You know Dr. Phil, right? He spent his formative teen years in Kansas City. Of course he’s not the first one to ever go from Kansas City to Hollywood. Dianne Wiest is an accomplished actress with two Oscars. Jason Sudeikis has starred on Saturday Night Live and gone on to TV and movie fame. Count Basie was probably the Godfather of K.C. Jazz and if you haven’t heard One O’Clock Jump from the 1943 movie “Reveille with Beverly,” check it out. It’s a standard. Rob Riggle’s a comedian who’s everywhere: TV, movies, commercials, and banging the Arrowhead drum. Joyce Hall was the founder of Hallmark but, you wouldn’t necessarily consider him Hollywood would you? Paul Rudd, a Shawnee Mission native, has made the jump from K.C. kid to tinsel-town headliner. Of course the most famous of them all would have to be Walt Disney. He wasn’t really Hollywood, but his movies sure were. Now, Disney feeds on it’s own healthy piece of the Hollywood pie.
I’ll tell you who else is going to be a Hollywood star… the Kansas City Chiefs own tight end Travis Kelce.
Travis is the younger brother of Jason Kelce, the Pro Bowl center for the Philadelphia Eagles. Jason and Travis grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio just east of Cleveland. Population, 45,000 or there abouts. It’s not often that two players from the same little town make it to the NFL so two from the same family is special. What may be even more uncommon is that the same coach, while coaching on different teams, drafted both of them: Andy Reid.
In 2014, Jason signed a six year $37.5M contract extension. In January Travis signed a five-year extension for $46M and includes $20.2M in guaranteed money. Playing poker at the Kelce family card night has got to be one fun bet fest.
Nicknamed “Zeus,” Travis Kelce is now the second highest paid tight end in the National Football League.
Family? That’s right, Travis Kelce is close with his family. He has parents who are actively involved in his life, and the apple doesn’t fall far from this tree. Fame10.com, an entertainment website, has published a piece called, “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Travis Kelce” and said,
“Travis Kelce is very family-oriented. He has a great relationship with both of his parents, and regularly shares posts with sweet messages dedicated to his parents Ed and Donna.”
If you haven’t heard the news, Travis is about to become a television star and media icon. You can already see that taking place when you try to find him online. He’s everywhere and you won’t catch Kelce in only the usual football photo poses because his new show beginning this Fall called “Catching Kelce” has taken him and made him into a star this league hasn’t seen since… well… perhaps Jim Brown. Although he may not reach that level of notoriety, Kelce will certainly be mentioned in the major media markets with the regularity of… say… a Rob Gronkowski?
The question is… is Kansas City ready for that kind of media avalanche? Kansas City has always been a small market city and going up against the big boys out West and back East has been like the 1980 U.S. Hockey team standing up to the Russian hockey team: they weren’t supposed to win but they did. Travis Kelce bringing Hollywood media attention to Kansas City will go a long ways towards K.C. beating down those big wig market bullies.
The “problem” will get even more media attention if the Chiefs start the season winning and winning big. We know that 5 out of the Chiefs first 6 games are very winnable (Chargers, Texans, Jets, Raiders and Saints) and if that happens… the circus will be in full bloom by the time “Catching Kelce” airs in October.
Spoiler Alert: if you don’t want to know anything at all about the results of “Catching Kelce”… jump one paragraph.
We’ve already been told that Travis Kelce made a choice at the end of his show. Now, if you keep up with the Kardashians… or these kinds of reality show dating extravaganzas… you’d know that they don’t always end with a match made in heaven. Of course, no one knows for sure if Travis is headed for the altar but by him being willing to reveal that he made a choice… is revealing enough.
On the field Travis Kelce has been nothing short of outstanding. Has he made everyone forget about Mister Best All World Tight End Ever Tony Gonzales? No, but close. In 2014, Football Outsiders ranked Travis Kelce at #4 among tight ends. In 2015, SB Nation ranked Kelce at #3. CBS Sports currently ranks Travis Kelce as the 6th best tight end in Fantasy Football (for what that’s worth).
What seems incredible to think about is that Kelce has accomplished this in only two years on the field. 1,737 yards total and in 2014, his first season, he had a 77% catch rate which led the league.
Vance McDonald, a tight end for the San Francisco 49ers says,
“If you were to ask me who has the best ‘stiff-arm,’ Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski have the best stiff-arm tied for any position in the NFL.”
Travis Kelce is not only hard to defend but his stiff-arm is one of the reasons he excels at yards after the catch. Travis Kelce was 7th in the NFL at yards after the catch (YAC), regardless of position. Only Rob Gronkowski was better among tight ends.
In fact… there are some people who refer to Kelce as… “The Young Gronkowski.” Should be more like… “Young Frankenstein”… for defensive coordinators anyway. Wait… that was a comedy… so that example was bad (but, I will never forget the line, “What knockers! Oh, thank you doctor.”). Oh well, you get the idea.
Travis Kelce really is your all round All-American good guy. At Christmas, he helped Derrick Johnson’s “Defend the Dream Foundation” where Kelce gave his time as a Celebrity Waiter, serving dinners. He’s also given his time to the Kansas Medical Center and their Shadow Buddies program.
On the football field Travis is apparently a quarterback at heart,
“It’s kind of bittersweet [not being a QB] to be honest because naturally my body and my athleticism and my size, I was made to be the new age tight end.”
We’re all glad Kelce is a tight end although… God forbid all of the Chiefs QB’s should ever get hurt in the same game… but it is comforting to know Travis could be a back-up to the back-ups.
What should excite Kansas City Chiefs football fans most about Mr. Kelce is… that he’s in the ascending stages of his career. For the next several years he’ll be getting better and better and better. Kelce’s potential is unlimited. Watch out Gronk!
Now… is Travis Kelce strolling… or running… onto the legendary streets of Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the Hollywood’s Walk of Fame? Yes, that may be getting ahead of the game but you can see Kelce’s rugged handsome face is going to get him other offers. I recall when Jim Brown shunned the NFL at the ripe age of 29 in 1965. Will Travis Kelce go on to star in over 100 movies like Brown? [Who knew that Brown was in that many flicks?]
Next things next. For now, we will all be watching and waiting to see what happens to this young Kansas City star of the gridiron. Will his star rise over Southern California as well?
It’s a bit ironic but, back in 2013, an NFL evaluator said that Travis Kelce was, “a trainwreck character-wise.” The only trainwreck associated with Kelce these days is the one that defensive backs don’t like. And if Hollywood is looking for a “character”… Kelce’s got references.
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