Submitted photo Jaxson Hayes, the No. 8 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, is pictured here after a Texas game with the McClain family of Fort Dodge: Samantha (middle left) and Brian (middle right) with their kids, St. Edmond students (left to right) Dominic, Mya and Gavin.

To the outside world, Jaxson Hayes is an athletically-blessed 6-foot-11 man-child. An uber prospect who is just getting started at 19 years old. The freshman of the year in the Big 12. A Top-10 pick in last week’s NBA Draft, and a soon-to-be multi-millionaire.

To the family of Fort Dodge’s Samantha and Brian McClain, Hayes is still just an energetic, polite young man who loves the Dariette and playing nerf guns or “ghost in the graveyard” with his cousins on the Theiss Farm off of Williams Drive.

Hayes is the nephew of the McClains, who have three children at St. Edmond and have lived in Fort Dodge for well over a decade. Samantha (Kinne) McClain is a graduate of Jefferson-Scranton and former standout Iowa Central basketball player who now manages the student bookstore on the ICCC campus. Brian, a graduate of both Iowa Central and Buena Vista, is a juvenile court officer for the 2nd Judicial District.

Before Hayes hit it big as a rising college basketball star at Texas and became one of the hottest commodities in this year’s draft, he was a typical, family-oriented teenager who often spent time in the summer with Sam, Brian and their kids.

What makes Hayes special isn’t his explosiveness around the hoop, his high ceiling as a rim protector or the 7-foot-4 wingspan, Samantha McClain insists. She notes that even as his name skyrocketed up the prospect list and stardom suddenly arrived, the son of former Drake University basketball star Kristi Kinne and University of Iowa and NFL tight end Jonathan Hayes didn’t really change at all when it comes to what matters most.

“He’s still the same person … just a really good, down-to-earth young man,” said McClain, who is also Hayes’ godmother. “He loves his parents. He loves his family. He’s respectful and kind. He’s a church-going kid. He has a great sense of humor.

“Jaxson would come to Fort Dodge almost every year and stay with us when he was growing up, and he really had fun here. We’d go get ice cream, he’d feed horses in the morning and ride my husband’s tractor, he’d play with his cousins all over our (eight-acre property), we’d go down to Adventureland … just the everyday stuff kids do in the summer. And even though his life has changed pretty dramatically because of basketball (in recent years), he hasn’t.”

McClain’s close relationship with Hayes afforded her the opportunity of a lifetime last week. Each prospect was given a limited number of tickets to invite family or friends to attend the NBA Draft at the Barclays Center in New York.

Hayes wanted McClain to attend.

“It was an incredible experience, and I think it speaks volumes about his character that he asked me. I was obviously flattered,” said McClain, who was an all-region player for Iowa Central’s national tournament team in 2000 and the school’s Bottenfield Award winner as the Tritons’ top female athlete. “The night was exciting and emotional — almost surreal. We had a lot of fun.

“I’m not sure that, at 19 years old if I were in his shoes, I would have necessarily thought to invite an aunt or uncle, even if we were close. I think it just shows how much family means to him.”

From a basketball perspective, Hayes comes from humble beginnings. He was a reserve as an underclassman on his high school team in Loveland, Ohio, and as recently as his junior year, averaged just five points per game.

“Jaxson was a prototypical ‘late bloomer’ in basketball,” said McClain, who also played for the Triton volleyball program and was an academic All-American. “God obviously graced him athletically — he comes from an incredible gene pool — but he was involved in a lot of other things before basketball became his ‘main’ sport: football, lacrosse … he even did ballet, and is a black belt in taekwondo.

“He injured his thumb once when he was (6-foot-4 or 6-5) and had X-rays. The doctor told Kristi and Jonathan, ‘his growth plates are still wide open.’ So that summer (as a junior), he got on an AAU team for the first time. And he just kept getting taller and taller.”

Hayes went from being a sporadic contributor as a high school junior to joining Romeo Langford’s AAU squad and blocking a Zion Williamson shot attempt in his first game.

“Things kind of took off from there,” McClain said. “It’s been an absolute whirlwind.”

Hayes committed to Shaka Smart and the University of Texas, and his development continued to soar this past season. He was a second team all-Big 12 selection as a commanding shot blocker and efficient shooter.

Even as a relatively new presence on the low blocks, Hayes is very fundamentally sound, which also attracted the attention of NBA franchises.

“Kristi really stressed that, all the way back to when he first started playing ball,” McClain said of her sister, who was a standout at both Jefferson-Scranton and Drake. “I remember when Jaxson in middle school, one of his coaches told him it was OK to shoot a layup on the left side with his right hand. My sister put a stop to that immediately and told him, ‘not in this house you won’t.’

“She’d rather have him miss 10 straight times the right way than do things the wrong way.”

Kristi and Jonathan — who finished at Iowa and then played for the Chiefs from 1985-93 — have made a concerted effort to keep Jaxson’s reality in check as fame and fortune call. Jonathan will live with Jaxson as he begins his career with the New Orleans Pelicans, who acquired Hayes from Atlanta after the Hawks selected him with the No. 8 pick last Thursday night.

“He’s a terrific kid, but he’s also still a teenager. He’s trusting, naive sometimes, and just wants to see the good in everyone,” McClain said. “Thankfully, Jonathan will use his background as a pro athlete and coach (for 13 years) to deal with what tends to be the shadier side of the business until Jaxson is old enough to know better, so to speak.

“It’s funny, because after the draft, we were back at the hotel in the lounge area celebrating. Jaxson had changed into a sweatshirt and jeans and asked if he could go out with some of the other players. He turned to Jonathan and said, ‘dad, can I have some money?’ These young men are about to be millionaires, but you have to remember that they’re still kids and this overnight success can be a lot for them to handle at such a young age.”

McClain also shared a personal story that started as an inside joke between her family and Hayes but became a hot fashion topic on draft day.

“Every month the kids and I would send Jaxson a care package at Texas, and at one point in December, he’d grown his hair out a lot. We put in a letter, ‘you need to get a haircut; you look like ‘Sideshow Bob’ (a television cartoon character from The Simpsons),” McClain laughed. “He took that as a compliment and ran with it. Next thing I know, he has Sideshow Bob as the picture on his Instagram handle, and if you look at pictures from the draft, he’s wearing black loafers with Sideshow Bob socks and a Sideshow Bob necklace.

“All because we wanted him to get a haircut.”

According to McClain, that speaks perfectly to Hayes’s playful nature, even to this day.

“We wondered how going to Texas would change him. It didn’t,” McClain said. “Kristi and Jonathan deserve a ton of credit for that. We’ve always called him ‘Lil’ Man,’ which gets funnier and funnier because he’s a giant now.

“He’s the same Jaxson … I just can’t pinch his cheeks anymore, because he’s too tall.”

The McClains have three children: Mya, who will be a sophomore at St. Edmond; Dominic, who is going into seventh grade; and Gavin, a second grader. Sam has worked in admissions, been the director of admissions, and now runs the book store at Iowa Central, saying, “I’ve always loved it there and am incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given.

“I played for Tom Beneke as a freshman and Mike Brown as a sophomore, and I really enjoyed my athletic and academic experience there,” McClain said. “A lot of the things I take with me (from sports) I know my sister did, too, and we’re passing it along to our kids. My sister says all the time, ‘players play, coaches coach, parents cheer.’ I think that has served us well, and we have our parents to thank for that.

“I remember my mom constantly reminding me when I was young that athleticism fades over time, but your character stays with you forever. It’s who you are.”

As for whether or not Jaxson will visit Fort Dodge again someday, McClain added, “it wouldn’t surprise me at all.”

“I know how much family time means to him,” McClain said. “I know how much he’s enjoyed it in the past, and as his life gets more complicated, I do think he’ll find his way back here for a holiday or during the offseason to simplify things and have fun running around with his cousins again.”