Jordan Ellis, the sports psychologist who quietly captured Rowie Harper's heart during a league mental health workshop, came from a family that valued connection, curiosity, and quiet resilience—traits that shaped him into the steady, empathetic man Rowie fell for.

Jordan grew up in Ann Arbor, a college town buzzing with University of Michigan energy. His parents—David Ellis, a high school English teacher and varsity swim coach, and Sarah Ellis, a pediatric nurse—raised Jordan and ...