Heath Hamrick was born in Pasadena, Texas, into a third-generation coaching family. He grew up watching his father, Slugger Hamrick, coach in places ranging from Central Texas to the Rio Grande Valley and back again. A lifelong educator, Heath occasionally has time to dress up as a historical figure to produce videos as "Heath the History Guy" on YouTube. He is also just possibly the most naive political operative in American history, having co-written Worse Than You Think: The Mostly True Story Of Two Teachers Running For Congress Deep In The Heart Of Texas for TCU Press.

Perhaps most importantly of all, Heath was present in Milano on that night in October of 1999 when an entire town mourned for a young man whose life had been cut tragically short. He was also there as those same young men who had sat with tear-streaked faces in the Milano locker rooms bounced back in the memory of #77 and brought a town and a team back to life.