July 1, 2021

Sunny’s Pizzeria owner Jon Oppold finally got to meet Minnesota Vikings player C.J. Ham, the namesake for the CJ Hammer pizza.

Oppold missed Ham in January when the fullback stopped by the neighborhood pizzeria. This time, Ham reached out to Oppold on social media to make sure that he and Sunny, the family’s French bulldog, would be there.

“He is just such a kind person, and I really appreciate him making a special trip to meet Sunny and I after we missed him the last time,” Oppold said. “He’s  just how you’d want a pro athlete to be: kind, humble, polite, just an all-around good guy.”

When Oppold and his wife, Katy, started the neighborhood pizza shop at 26th and Walts in 2019, they created a couple of specialty pizzas named in honor of football greats from the nearby universities. Ham played for the Augustana Vikings.

CJ Hammer is “a spicy Hawaiian-style pizza,” Oppold said. It has ham, bacon, jalapeno, pineapple and sriracha drizzle, with alfredo sauce as the base.

“He is a big fan of the combination on the pizza and said that after he ate it the first time, he went on a jalapeno kick and has been eating them on other things more than he used to.”

Ham was at the pizzeria for almost a half-hour, Oppold said, and posted a photograph on his Instagram story with the family and his pizza.

Oppold, a “huge Vikings fan,” said he’d recognize Ham anywhere, but some of his customers weren’t aware that an NFL player was in their midst.

“I thought it was funny that people were star-struck to see Sunny and did not realize C.J. Ham was in the building. One guy took a pic of Sunny, and C.J. was in the background.

“And he held the door for a lady that asked me if C.J. Ham ever came in to try his pizza 10 minutes after he held open the door for her. I told her that he did that, and her jaw dropped in disbelief. It was pretty funny.”

Minnesota Vikings player C.J. Ham visits Sioux Falls restaurant to try his namesake pizza