There is a large pocket of Indianapolis Colts fans in this area, thanks to Coach Jim Caldwell.
Jimmy Caldwell, 30, who is Caldwell's oldest son, played for his father at Wake Forest in the late 1990s. Jim Caldwell was the head coach for the Deacons from 1993 until 2000.
Jimmy, who is married with two small children, still lives in Winston-Salem and said that the entire Caldwell family will be in Miami later this week for the Super Bowl.
"We're truly excited," said Caldwell, a university brand manager for Licensing Research Group, a company that handles college trademarks in Winston-Salem. "We're all going to Miami, and we're going to be there to support Dad."
Family support is something that Jim Caldwell, 55, has always counted on, according to his oldest son.
"We've always tried to be there for him, and he's always there for us," Jimmy Caldwell said. "I know one of his weekly routines is on Saturday, when they are traveling, he'll call to check up on things, and, of course, to see how the grandkids are."
Jimmy Caldwell and his wife, Shantha, have two children, Trey (James Caldwell III), 2, and Joshua, who is four months old. "Yeah, we've got a quarterback and a wide receiver already," Jimmy joked.
Also going to Miami will be Jermaine, 28, Jared, 26, and Natalie, 24, the rest of the four Caldwell children. All four graduated from Mount Tabor because the Caldwells didn't move away from Clemmons after Jim Caldwell was fired from Wake Forest in November of 2000.
Jermaine Caldwell and Jared Caldwell live in Chapel Hill. Natalie, who played basketball at Charleston Southern, spent last year playing professional basketball in France but is back home in Clemmons.
"Natalie helps us a little bit because she loves taking care of Trey," Jimmy said. "But I think she's going to look at some opportunities here in marketing or something along those lines."
Caldwell said that one of the biggest life lessons that their father taught them was how he bounced back after getting fired at Wake Forest. He was the coach there for eight years, compiling a 26-63 record that included a 23-3 win over Arizona State in the 1999 Aloha Bowl.
In that win over Arizona State, Caldwell, who was a redshirt sophomore wide receiver, caught a 56-yard touchdown pass. But after the next season, when the Deacons went 2-9, Jim Caldwell was fired and his son was one of the first to hear the news.
"As it happened, he had just come out of Ron (Wellman's) office and I was walking across the street heading to study hall and Dad called me over," said Caldwell, who graduated from Wake Forest in 2001.
Shortly after that, Jim Caldwell became an assistant in the NFL, working for Tony Dungy. He spent a season with Dungy in Tampa Bay, then went with Dungy to Indianapolis in 2002.
Jim Caldwell eventually was the coach-in-waiting to replace Dungy, and, when Dungy retired after last season, he was named head coach.
"He's always told us you are going to have ups and downs in life, and you have to have confidence and the capability to bounce back," Caldwell said about his father.
"It's a great life lesson that we've all witnessed as a family."
Jim Caldwell and his wife, Cheryl, spend a lot of time at their Clemmons home during the offseason.
"Dad has gone to some basketball games through the years over there at Wake and even during the season, if the Colts have a bye week, he's been to a few football games," Caldwell said. "We all consider this our hometown, and I know a lot of people are rooting for the Colts."
Caldwell also had a prediction for Sunday's game when the Colts, winners of the Super Bowl in 2006, will take on the New Orleans Saints.
"I think we'll win by seven," he said.
jdell@wsjournal.com.
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