Former San Marcos Rattler football players and twin brothers Jamil and Malik Gordon have found success both academically and athletically at Wisconsin Lutheran.
Most recently Jamil Gordon was named Honorable Mention All-Conference for the 2023 season finishing with 24 catches for 264 yards and five touchdowns.
It’s been a long journey for both Jamil and Malik as well as their parents Oscar and Pam Gordon who have seen their twin sons battle through their own separate injuries during high school with Jamil battling a severe ankle injury and Malik battling a shoulder injury.
“It’s a great thing,” Oscar Gordon said. “All the adversity they went through with really bad injuries. … So I’m very proud of them for sticking it out through all the adversity.”
In their senior year, both Jamil and Malik helped lead San Marcos to their first playoff appearance since 2017 finishing with a record of 5-6.
But despite their athletic success, it’s academics that is most important in the Gordon Family.
“That is something we always stress about, including myself,” Oscar Gordon said. “My mother was a scholar and a teacher with a masters. That is something we want and we don’t tolerate bad grades. I went to the next level but had a bad car accident. I wasn’t a scholar like my mother but I wanted my kids to be the best.”
With both Malik and Jamil making the decision to go to Wisconsin Lutheran to play football, the brotherly duo also made strides in the classroom.
“We are very proud,” Pam Hemphill-Gordon said. “We are more proud of the academic part. They have academic scholarships which we push because you never know what will happen with sports. As long as you have the scholarship for academics you can choose whether or not to play sports or not and be forced to play. I’m very proud of the men they are becoming.”
For both Jamil and Malik, attending the same college and playing football with each other was a no-brainer.
“Being twins, they have always been together,” Pam Hemphill-Gordon said. “They have been each other’s best friend. We were happy they chose to go to the same school because I don’t know if they would have made it if they had gone separately.”
Despite being over 1,200 miles away from home, knowing that both Malik and Jamil have each other makes both parents feel a lot better despite the distance between each other.
“I feel it made it easier for us,” Pam Hemphill-Gordon said. “They have each other as where most parents who have one sibling going off to college would be a lot more difficult because they are going out into the world by themselves. With twins it’s a little bit different because they have each other to lean on. [Malik and Jamil] keep each other pretty balanced and stable.”
Though they journey has just begun, both Malik and Jamil look to keep going and pushing through the rough pathes of life.
“I’ve always taught them not to try to measure what’s happening now and think about the end result,” Oscar Gordon said. “I think they got it. I’ve taught them that even at my job about everyday life. That helped out quite a bit and Jamil talks about it all the time.”
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
