{"id":6057,"date":"2014-01-31T17:21:09","date_gmt":"2014-01-31T17:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=6057"},"modified":"2023-02-17T13:25:48","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T18:25:48","slug":"nfl-family-trees-the-genealogy-of-5-famous-football-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/nfl-family-trees-the-genealogy-of-5-famous-football-families.html","title":{"rendered":"NFL Family Trees: The Genealogy of 5 Famous Football Families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Scott Phillips searches through old newspapers to find stories about five NFL families that have played professional football and made a big impact on the National Football League (NFL). Scott is a genealogical historian and owner of Onward To Our Past\u00ae genealogy services.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Here comes the Super Bowl and\u2014love it or not\u2014it is one of those \u201chappenings\u201d that are impossible to miss in our culture. I enjoy many aspects of the game of football, but one of the ones that has always intrigued me the most is the fact that \u201cfootball\u201d often seems to run in families. In my own case, my sister married a football coach, whose father was a football coach, and now her three sons are also football coaches!\u00a0These football family trees are more common than you might think.<\/p>\n

Star-Studded NFL Family Trees<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then I happened across an older article on the Internet that was titled \u201cThese players\u2019 family trees can beat up your family trees.\u201d While I laughed at the title it got me thinking about the subject\u2014especially because one of the famous football Manning brothers (Peyton Manning) will be directing the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl on February 2.<\/p>\n

The more I thought about the Manning family tree, the more I thought it would be great fun to take a look and see what I might find in the newspapers of GenealogyBank.com<\/a> regarding famous football families during the run-up to Super Bowl XLVIII. I was astonished at what I found\u2014there have been a number of father-son combinations that played professional football (although not at the same time, of course).<\/p>\n

NFL Quarterback 3fer: Archie, Payton & Eli Manning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Almost immediately I found this 1985 article from a Louisiana newspaper. I realize that these days the Manning names that trip off most folks\u2019 tongues are Peyton and Eli (quarterback of the New York Giants), but did you know that their father, Archie, was a big-time NFL quarterback too? The\u00a0Peyton Manning family tree goes beyond just the two brothers. Their father spent 14 years in the NFL, most with the New Orleans Saints, but also with the Houston Oilers and the Minnesota Vikings. Check out this newspaper article and you might get a chuckle out of the part that talks about Peyton being 9 and \u201c4-year-old Eli\u201d going off to nursery school! I wonder if Archie suspected then what we all know now?<\/p>\n

\"Archie<\/a>
Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 26 May 1985, page 103<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I bet Archie did, since only 13 years later this 1998 article from a Georgia newspaper called Eli Manning one of the top 10 prep quarterbacks in the country.<\/p>\n

\"Sons<\/a>
Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Georgia), 4 September 1998, section F, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phil, Chris & Matt Simms<\/strong><\/p>\n

You will notice this news article mentions another pro NFL football lineage, since Chris Simms is also named as one of the top prep QBs. It was in 1987\u2019s Super Bowl XXI that Chris\u2019s father, Phil Simms (quarterbacking the New York Giants), earned the coveted title of Super Bowl MVP, as you can see in this 1987 photo from a Massachusetts newspaper. Phil Simms\u2019s sons, Chris and Matt, both went on to play in the NFL. Chris was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and played for not only the Buccaneers, but also for the Tennessee Titans and the Denver Broncos. His brother Matt played for the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 26 January 1987, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Howie & Chris Long<\/strong><\/p>\n

I followed up my research about the Simms by searching for a Football Hall of Fame member, Howie Long. Now if you watch football on television, you know that Howie Long is currently one of the top NFL commentators. His playing career was an excellent one and he, too, wears a Super Bowl championship ring thanks to the Oakland Raiders\u2019 win over the Washington Redskins, as you can read in this 1984 article from an Oregon newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>
Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 23 January 1984, page 49<\/figcaption><\/figure>It was interesting to also read this 2008 article from an Illinois newspaper about the signing of Howie\u2019s son Chris Long to a long-term contract with the St. Louis Rams. The football genealogy \u201cgene\u201d must be really strong in the Long family too!<\/p>\n
\"Rams<\/a>
Register Star (Rockford, Illinois), 21 July 2008, page 16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kellen Winslow, Sr. & Kellen Winslow, Jr.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then I came across the surname of Winslow in my research. No look at football genealogy would be complete without including Kellen Winslow, Sr. and Kellen Winslow, Jr. You can read about Kellen, Sr. being inducted into the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame in this 1995 article from a South Dakota newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"NFL<\/a>
Aberdeen Daily News (Aberdeen, South Dakota), 29 January 1995, page 17<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then you can read about Kellen, Jr. winning the John Mackey Award for being the best college tight end in this 2003 article from an Illinois newspaper\u2014and you can follow his continuing NFL career now.<\/p>\n

\"Miami's<\/a>
Register Star (Rockford, Illinois), 11 December 2003, page 27<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

5-Pack of NFL Stars: The Matthews<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then I found another NFL surname with quite an amazing genealogy to follow, and that is Matthews football family. First there are the Matthews brothers as reported in this 1983 article from a Texas newspaper. This article talks about brothers Bruce Matthews, who played for the Houston Oilers, and Clay Matthews, Jr., who played for the Cleveland Browns, meeting and playing against one another during their careers.<\/p>\n

\"Brothers<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 10 December 1983, page 14B<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Matthews brothers are sons of Clay Matthews, Sr. who played for the San Francisco 49ers and was the son of Matty Mathews, who, while he didn\u2019t play football, coached boxing, baseball, and track at \u201cThe Citadel\u201d in South Carolina. Clay, Sr.\u2019s son, Clay, Jr., was a Pro-Bowl player. His other son, Bruce, is another familial NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame member, holds the record for Pro Bowl appearances at 14, and now coaches for the Tennessee Titans. Oh and if you take a look at this 1988 article from an Ohio newspaper, you might find it interesting to see a listing for Clay III, age 1 at the time.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 8 January 1988, page 34<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then you can click and find the next generation\u2019s football success as Clay Matthews III pursues his outstanding career with the Green Bay Packers. And wait there is more! How about Casey Matthews<\/span> who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles? Yes indeed! He is from the same lineage. Now this is some kind of football genealogy and football family!<\/p>\n

Newspaper Search Tip:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Attention sports fans\u2014did you know that you can search from GenealogyBank\u2019s Tables & Charts page<\/span> to find old sports stats and charts for all popular American sports like football, baseball, basketball, golf and tennis? Also, make sure to follow the American Sports History<\/a> Pinterest board to learn more interesting facts about famous names in sports.<\/p>\n

Share Your Football Family Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

So tell me\u2026who have I missed in this article and what is your favorite Super Football genealogy? Do you have some football superstars in your own family tree?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Payton Manning and Clay Matthews come from famous football families. Learn about five of the most successful and famous NFL families and their family trees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12285],"tags":[6276,6287,6290,6282,6278,6289,6285,6286,6275,7422,12,6281,6284,6283,6279,6288,6148,6146,6274,6270],"class_list":["post-6057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","tag-archie-manning","tag-bruce-matthews","tag-casey-matthews","tag-chris-long","tag-chris-simms","tag-clay-matthews-iii","tag-clay-matthews-jr","tag-clay-matthews-sr","tag-eli-manning","tag-football","tag-genealogy","tag-howie-long","tag-kellen-winslow-jr","tag-kellen-winslow-sr","tag-matt-simms","tag-matty-matthews","tag-national-football-league","tag-nfl","tag-peyton-manning","tag-phil-simms"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6057"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89629,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6057\/revisions\/89629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}