Linda Gilmore didn’t find out until years later, and she still isn’t quite sure how her oldest child, Stephon, pulled it off.
She knew her son loved football and loved his baby brother, Steven Gilmore Jr., even more. But just how much? She never could have imagined. The two boys didn’t have the chance to compete on the football field together since Stephon is nine years older than Steven Jr., nicknamed Stevie. But that didn’t stop him from trying, even when their parents and four sisters were sound asleep.
“They were in the same room ever since Stevie was born,” Linda said. “They had bunk beds for a long time until Stephon went to college. But apparently before he left, he used to wake Stevie up in the middle of the night and they’d go out and up to the school to throw the ball around.”
Stephon finally spilled the beans as an adult, and now Linda can’t help but laugh when she envisions her two boys sneaking off into the night to bond at South Pointe, the high school they helped turn into a powerhouse, in Rock Hill, SC She’s certain she and her husband, Steven Gilmore Sr., wouldn’t have given them permission, but in hindsight, she’s not surprised that Stephon’s late-night trips were because he wanted to spend more time with his brother.
Stephon said he didn’t ask for much as a kid whenever Christmas rolled around, which his parents confirmed. But every year he did have one priceless item on his wish list: Stevie.
The Gilmore family before Steven Jr. had even made his mark as a high school star. (Courtesy of Linda Gilmore)
“I told my mom that I wanted a little brother and she gave me that,” Stephon said recently, smiling widely. “It was nine years later, but it was the best thing ever, you know? I love my sisters, but to have another boy in the family, it was great. I just remember him following me everywhere. Going to see me play at my college games, wearing my jersey and he’s too small to fit it and just being around the field.
“To see where he is now, with an opportunity to go to the league, it’s crazy.”
Stevie recently finished his fifth season playing defensive back at Marshall University, while Stephon just wrapped up his first year with the Colts and 11th overall in the NFL. If Stevie, a projected late-round pick, can make an NFL roster for the 2023 season, it would mark the first time in their lives they’d be playing on the same level.
Steven Sr. knows how much that opportunity would mean to Stephon. His oldest son has put together a potential Hall of Fame career so far, but a game featuring two Gilmores would be Stephon’s crowning achievement.
It’s what’s motivated the 32-year-old cornerback to go toe-to-toe with Father Time, holding him off for a moment that would last a lifetime.
“He was always like, ‘Dad, I’m waiting for my brother. I’m waiting on Stevie,’” Steven Sr. said. “I’m waiting for my brother to get here before I even think about retiring.
“I gotta play with my brother.”
Stevie had a front-row seat for it all.
He remembers Stephon being a two-way star at quarterback and cornerback while leading South Pointe to its first football state title during his senior season in 2008, three years after the school’s program was too small to even play a varsity schedule.
He remembers his brother becoming one of the top prospects in the state and the recruiting letters that followed from Power 5 programs.
He remembers going to Stephon’s games at South Carolina and the day the No. 19 Gamecocks upset no. 1 Alabama in 2010, with his brother recording nine tackles in front of a sellout crowd of nearly 78,000 fans.
“That was probably the loudest game I’ve ever been to,” Stevie said. “It was just unbelievable, for real. All the white towels were going crazy, and I definitely had on his jersey. … I always locked in to what he had going on, and that’s what drove me as a player and as a person to want to get out there and do the same thing.”
Stevie has been motivated by Stephon his whole life, but he’s careful with the way he describes his admiration. Of course, he always wanted to be like his brother, but he never really wanted to be his brother.
That’s an impossible burden that others have tried to place on him, although he’s never felt that pressure from Stephon, who’s always told him to “play for himself.” That approach has worked out pretty well so far.
“From that aspect, it was the state championship Stevie played in when he was a junior in high school,” Steven Sr. said. “He scored three touchdowns in the state championship game and that’s when I think everybody realized, ‘Hey, that’s Stevie!’ and not just, ‘Hey, that’s Stephon’s little brother.’”
Stevie starred at wide receiver and cornerback and won four straight state championships at South Pointe while garnering the attention of premier programs across the country. He had scholarship offers from South Carolina, Georgia and Louisville, among others, and planned to become a Gamecock like Stephon.
That is, until he tried to accept the scholarship and it was no longer available.
“I ain’t take it as serious as I should have because when I really focused on committing, it was too late down the line in my senior year and they told me all the spots were filled and they didn’t have any room for me,” said Stevie. “All of the big schools said that, basically, so after that I was kind of stuck.”
Stevie said word eventually got around to smaller Division I programs that he was available, and when Marshall became interested and sent former head coach Doc Holiday and a few members of his staff to South Pointe to recruit him, Stevie was sold.
Linda believes it was a blessing in disguise for Stevie to attend college out of state, her only child to do so, because it gave him the chance to get away from the local fame of the Gilmore name and “find his identity.” Steven Sr. said he taught his youngest son how to face and conquer adversity.
“I think him going to Marshall made him a better player and a better person,” Steven Sr. said. “It made him stronger and it made him realize that life is not gonna be easy. Your path is not always gonna be easy, but that’s why you gotta take advantage of your situation and where you’re at.”
To Stevie’s credit, he did just that, recording nine interceptions in five years with the Herd. None bigger than his pick six in an upset win at No. 8 Notre Dame in September.
“That was definitely one of the best moments of my college career, for sure,” Stevie said. “Making a play like that and knocking off a team like that when it’s being televised all over the world? That was everything.”
Steven Gilmore runs an interception back for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame in September. (Matt Cashore/USA Today)
Stephon watched the play unfold on TV and joked during the season that he had to get a pick six as well so his brother couldn’t one-up him, but on a more serious note, he thinks that play was a testament to Stevie’s work ethics and potential.
“He stayed hungry,” Stephon said. “He had a great senior year. He’s tough, he has great ball skills and he proved he can do this. He can play in the NFL.”
The look on Stephon’s face is one that Linda and Steven Sr. will never forget. It was Sept. 17, 1999, the day Stevie was born.
“He was shocked when he was able to hold him for the first time when we came home,” Linda said, laughing. “I actually have a picture of that because he was so amazed, and you could tell that it was from the heart.”
The days of 9-year-old Stephon cradling newborn Stevie in his arms are long gone, and so are the times when Stevie would run around the backyard wearing Stephon’s oversized helmet. But in the decades since, Linda said that look Stephon had when Stevie was first brought home is still the same look on his face now. There’s a sense of love, pride and responsibility that Stephon holds in his eyes, always feeling like he has to set the standard, and it’s pushed him to heights that once seemed impossible.
With his little brother watching, he became the 2008 South Carolina Mr. Football and the 10th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. He reached back-to-back Super Bowls with the Patriots, winning the second during the 2018 season. He was awarded NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2019, only one of six defensive backs to ever take home the honor.
And throughout a Colts season that included just four wins, Stephon secured three of them with last-second pass breakups.
“I want to be the greatest ever,” Stephon said, when asked what drove him during a losing season. “That’s what I’m chasing.”
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But on a deeper level, it’s not solely about getting a bust in Canton or winning another Super Bowl.
It’s about family.
It’s about his baby brother.
All Stephon has to do is look down at his left arm for a reminder. There’s a tattoo of a tree that covers his shoulder and biceps, the first tattoo he ever got as a teenager, and above each branch is the name of each member of his immediate family, including himself: Linda, Steven Sr., Stephon, Sabrina , Sierra, Stevie, Scarlett and Savannah.
Stephon Gilmore is hoping he can someday share an NFL field with his younger brother, Steven. (Vincent Carchietta/USA Today)
Those are the people, along with his wife, Gabrielle, and three children (daughters Gisele and Gale and son, Sebastian), who’ve fueled his life and career. But only one of them has the chance to share the field with him and lay it all on the line in the NFL.
“He’s a grown man now,” Stephon said of Stevie. “So that would be a blessing.”
It would be a dream come true for Stevie, too, but he knows nothing is guaranteed. Over the next few months he’ll lean on his older brother’s expertise as he prepares for the draft, hoping to soon do a Gilmore jersey swap on game day.
“That’s something that’s on my bucket list for sure,” Stevie said. “I’ve seen numerous players have that moment with their brother, and it looks so amazing to me. Having a brother who’s been such a great representation of greatness and seeing what that looks like right in front of me for years, it does give me that extra motivation to get there.”
(Top photo of Stephon Gilmore holding his brother, Steven, when they were children, courtesy of Linda Gilmore)
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