Patrick Mahomes II is playing his fourth season as quarterback for the Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs, but his entire life has revolved around sports. His father, Patrick Mahomes Sr., is a retired baseball player, per the Star-Telegram. He had a career as a “solid relief pitcher,” playing for six MLB teams between 1992 and 2003. The younger Mahomes spent lots of time at baseball stadiums as a child. Acccording to the Kansas City Star, football was his third-best sport while in high school, but he decided to concentrate on it “largely because he had so much to learn.” His father attempted to dissuade him from playing football, as he worried that the game was too brutal and would have long-term negative effects on his son’s health. As reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the younger Mahomes received an offer from the Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2014 MLB Draft Day, and he had to officially decide between baseball and football as his father sat by his side.

“He just fell in love with football. I knew that,” Mahomes Sr. later recounted. “There was so much for him to learn in football and that’s what he loved.” Mahomes II instead went to Texas Tech University, where he played both baseball and football for two of his three years there, dropping out before his senior year to enter the 2017 NFL draft, per Cheat Sheet. The Chiefs selected him in the first round of the draft as the 10th overall pick.

Father and son share a sports legacy

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