Players

Hardwick (6-4, 305) is an nine-year center in his ninth year with the Chargers.

After the 2011 season ended, center Nick Hardwick had an important decision to make. He was an unrestricted free agent, a new father and one of his best friends and linemates - left guard Kris Dielman - retired after suffering a serious concussion last season. All of it led Hardwick to ponder whether he wanted to continue playing football, and if he did, whether he wanted to play it in San Diego or make a fresh start elsewhere.   When the dust settled just prior to the start of free agency, Hardwick decided home is where the heart is and he opted to sign a new three-year contract with the Chargers that will keep him in San Diego through the 2014 season.

Having the chance to continue in the same city where he started his career lifted a huge burden from the shoulders of Hardwick and his wife, Jayme. One of the most highly-regarded centers in the game and a member of the Chargers 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, Hardwick comes into 2012 having started 103 career games and 34 straight. Last season, he started all 16 games for the second year in a row and he was selected by teammates as the Chargers’ Lineman of the Year. He was also chosen as a third-alternate to the AFC Pro Bowl squad.

With all the accolades, it’s hard to believe that just three seasons ago Hardwick suffered an ankle injury so serious that it nearly ended his career. He missed 13 games during the 2009 season, but returned for a late-season push to the playoffs and hasn’t missed a game since. Charged with calling out the blocking schemes and making changes at the line of scrimmage, Hardwick has a close bond with quarterback Philip Rivers. A year ago they appeared together on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s NFL Preview issue. When Hardwick started all 16 games for the NFL’s No. 1 ranked offense in 2010, teammates honored him with a share of the team’s Emil Karas Memorial Award as its most inspirational player. A Pro Bowl selection in 2006,

Hardwick has been a starter since his rookie season (2004). The Chargers have rushed for at least 1,700 yards in every season that he has started at least 12 games, including a team-record 2,578 yards in ’06.

Hardwick grew up in Indianapolis where he was a standout prep wrestler with dreams of becoming a Marine aviator. One of his father’s cousins, Joe McCormick, was a former Air Force pilot and Hardwick acquired his pilot’s license before he turned 18. He earned the money to pay for his flying lessons by collecting golf balls at a local driving range. With an eye toward the service, Hardwick went to Purdue on a Marine Corps ROTC Scholarship. But after former Chargers quarterback Drew Brees led the Boilermakers to the 2001 Rose Bowl, Hardwick saw the excitement it generated on the Purdue campus, and the following fall he decided to walk on to the school’s football team. A year after earning a spot as a scout team defensive tackle, Hardwick became the Boilermakers’ starting center and earned all-conference honors.

His wife, Jayme, is also a former Boilermaker. She played soccer for Purdue’s women’s team. Hardwick maintains close ties to his alma mater. In 2007, he endowed a football scholarship at the school that is given annually to a walk-on player who earns it, just as Hardwick did. And in 2008, Purdue presented him with the Drew Brees Mental Attitude Award, presented by the Joe Tiller/Northwest Indiana Chapter of the National Football Foundation. Hardwick became the fourth former Boilermaker to receive the award. Brees chooses the winner each year to recognize an athlete who exemplifies exceptional mental attitude. Owner of a management degree from Purdue, Hardwick is the Chargers’ union representative and he guided the players through the NFL Lockout in 2011.

He sharpened his business acumen when he attended the NFL’s Business and Entrepreneurial Program at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2009. It is a special program where NFL players and front office employees spend a week learning a broad range of business topics from some of the country’s most well-known educators. In December 2011, the Hardwicks became first-time parents. Son, Hudson Harold, was born the night before the Chargers’ nationally-televised game against the Baltimore Ravens. NBC showed America a picture of baby Hudson during the following night’s game broadcast. Hardwick supports the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation (MCLEF), an organization that raises money to provide advanced education for the children of Marines and law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty. He also enjoys reading and drawing. As a youth in Indianapolis, Hardwick played hockey on a traveling team that competed throughout the U.S. and Canada.