Our #MCM is Zimbabwean Born American football linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL).
Landman was born on November 19, 1998 in Harare, Zimbabwe where his father, Shaun, was playing international rugby. When his family moved to the United States they settled in Danville, California. For two decades, Nate Landman relied on photos and stories to paint a picture of a life he barely remembered but clung to as the core of his identity.
Landman was born in Zimbabwe in late 1998 and moved to America in early 2002. It wasn’t until this past April that Landman returned to the country he still considers home and connected the dots between expectations and reality. “I would always brag about being from Africa,” Landman said. “People would ask me what it was like, and I tried to describe what my parents would say. Now, I can describe it myself.” And he will, with unabashed excitement.
As a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons, Landman holds the power to support Zimbabwe on a national scale. In fact, the NFL Heritage Program is currently amid its two-week run of recognizing the league’s international diversity. More than 330 players and coaches honored their cultural backgrounds by wearing international flag decals on their uniforms last weekend, and they will do so again with this round of games.
In Landman’s case, a Zimbabwean flag has been placed next to the American sticker on his helmet. He’s the only one with that combination. “It means a lot,” Landman said. “I have a tremendous amount of pride being born in Zimbabwe.” Settling on the decision to emigrate took Shaun and Mandy Landman months. Zimbabwe was the only place they’d ever called home. They were both raised there. They each had extended family there. They fell in love as high-school sweethearts and gave birth to all four children there. But when Shaun’s company, a global engineering consulting firm called Arup, offered him a position in California, the appeal of the American Dream was too strong to pass up.
“The primary driver was the (unstable) economic and political situation in Zimbabwe at the time,” Shaun said. “That, coupled with kids being young enough to make that move – Nate was 3 – so it wasn’t going to be super disruptive to their lives. “We felt if we weren’t going to do it then, we weren’t going to do it ever. So we took the chance.”
Nate is the youngest of the immediate Landman clan at 24 years old. The eldest is his sister, Ocean, who’s 32. Brothers Brendan and Ty are 28 and 30, respectively.
Landman signed with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent on May 2, 2022.He made the Falcons’ initial 53 man roster out of training camp. He was released on December 10, 2022 and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 9, 2023.
