad Theo has come back to help manage the farm’s to-do list. But Jacob now spends his days helping families, business owners and athletes manage their finances. Any leftover free time goes to his family and his community. 

“To get to be a person right now that gets to have the family that I have, raise my kids the way I get to be involved with them, to get to have a job helping families and business owners and athletes and cattle ranchers make smart choices with their money, and help them manage their wealth … and to get to raise cattle and to get to help coach some high school athletics is a combination of things that is probably pretty unique,” Jacob says. “I pinch myself that I get to live out my life doing this right now.” 

He coaches local baseball and football, a venture he was drawn into when Luke started on his first tackle football team. 

All these roles keep him busy, but Jacob wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“God has blessed me in so many ways. I use that word a lot,” he says. “I feel like the most blessed man in the world.” 

That’s why, no matter what hat he’s wearing, Jacob keeps his faith at the core of every decision. Even with wealth management, he incorporates God into his work. 

Jacob quotes 1 Timothy 6 as how he views wealth management for his work, his family and his farm. 

“Most of our ideal clients are people that are like-minded and really see themselves as stewards,” Jacob says, noting he sees a parallel to the cattle business. “We’re stewards of the land and the animals, and it’s the same thing with money. We’re called to be great stewards.” 

That calling has become his purpose. 

“Everything I do, that word ‘stewardship’ fits pretty squarely in all of it,” Jacob adds. “I feel like that is a good way to sum up purpose: to steward, to love, to serve, to try to be a blessing to the people that you’re around every day.” 

It’s been a while since Jacob traded having a life led by football seasons to one guided by calving season, but he’s never lost sight of what matters most. 

“I am a believer that God is involved in even the smallest pieces and parts of our life, that he cares enough to be involved there both in the big and the small,” Jacob says. “When we’re in alignment with His will and seeking to be good stewards and to have relationship with Him, we’re going the direction that we’re called to go. That’s important to me. It’s important to me to go the direction that I’m called to go.”

This explains why Jacob finds the confidence to chase those dreams that might feel bigger than reality. Because with God on his side, success is always within reach, no matter the season.