In honor of Mother's Day, how about we honor some of the top moms in sports?
To qualify, we aren't rating their actual maternal greatness, but rather the achievements of their offspring.
Each of the following mothers has birthed and raised at least two top professional athletes:
Donna Kelce: Travis And Jason Kelce
Donna Kelce is the mother of the first pair of brothers ever to meet in a Super Bowl. Donna accomplished that feat this past season when Jason Kelce's Eagles faced off with Travis Kelce's Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII -- a game she attended donning a combo of Travis' Chiefs jersey on the front and Jason's Eagles jersey on the back.
Trying to be there for both of her sons is far from a first for Mrs. Kelce. On Wild Card Weekend, she made it to Jason's game in Tampa during the afternoon and Travis' game in Kansas City that night, two games that were 1,300 miles apart.
The Kelce brothers both already had Super Bowl rings before their clash, with Jason nabbing his from Super Bowl LII and Travis now with two -- Super Bowl LIV and Super Bowl LVII. You can bet if either of their teams -- the Eagles or the Chiefs -- will win Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, on any of the best sports betting sites.
They've combined for nine first-team All-Pro selections and 14 Pro Bowls. With Travis being one of the best tight ends to ever play in the NFL, setting the record for most 1,000-yard seasons as a tight end, and Jason continuing his excellence on the offensive live, we could see both of them in the Hall of Fame one day. Without Donna Kelce, none of this would have been possible.
Veronica Antetokounmpo And Toya Holiday
There are plenty of brother combos in the NBA, but there are only a couple of mothers with three sons who are NBA players.
Veronica Antetokounmpo was a professional high jumper, born and raised in Nigeria. She married Nigerian national soccer player Charles Antetokounmpo and they moved to Greece after they had their first son, Francis. In Greece, they had four more boys -- Thanasis, Giannis, Kostas, and Alex.
Giannis is clearly the most famous of the Antetokounmpo brothers, but Thanasis and Kostas made NBA rosters as well. They've actually all actually won an NBA championships, with Kostas doing so with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Bubble and Giannis and Thanasis with the Milwaukee Bucks one season later. This made them the first trio of brothers to win NBA championships.
Another trio of brothers in the NBA are the Holidays. Jrue, Justin, and Aaron's mother, Toya Holiday, played women's basketball for Arizona State, where she was named Pac-10 player of the year in 1982, and she clearly passed the the basketball gene on to her children. Her three sons are on three different NBA rosters currently, with Jrue on the Bucks, Justin on the Dallas Mavericks, and Aaron on the Indiana Pacers.
Olivia Manning: Peyton And Eli Manning
Olivia Manning is the mother of arguably the greatest brother combo in sports history -- Peyton and Eli Manning. Her husband, Archie, had an excellent NFL career, mostly as the New Orleans Saints QB, but his accolades were nothing compared to Peyton and Eli.
Peyton won two Super Bowls and is widely considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He won five NFL MVPs, was named first-team All-Pro seven times, and made 14 Pro Bowls. He's in both the college and NFL Hall of Fame after retiring in 2015 with 71,940 total yards and 539 TDs.
Eli also won two Super Bowls and was MVP both times. He also made four Pro Bowls, and is likely to join his brother in the Hall of Fame in a few years.
Olivia gets a special nod as she may become the grandmother of an NFL QB as well. The third Manning brother, Cooper, who had his football career cut short by injury, has a son, Arch Manning. He is the top QB recruit in the nation and will play at the University of Texas in the fall.
No matter if your children made the NFL or NBA, we want to wish everyone a happy Mother's Day -- not just the ones that gave birth to some of the best athletes in the world.
