Gunnar Henderson’s emergence as Orioles star began at home with having a teacher as a mom

Kerry Henderson doesn’t know why it was the first memory that popped into her head.

Her middle son, Gunnar, was giving a speech for a class assignment. Kerry and her youngest son, Cade, were the audience as a video camera captured Gunnar’s presentation. Kerry can’t remember the reason — perhaps there wasn’t one — but she and Cade got the giggles each time Gunnar spoke.

There was nothing wrong with Gunnar’s performance, but when he’d start, it wouldn’t take long for Kerry and Cade to ruin it by laughing, forcing Gunnar to start over again and again.

“He got so mad at us because we couldn’t be serious,” Kerry said with a laugh. “He would get halfway through the speech and we would burst out laughing again. I can’t remember what made us laugh. But once it started, we just couldn’t stop.”

The memory of Kerry — a boy mom, an educator, a fierce competitor — laughing as she assisted Gunnar with a school assignment is far from the only one she and her son carry with them. Her influence on Gunnar, the Orioles’ star shortstop and one of MLB’s best players at just 22 years old, is wide-ranging like any mother’s, but it’s her background as a teacher that Gunnar said left the greatest imprint on him as he grew from a boy in Selma, Alabama, to the man he is now in Baltimore.

“She’s always been there for me,” he said. “She had three boys at home. That’s work in itself right there. Then he’s helping with school and she’s a teacher herself. It’s incredible seeing all the things she does and balancing it out with life and school and kids and stuff. It was cool to be able to see that, and I took it into my daily work as well.”

Kerry was an accountant before Gunnar was born, and after taking a few years off work when he was a baby, the local community college asked her to teach business classes for a year. She’s been an instructor there for 20 years now.

“She was always the one helping me with school and keeping me on track with that stuff,” he said. “It’s tied into my baseball schedule with the work I need to do so I can keep strong on that side of things.”

When Gunnar signed with the Orioles for $2.3 million out of high school after they drafted him No. 42 overall in 2019, he agreed to sign another contract. Before he became the American League Rookie of the Year and a Most Valuable Player candidate, his mom wanted to ensure his future was secure. She asked him to promise he would pursue his college degree, presenting him with a contract to sign.

“I’ve always felt education was very important,” Kerry said. “We made an agreement when he signed that he would finish his education.”

He took community college courses in high school and continued early in his minor league career in 2019 and 2020 during the pandemic on his mom’s wishes. That’s when Gunnar gave his speech with a giggly Kerry and Cade as his audience.

Of course, Gunnar put his pursuit of a college degree on hold once it became clear that he wasn’t just a hopeful prospect, but one of the sport’s best. But Kerry still hopes once his baseball career is over that he will honor their contract.

“There’s a lot pulling at him every day and you get one shot at this,” Kerry said. “I kind of stepped back on pushing him to take classes, because I want him to give it all he has to be successful at where he is right now. There’s plenty of time to go back to school after.”

As the mom of three boys, Kerry and her husband, Allen, have plenty of stories. Jackson, the oldest at 26, Gunnar and Cade were quintessential boys — constantly playing sports, getting dirty outside, competing with each other and sometimes fighting. “At times, I felt more like an umpire,” she said about settling her sons’ fights.

Kerry always dreamed of being a boy mom. She’s “not into girly stuff,” and she’s grateful God “agreed” with her wish. But that doesn’t mean it was easy. When asked about the life of mothering three boys, she sighed before laughing.

“Usually someone ends up arguing,” Kerry said in her Southern drawl. “Whenever we play putt putt or Topgolf or if they go on the golf course, they give each other a hard time. They love each other, and it’s better than it was when they were younger, but no one likes to lose.”

That competitive nature isn’t foreign to Kerry, though. “We definitely have that in common,” she said. “Whatever it is, I want to win.”

No matter the sport, whether it was basketball or football or baseball growing up, Kerry said Gunnar “thrived” on the competition. He still does to this day.

“He’s a different person when he walks onto that field,” she said.

His determination shows in the way he plays the game — an aggressive style that includes slamming his foot on first base after he sprints down the line, stretching singles into doubles and going first to third as often as he can. He has no fear of diving for a ground ball or sliding head first into a base, often making his uniform the dirtiest on the team by game’s end.

Kerry has fond memories of Gunnar’s days as a young athlete. Getting the stains out of his football and baseball clothes isn’t one of them.

“I always kid with him that basketball was my favorite season because I didn’t have to soak the uniforms,” Kerry said. “The other day he was filthy from head to toe at the end of the first inning, and a friend said to me, ‘Now you’re glad you don’t have to wash that uniform.’”

Gunnar is sure his mom is “ecstatic” that she doesn’t have to wash his baseball uniform after travel ball doubleheaders anymore.

“That’s definitely something I won’t be able to repay her for,” he said with a laugh.

Kerry said she’s most proud of the fact that Gunnar hasn’t let his success “get to his head.” Gunnar often greets reporters by calling them “sir” and “ma’am” — a result of his Southern roots and his upbringing. He thinks his parents would call him out if he stopped doing it, but he doesn’t expect that to be the case.

“It’s such a habit with me now, I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing it,” he said. “That’s the way we’ve been raised. One day, I’ll teach my kids to do the same as well.”

In January, Gunnar and his family went to New York for the awards ceremony where he received his Rookie of the Year Award. Gunnar overcame a slow start to the season to earn the honor, and as he took the stage to give his acceptance speech, Kerry was proud of how her son — the sports-obsessed, competitive, fun-loving boy — handled the challenges of becoming and a big leaguer and the fame that’s accompanied with it.

As Kerry, Cade and the rest of the Hendersons listened to Gunnar’s speech, none of them were laughing.

“He did an excellent job,” Kerry said proudly.