The Kelce Brothers: 9 Must-Know Facts About Jason and Travis Kelce (Starting with the Hilarious Reason They Were Kicked Out of Preschool)

Mar. 15, 2025

Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs during an NFL preseason football game on August 10, 2024 in Jacksonville, FL ; Jason Kelce #62 of the Philadelphia Eagles during a game on January 21, 2023 in Philadelphia, PA.Photo:Kevin Sabitus/Getty ; Tim Nwachukwu/Getty

Kevin Sabitus/Getty ; Tim Nwachukwu/Getty

BrothersJason KelceandTravis Kelceare no strangers to theSuper Bowl.

Retired NFL center Jason has two championship appearances and one win under his belt thanks to his 13-season tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, while tight end Travis is vying for his third-straight title (and fourth overall) with the Kansas City Chiefs at the 2025 Super Bowl.

The Chiefs are set to play the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans on Feb. 9 — the same two teams that faced off in 2023. However, with this go-around, Travis won’t be seeing Jason on the opposing sideline.

“I wish he would have played another year, but you know, he’s very content where he is in life right now and I’m happy to help," Travis told reporters on Feb. 3 of his brother, who retired from the NFL in March 2024. “He gets to be around his family girls a little bit more, you know?”

The older Kelce will, however, be cheering on Travis from the stands, along with his wife Kylie, Travis' girlfriendTaylor Swift, and their parents, Donna and Ed.

And though the brothers are most known for their decorated football careers, they’ve also made names for themselves off the field as well. They’ve hosted their joint podcast,New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, since 2022 and have also scored various television gigs, like Travis’Saturday Night Livehosting gig and Jason’s deals with ESPN forMonday Night Countdownand his very own show,They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce.

From growing up in Ohio to playing against each other in the Super Bowl, here’s everything to know about brothers Jason and Travis Kelce.

Jason and Travis were born and raised in Ohio

Jason and Travis Kelce at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 16, 2023.Gabriella Ricciardi/MLB Photos via Getty

Gabriella Ricciardi/MLB Photos via Getty

There are exactly 23 months between Jason and Travis Kelce: Jason was born on Nov. 5, 1987, and Travis arrived on Oct. 5, 1989. The two grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, where their father Ed worked in steel and their mother Donna worked in banking, according toSports Illustrated. Raising two boys so close in age wasn’t always easy, Donna revealed inan interview with FOX 4 Kansas City.

“It’s a lot of broken windows, a lot of, you know, crashes, a lot of fighting … and Travis was always the one that was the instigator because he wanted his brother’s attention,” she shared.

Speaking toNFL Films in 2018, Jason gave some insight into what it was like growing up with his younger brother Travis. “Two-year age difference, so growing up, in typical younger brother fashion, Travis found all the other ways to get the upper hand — and that was the most annoying thing ever.”

Besides annoying each other, their close age gap also led to a natural competition developing between the two. But the competitiveness between the brothers wasn’tallbad, according to Travis. “I think the competitiveness that we had growing up is very big on why we’re even in the NFL in the first place,” he told NFL Films.

Donna told PEOPLE in 2024 that their competitiveness carried over into adulthood, but it’s all in good fun.

“They’re just as competitive as adults today, always jabbing at each other [about] who’s the best,” she said. “It doesn’t stop. They’re each other’s biggest fan.”

They were both kicked out of preschool

Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce as kids.Courtesy of Donna and Ed Kelce

During an episode ofNew Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce,Jason and Travis revealed that they wereboth kicked out of preschool.

Jason explained that he was involved in an incident while “playing at a cafeteria table” with another student. “For some reason, we were stabbing each other with sporks and I hit him hard enough right in the forehead,” he recalled. “I just remember the next day his dad had him under his arm and he had four little spork dots.”

Meanwhile, Travis said he was asked not to return to preschool after refusing to share a checkers set.

“I kept winning and the teacher told me, you know Travis, you have to share and I was like, that’s not how it rolls,” Travis said, adding that he then “threw the chair I was sitting in at her.”

They played football together at the University of Cincinnati

Travis and Jason Kelce in 2017.Travis Kelce Instagram

The Kelce brothers played multiple sports in high school: They both played football and baseball, and Jason played hockey in the winters while Travis played basketball. But when it came to college, Jason attended the University of Cincinnati and walked on to their football team as a linebacker before becoming an offensive lineman,Sports Illustratedreported.

Two years later, despite having multiple scholarship offers for football, Travis decided to follow his brother and play at Cincinnati. “Being two years behind him, I’ve naturally always kind of followed his footsteps,” he said inan interview with NFL Films. “Being on his team, knowing that he’s already going through this system — it just made the most sense.”

But Travis' college football career was almost cut short when, after his freshman year in 2009, he failed a drug test. It resulted in him having his scholarship revoked and being kicked off the football team — until Jason stepped in. Jason had Travis move in with him and some other teammates — “So I could keep an eye on him,” Jasontold thePhiladelphia Inquirer—and also spoke to the head coach about letting Travis back on the team. His big-brother efforts worked.

“I’ve never really asked how he got me back on the team,” Travis said toSports Illustrated.“That was my brother just being a big brother, looking out for me every step of the way and fighting for the success story.”

Travis wears No. 87 in honor of Jason

Travis Kelce takes the field.Peter Aiken/Getty

Travis has worn number 87 for the entirety of his career with the Chiefs — and that number pays special tribute to his big brother Jason. The tight end revealed in a post-game exchange with Jason that he had selected the number in honor of Jason’s birth year, 1987.

“You’re the only reason why I wear 87 anyways,” Travis said to Jason on the sidelines. “I never told you that, man. You started the legacy.”

Travis elaborated on his decision to wear number 87 inan interview with NFL Films. “If there is a Kelce legacy, two brothers making it to the NFL, it all started in 1987 because this big guy was born in 1987,” Travis said while sitting beside Jason.

They played each other in Super Bowl 2023

Jason and Travis Kelce on the field.Cooper Neill/Getty

The Kelce brothers made history on Feb. 12, 2023, when they became the first brothers to ever play each other in the Super Bowl.

The brothers have always wanted to face off on the Super Bowl field, Travis said on their podcast,New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce.

“It’s wild and kind of surreal,” he shared. “I feel like I’ve been getting asked this question for my entire career. ‘What would you feel if you played your brother in the Super Bowl?’ The entire time I’ve been like, ‘That’s been the goal.’ Now that it’s actually happening, it’s kind of sick. Nowsomeone’s gotta send their brother home.”

Though Travis and the Chiefs ultimately won the Super Bowl, the two brothers shared an embrace both before and after the game.

Though both are busy with their own teams, they still enjoy coming out in support of each other. After the Eagles were eliminated following the playoffs in January 2024, Jason saidhe would try to come out to the Chiefs next gameto see his little brother play.

“I don’t know, that’s one of the beautiful things about the off-season, it’s unscheduled,”Jason saidafter the Eagles loss. “So, you know, obviously my brother’s still in the playoffs. I don’t get to watch him play very often, maybe I’ll get an opportunity to go watch one of those games this week.”

The following year,Jason cheered on Travis as the Chiefsdefeated the San Francisco 49ers at the 2024 Super Bowl, making Kansas City back-to-back champions.

They host a podcast together calledNew Heights With Jason & Travis Kelce

Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce on their podcast.New Heights/Youtube

New Heights/Youtube

The Kelce brothers debuted their joint podcast,New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, in September 2022. Despite their demanding football schedules, the duo record weekly episodes — between 60 and 90 minutes — discussing their games, trending NFL news and sports headlines.

“It’s been good to just have that set amount of time to be able to just sit down and chat,” TravistoldForbesabout their podcast. “It’s like we’re just kicking it at dinner back when we were in high school and college together.”

The brothers have had some of football’s biggest names join them on their podcast, including former New England PatriotRob Gronkowski, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“I’m having a blast,” Travis toldForbes. “It’s fun to just do something with my brother weekly.”

Travis is a proud uncle to Jason’s three daughters

David Eulitt/Getty; Kylie Kelce/Instagram

“Those girls warm my heart. They’re the absolute best,” Travis said of his nieces while speaking to media, including PEOPLE, at a 2025 Super Bowl press conference. “Kylie and Jason are just unbelievable parents, great people first off, just unbelievable parents.”

While Jason’s young daughters Wyatt, Elliotte and Bennett will not attend the 2025 Super Bowl, Kylie did reveal on an episode of her podcastNot Gonna Lie, that she plans toget the girls “Go Uncle Trav” T-shirts.

“I will say we have made moves to get the girls ‘Go Uncle Trav’ shirts because they love their uncle, and of course they love cheering him on," Kylie said. “And to be fair, they love cheering on the Birds too, but he is our family and I wanna make sure that the girls feel included.”

Jason gave Travis a sweet shout-out when he retired from the NFL in 2024

Jason Kelce walking off the field in December 2021.Tim Nwachukwu/Getty

After 13 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, Jason announced that he was walking away from his career as a professional player on March 4, 2024.

“Stepping on the field was the most alive and free I had ever felt. It was a visceral feeling with football unlike any other sport,” he said during a press conference.

He mentioned his brother during his emotional speech, saying, “We won countless Super Bowls in our minds, before even leaving the house.”

They’ve both had various stints on television

Travis Kelce hosts Episode 1840 of Saturday Night Live on March 4, 2023 ; Jason Kelce during a taping of They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce on January 3, 2025, in Philadelphia, PA.Will Heath/NBC via Getty ; AP Photo/Chris Szagola

Will Heath/NBC via Getty ; AP Photo/Chris Szagola

Beyond football, Jason and Travis have started to build careers in front of the camera. Travis was the first to venture into reality television, hosting his own dating show, Catching Kelce, in 2016. On the elimination-style show, Travis met one woman from each of the 50 states and went on a series of dates during the series to find his perfect match.

Since then, Travis has hosted a March 2023 episode ofSaturday Night Liveand the 2024 game showAre You Smarter Than a Celebrity?. He also played Ed Lachlan inRyan Murphy’s seriesGrotesquerie.

Jason, for his part, was the subject of the 2023 Amazon Prime Video documentaryKelce, which documented his 2022-2023 season with the Philadelphia Eagles. Since retiring from the NFL, Jason has served as a broadcaster for ESPN’sMonday Night Countdownand the host ofThey Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce, a five-week series that premiered in January 2025.

source: people.com