EAGAN, Minn. — Dreams that became parallel realities managed to intertwine at so many points along the way for Adam Thielen and C.J. Ham.

High school fields in Detroit Lakes and Duluth, Minnesota.

Their respective home college stadiums in Southern Minnesota and Eastern South Dakota.

Vikings training camps in Mankato and at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.

U.S. Bank Stadium and venues across the NFL.

Locker rooms in which they helped define team culture as they matured.

Time between practices and meetings facilitated discussions about faith, family that each has grown to include three children, and other non-football topics.

Teammates for nearly a decade. Friends for life.

There was no better way for Thielen and Ham to formally announce their retirement than together Thursday in the TCO Performance Center auditorium with family, friends, teammates and coaches of recent and yore.

"I do believe it's fitting that we honor these two players together today," Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said before Thielen and Ham delivered heartfelt speeches and fielded questions from media members. "Their journeys are inspirational, impactful and truly great examples of something that shows any player out there — whether it's in our wonderful state of Minnesota or anywhere around our country — of the fact that, regardless of your path to the NFL, anything is truly possible."

O'Connell noted his level of appreciation for having Thielen and Ham on the roster for his first season as a head coach. That 2022 team delivered a special campaign with 13 wins, highlighted by the epic game at Buffalo and the NFL's largest comeback (trailed Colts 33-0 at halftime).

There were fist bumps during transitions, mutual smiles when sharing memories and tears shed by the players as they processed their emotions and explained their gratitude from people who helped on their way to the NFL, to Vikings ownership and staff and to fans who have been there every step.

"To be able to do this with my guy, C.J. — we had an event [Wednesday] night and did a little Q&A and just talking about, we spent a lot of time together in this building, but we've actually also spent a lot of time training together outside of this building — so it's fun to be able to do this with him, a special football player and an even better person and somebody who has really helped shape me," Thielen said. "Even though he's younger than me, he has really mentored me in my faith walk as an unbelievable example, so it's good to do this with you, Buddy."

Ham stepped up to the podium with emotions still stirring after Thielen's speech.

"If I cry, I'm gonna be so mad," Ham quipped. "Why you gotta go and do that, Adam?

"Adam has been my guy for a long time — somebody I truly appreciate him and his family, what you've done for this state," Ham followed. "You did it the right way, man, and I'm glad to call you a friend and a brother. We're locked in for life."

Ham interjected a dose of humor with two "dad jokes" to revisit his preferred way of opening a media session.

"There was a time in my career where I did these press conferences pretty often, and I can't do an opening statement like K.O., so I used to always start with a dad joke, so your lucky day, you get another dad joke from me.

"What do you call a pony that has a sore throat?"

"A little hoarse."

"Why did Adele cross the road?"

"To say hello from the other side."

Longshots' dreams came true

Historical precedent would lead one to believe there was very little chance of Thielen or Ham embarking on such incredible football journeys.

"I really do doubt what we're talking about today is something that has happened before and most certainly likely never to happen again, in regards to your journeys being mirrored in so many ways," O'Connell said, "and just something we all can be incredibly proud to have had a chance in my four years here to be around two great players like yourself."

As guests in the auditorium felt the absolute specialness of the ceremony and the intersection of their careers, Ham and Thielen reflected on the mentalities that transformed them from dreamers to doers.

From tryout players to roster cuts re-signed to the practice squad, then bottom-of-the-roster guys to leaders on special teams and, eventually, staples of the program elected to multiple Pro Bowls, and in Thielen's case, one of the best receivers in franchise history and a top one in the whole league in 2017.

How did two former Division-II players go from being the longest shots to a couple of the longest-tenured Vikings? Their mindsets were a big part.

"I call it a dog mentality," Thielen shared. "Like, you cannot be denied."

As a football player, Thielen will be remembered for his production and route-running expertise, as well as his pillowy hands and his elastic catch radius. But his wiring is what gave him his greatest advantage.

He relentlessly attacked every task in front of him. He wasn't ever going to be stopped.

"Sometimes it maybe came across the wrong way," Thielen stated mindfully. "But it was this mentality that every single day I'm going to prepare, so that when it's game day, I don't have to think — I can just go. And I can have this different mentality, this little switch that I could turn on and be a different person.

"I always said when you cross those lines, you're not Adam Thielen, dad at home with the kids, you're a different person," he added. "You have to be. You have to have a different mindset. And that mindset can't just be on Sundays. It's Wednesday practice when everybody else is maybe going through the motions. I treated those like game day. I was just as mad at a bad play or a drop or missed assignment on Wednesday as I was on game day. And that was where I felt like I could separate myself from others."

Ham credited a willingness to do "what's necessary" for helping him gain traction in the league and grow in a variety of roles.

"Not letting the thought of what your purpose is dictate the way you move," Ham said. "I think purpose is being obedient to where you are and what you have in front of you. I think for both of us, we had to become special teamers before we got a shot [on offense]."

Ham continued making substantial contributions on special teams, and O'Connell devised ways to integrate a fullback more into his offense because of his opinion of Ham.

"Our first year together, I didn't play a lot on offense," Ham said about 2022. "As the years have gone on, I started playing more on offense but had to find where this team needed value. Once I find that, I've got to make sure I do everything in my power to make sure I bring that value."

Thielen's head coach at Minnesota State, Mankato, Todd Hoffner, knows all about Thielen's "competitive edge." Hoffner delineated it as one of the controllable factors essential to his "magical journey."

"All he needed was a chance. Not a lot of — I shouldn't say 'not a lot of' — no football programs necessarily gave him opportunities to play," Hoffner, who still coaches the Mavericks, recalled at a reception after the press conference. "He always played with something to prove. I think you saw today that he played with that edge to him — the competitive edge — and he had always had that piece of his equation of his game. You don't know that as a coach until you get to work with him, but he's a self-made man. He worked very hard to get what he got, and he earned every bit of it."

Nowadays, when children and parents ask Hoffner about Thielen, whom he calls "the greatest football player to ever come out of Minnesota State," the coach brushes over how well Thielen ran his routes and caught the ball; Hoffner mentions he was unsurprised Thielen was "hidden" so to speak as a recruit searching for any college's interest because he was a multisport athlete at Detroit Lakes High School — "He didn't prioritize things; he went to state in golf," Hoffner said with a smile — and he cared about doing every endeavor at the highest possible level. The real difference was Thielen's competitiveness.

"I can probably share this now: His freshman year when he redshirted — you would think an NFL player would have come in and started right away as a Division-II player, (but) he redshirted his first year — he dove into the end zone, in practice, for a ball and separated his shoulder," Hoffner recalled. "And he got right back up and obviously was feeling it a little bit, this, that and the other way. But he was right back at it just a few practices later, so he was really tough-minded, competitive. Man, you knew he was feisty."

As Thielen spoke, the 35-year-old made sure to point out his rare circumstances. "A kid from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, is not supposed to play in the NFL," he said, "let alone 13 years — and 11 of those with my hometown team."

Thielen looked back to the days Minnesota held its training camp in Mankato, gracing the same fields he dominated discreetly and returned to with much to prove to himself and the supporters who showed up, although "I bet 99.999% of the people didn't think I'd ever play a down of football [in the NFL]," he said.

"But just the support that they had coming out, watching practices, being there to take pictures, thinking that was probably my last training camp ever," Thielen continued sincerely. "(I'm) very thankful for that."

Hoffner has fond memories of that first training camp, including Thielen not taking "any grief from anybody," (picking on a D-II product isn't always smart) and attending with his son. Thielen, of all people, happened to launch a ball to the top of the stands following a night practice that Hoffner's son caught.

"Everybody was trying to, you know, get underneath his skin and to talk trash to him, but he used that to motivate himself, and he never backed down from anybody," Hoffner said proudly. "I distinctly remember a lot of DBs back in the day trying to basically intimidate him. And that didn't work very well."

Hoffner added, "He didn't talk trash himself, but he used other people's trash as motivation for himself."

Likewise, Hoffner has enjoyed watching the majority of Thielen's pro career from a close vantage point. His climb from the practice squad to Second-Team All-Pro status was inspiring, and so is his commitment to principles outside of the game — importantly, his walk with Jesus Christ and his bond with his family.

We asked Augustana Head Coach Jerry Olzewski about the first thing he says when people ask him about coaching Ham.

"Man of character who did everything right every day, every moment," Olzewski said. "It mattered to him that he did it right, and he's done that. What you see is what you get.

"I think he stayed humble and hungry throughout the whole journey," Olzewski added. "He started believing in himself more and had to be convinced of it a little bit, but once he got out there and figured he belonged, he stayed hungry the whole time, not so much about the competition but to himself."

Olzewski lobbied the Vikings to consider inviting Ham on a tryout basis to the team's 2016 minicamp, an arrangement through which Thielen's origin story with the Vikings was launched in 2013.

"We talked a lot about being consistent," Olzewski recalled from his pre-camp conversation with Ham that's almost 10 years old. "You can be good for a snap or three, but you've got to be consistent to stay, and that's the difference in the league. Guys can show a flash in the pan, so just get there, be consistent and stay hungry every day. Want it more than anybody else and don't let anybody tell you that you don't belong."

Overall impact so far and beyond

While there is sadness that Thielen, 35, and Ham, 32, won't be lacing their cleats anymore, they have left amazing legacies and have tremendous opportunities to continue to grow those by helping the Twin Cities community they now call home, as well as their hometowns and college stomping grounds.

"I know both of you will continue to influence generations of players who grew up in Minnesota with the dream of one day playing for the Vikings because you lived out that dream — but you more than made it," Vikings Owner/President Mark Wilf said in a video message that opened the program. "You became Pro Bowlers, All-Pros, Men of the Year and team captains on the field, in the locker room and in this community. We're so proud to have you retire where your professional careers began."

Thielen and Ham are excited to build on their efforts not for personal gain but because they're the types who maximize opportunities and appreciate their platforms for impact.

Being "a stay-at-home, full-time dad will be fun," Thielen said. "Then I think just day-to-day, still trying to figure out exactly what that will look like. But there's some things that I'm really passionate about and definitely want to stay around the game in some capacity. I don't want to travel all around the country. And probably not going to go down that path with the media and being gone on the weekends. But I definitely want to stay around the game. And we'll see what that looks like as these next few months go."

Additionally, he's eager to be more "hands-on" in the community. Thielen valued his platform as an active professional athlete and he's done incredible work through his foundation, but there are time constraints playing in the NFL, so he'll be freed up to be more present in his off-field pursuits.

"Really, a huge part of the reason why we're making Minnesota home is because we want to be able to give back and be around and be hands-on in this community that's done so much for us," Thielen shared. "I think sometimes, if you don't have anything holding you in a certain place, particularly, you're like, 'Oh, well, we could live anywhere, right?' And those are the things that are like, 'Oh, no, Minnesota's home.' "

Denfeld High School Head Coach Erik Lofald, an alumnus of the school, described his appreciation for Ham's continued connection with the program.

"It's a tremendous amount of pride to know one of us made it here, and we've used it as inspiration," Lofald said. "He has really become the standard not only for our program but for what's attainable.

"My family has known C.J. for a very long time. Both of my parents taught him (Lofald's mom Jill even convinced the once-shy-youngster who spoke with a stutter earlier in life to participate in a school musical), we've coached him, been his neighbor," Lofald said. "To know that he hasn't forgotten about any of those people has been such a really cool thing."

Ham often credits his community involvement as implementations of lessons bestowed by his late mother, Tina, who passed away in 2021 after a courageous fight with pancreatic cancer. Ham and his father, Cortez Sr., each wore chains Thursday featuring pendants with Tina's picture.

"Man, I wish she was here," Ham said with tears. "The man you see now was first shaped by her. Her love, her care, her discipline plays such a huge role in who I am today. The love I have for each person in this room comes from her example, which I know came from her source, Jesus Christ, so I love you, Mom — hope I made you proud."

He also noted his relationship with Cortez, who recorded the speech with his smartphone.

"All I ever had to do as a kid was watch the way that you worked," Ham said. "That alone gave me the understanding that hard work will get you far in life."

Cortez, 65, said his son has provided him with a workout schedule.

"It's been helping me for about a month now," Cortez said. "Working out is now my way of life. I feel good every day and wouldn't want to change it for the world."

He smiled as he remembered how hard his son had worked to shed weight to be faster in hopes of making the Vikings roster. He also recalled a time when someone commented on his No. 30 Vikings jersey in the bathroom at a home game:

"I said, 'That's my son.' The person said, 'He's our son, too.' When he said that, I knew then that a lot of people loved him."

Although their football careers have involved temporarily leaving Minnesota, it has always been and always will be home for Thielen and for Ham.

Their paralleled paths first met when Ham weighed 270 pounds and Thielen, who doesn't cry but at weddings and on Thursday, was supposed to tackle him at "155 soaking wet." Then high schoolers, they met again as opponents on the college gridiron, and they merged at the game's pinnacle.

Thielen assesses their crossover like anyone else — amazed — and with intimate gratitude.

"If you just added up the fact that we played against each other in high school, that we played against each other in college, we played with each other in the NFL — that alone would be like 'Yeah it's amazing to look back on that,' but then you add in just all the time we spent together [in the] offseason," Thielen said. "I mean, we spent all this time together during the season, and then we spent all this time together in the offseason training, like, trying to make each other better, trying to [improve ourselves]— and not just on the football field. We had some amazing conversations in the offseason that had nothing to do with football — just becoming better men and better husbands and fathers, and being able to kind of share stories and struggles — good times, bad times, all those things. He's a lifelong friend, forever."