In the lead up to his first Super Bowl appearance (and likely MVP award), Matt Ryan has been profiled in the New York Times. The story opens with the origin of Ryan’s toughness, gained by playing pickup games with family at a park on 8th and Central in North Wildwood:

Bill Henfey Park, three blocks from the beach in the New Jersey shore town of North Wildwood, is a placid, grassy rectangular expanse with a children’s playground tucked in the corner.

But on summer days throughout Matt Ryan’s life, the park has been the site of feisty, heated pickup football games with 20 to 30 of Ryan’s cousins, brothers, uncles and in-laws…

The summer games are not for the meek. Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons’ All-Pro quarterback, has two brothers who were college quarterbacks. His 6-foot-7, 310-pound first cousin Mike McGlinchey is a left tackle at Notre Dame who could one day be a top N.F.L. draft pick. His uncle John Loughery played at Boston College. The extended family, all living in the Philadelphia area, includes scores of high-level athletes.

“There’s a lot of testosterone down at that Shore house,” said Loughery, who was a teammate of Doug Flutie’s at Boston College. “It’s pretty intense.”..

“Those games are the foundation for our toughness and competitiveness,” McGlinchey said Thursday. “We’ve had a few broken bones and trips to the hospital. But we learned a lot that was vital to our development.”

The NYT stressed that his “Matty Ice” nickname didn’t come from summers at the shore, but from “memorable late-game rallies and victories” and definitely not the beer. As far as gritty origin stories go, it’s not quite Carson Wentz’s “my knuckles bled from the cold every day,” but I guess it’s something.

Post Script: They re-did Henley Park a couple of years back, but I used to play basketball there when I was a kid. I once broke my finger during a game and it’s still crooked. I’m basically Matt Ryan.