The Untold Truth Of Jason And Travis Kelce's Father, Ed

Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images

Alongside ex-wife Donna, Ed Kelce had spent more than a decade watching his two children rise to NFL greatness — Jason Kelce with the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce with the Kansas City Chiefs — without even a local news interview to his name. Of course, that all changed once the latter started dating the biggest pop star in the world.

Indeed, ever since Travis entered into a relationship with Taylor Swift, Ed has become something of a media regular, whether it's talking to the tabloid press, appearing on his sons' podcast "New Heights," or simply telling it like it is on his own social media pages. And he's become a hugely popular figure, too, particularly within the Swiftie community, who have appreciated his constant support of their beloved icon. But what exactly do we know about the man himself? From military dreams and meet-cutes to Christmas traditions and celebrity beefs, here's a look at the most famous footballing dad's untold truth. 

David Eulitt/Getty Images

Travis and Jason Kelce aren't the only members of their family to possess sporting prowess. Their father, Ed Kelce, who grew up in the Cleveland town of Collinwood, may well have graced the NFL himself had a high school injury not cut short his budding football career.

Ed, who after graduation briefly attended Ohio State University, was also pretty nifty on the baseball field as a youngster. But he's since had to make do with watching his two sons rise to greatness instead. During an appearance on their "New Heights" podcast, he recalled Jason's very early beginnings: "The first thing you did was, you were a toddler on the living room floor, and you rolled a ball to me, you rolled it back, and we played that way, and that's where it all started."

Ed went on to give both boys their own specially built area in the family home's garage to practice sports and also coached them in T-ball and coach-pitch baseball. "It was very apparent to me when you were [in] high school that there was something outrageously special about both of you," he explained.

Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

It's fair to say that Ed Kelce didn't have much luck as a young adult. As well as having his sporting dreams shattered by injury, the Cleveland native also had to deal with the disappointment of being rejected from the military for the very same reason.

Having grown up in a family where military duty was pretty much a given, Ed believed that he would have no problem following in their footsteps. "We're also talking about family [that] lived through World War II, so that's what everybody did because that was the background," he explained to sons Travis and Jason on their podcast "New Heights," later going on to post an Instagram photo of his Uncle Ed in his uniform as further proof. 

However, that old injured knee proved to be Ed's downfall once again, as his application was rejected. A further blow came when he instead enlisted in the Coast Guard. After making it to boot camp, the footballing dad discovered he had Crohn's disease and was subsequently let go from the program.

Perry Knotts/Getty Images

As the father of two multi-millionaire sons, Ed Kelce is unlikely to ever want for anything ever again. But he no doubt had to get used to the experience. Having had both his sporting and military dreams shattered, the Cleveland native subsequently brought home modest pay packets while forging a career in the steelworks industry, firstly in the lab and then as a rep selling various products to manufacturers.

And he made sure to teach Jason and Travis Kelce what a hard day's graft looks like, often bringing the pair to his mill workplace. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, he recalled, "I'd take them there — hard hat, safety glasses, boots, the whole nine yards."

"I'd tell them, 'You can have a job like your mother's, or you can have a job like mine,'" Ed went on to add, referring to his ex-wife Donna's profession as a banker. Of course, the Kelce brothers went on to prove, and rather emphatically, that these weren't exactly the only choices.

Michael Owens/Getty Images

Ed Kelce and his ex-wife certainly have an interesting origins story to tell the grandkids. On one particular night back in the 1970s, Donna Kelce had planned to go on a date to the theater with a completely different guy. However, while stopping off at a joint called Fagan's, she met eyes with her future husband, and pretty soon, all thoughts about the rest of the night went out of the window.

"We were supposed to go to a play, and I never made it," Donna told sons Travis and Jason Kelce on their "New Heights" podcast about the poor schmuck she stood up. "Your dad and I talked forever. It was a good play, too! I really wanted to see it."

Ed was more surprised than anyone when Donna favored him over the theater guy, largely due to the fact that he was immersed in cement from his steel lab day job at the time. "We started talking, and she gave me a ride home," he explained on the same podcast. "She came in, and I told her, 'Hold on, let me change.'" Following a speedy shower, Ed accompanied Donna to another bar, and the rest is history.

David Calvert/Getty Images

Just like Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard, and NBC journalist Cynthia McFadden, Ed Kelce suffers from the inflammatory condition known as Crohn's disease.

The Cleveland native was first diagnosed with the condition — which has side effects including diarrhea, tiredness, abdominal pain, malnutrition, and weight loss — as a teenager while attending boot camp for the Coast Guard. "I went through most of the basic training with some severe gastrointestinal issues," he told his sons Jason and Travis Kelce on their "New Heights" podcast. "[The Coast Guard] don't need sick people in the service; they need people who are ready to perform."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, general health and well-being is a regular topic on Ed's own podcast "Stories with Papa," including how healthy living can help ward off the number one killer for both women and men in minority groups — heart disease. "If they can learn something and take it home that keeps pops or grandpa around for a few extra years, I'll take that all day," Ed told Yahoo! Life about what he hopes listeners can take from such conversations. 

Cooper Neill/Getty Images

So, which of the Kelce brothers takes most after their father? Well, don't ask the man himself. While addressing the subject on his NFL superstar sons' podcast "New Heights," Ed Kelce appeared to be distinctly uncertain.

"There are mannerisms, tones, speech things, the way we address people that are very similar between me and Jason [Kelce]," Ed remarked about his son, who many have described as his mini-me. Indeed, in one particular Reddit post relating to his and his ex-wife Donna's high school yearbook photos, users couldn't get over how much he looked like his oldest son.

Jason and Ed might apparently share the same cheeks, eyes, and square jawline. But the latter doesn't necessarily believe that they share the same personalities. "As far as, do I see more of myself in Jason than [Travis Kelce]?" he went on to ask and answer in a non-committal way. "No, in some ways, it might be the other way."

Never let it be said that Ed Kelce lacked Christmas spirit when he lived under the same roof as his two NFL star sons. Indeed, the former steel industry professional was so determined to give Travis and Jason Kelce the best holidays possible that he'd take on a second job during the festive period.

See's Candies was where Ed gained employment to make a little extra money, which would then go toward the boys' presents. Not that they were always appreciative of the gesture, as they admitted on their podcast "New Heights."Referring to one particular Christmas, Jason revealed that he and his sibling managed to track down their most wanted gift, an Xbox, before the big day. But they were then briefly shamed for doing so when December 25th eventually arrived.

"And then, on Christmas Day, we open the gift, acted surprised, or at least we thought we were, and apparently it didn't work," Jason said. "We were sitting there playing Xbox after the festivities, like within moments, and mom came into the room and said, 'You know, your father takes a second job around the holidays just to see the look on your guys' face when you open the gifts,' and we were so sad for about 15 seconds — and we were back to playing Xbox."

In the early 2010s, Ed and Donna Kelce decided to end their marriage of nearly 25 years. Luckily, sons Jason and Travis Kelce didn't have to witness any public slanging matches as a result. Instead, their parents ended things respectfully and amicably. In fact, they're very much still friends, as proven by the fact that they've often been pictured watching their offspring on the football field together in the same box. 

"We get along great," Donna told her sons' hit podcast "New Heights" in 2024. And when asked whether she ever regretted marrying their father, the former banker answered emphatically, "No, never, because I got you two." This wasn't the first time that she'd addressed her relationship with Ed in public, either.

In the documentary film "Kelce," both parties revealed that they only chose to keep their marriage going for so long because of their children. "If we had split as we probably both would have preferred, that would have been a nightmare with the logistics, getting kids where they had to be and providing all the support," Ed explained (via People).

No one could accuse Ed Kelce of failing to take his duties as a grandfather seriously. The former steel industry worked upped sticks during the pandemic from his native Cleveland to Philadelphia in order to help out with son Jason Kelce's three children.

Indeed, the Super Bowl champion and his wife Kylie can now call upon Ed at a moment's notice due to the fact that he resides just a mile down the road from their nine-acre farm estate. And it's not just childcare where the proud grandad makes himself useful. He's also pretty handy when it comes to gardening and particularly growing produce.

And no one was more surprised about Ed's greenfingers than his other son. "We never got vegetables growing up," Travis Kelce claimed while he and Jason were talking to their dad on their podcast "New Heights." "I never ate a single vegetable growing up." Although Ed insisted that corn and green beans were staples of their childhood diets, his boys argued that Giorgio's Oven Fresh Pizza was far more likely to be at the dinner table than anything nutritional.

Kara Durrette/Getty Images

The reason that Ed Kelce has been thrust into the limelight, of course, is that his youngest son has begun dating the most successful and ubiquitous pop star of the modern age. Luckily, the former steel industry worker seems to be a fully-fledged Swiftie.

In a 2023 chat with People, Ed recalled his initial introduction with Travis Kelce's current beau, Taylor Swift, at the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium. The "Shake It Off" singer made a great first impression, particularly the fact that she had no qualms about tidying up after everybody: "She gets up to go get a drink or something and she starts picking up empty bottles, cans, plates that are scattered around ... And I'm just thinking, I don't think she got the diva memo."

Ed, who's since been spotted alongside Swift at several of Travis' games, went on to add, "She didn't get the spoiled musician. She doesn't know how to pull that off. And that, really, to me, said a whole lot. She's very smart. I mean, very. That comes through right away." As to what they talked about, well, on the "New Heights" podcast, Travis joked that his dad would probably have discussed how he took out all of Swift's CDs at his local library and burned them onto his computer "because that is legal as a taxpaying citizen."

"My job is to help you find a passion and then feed that passion," Ed Kelce told his sons Travis and Jason Kelce on their "New Heights" podcast about his role as a supportive father. "Whatever you want to do, I'm there." And the Cleveland native has continually practiced what he's preached.

Indeed, Ed and his equally occasionally shady ex-wife Donna formulated a system that ensured — for the most part, anyway — that at least one parent would be in the stands for each and every one of the Kelce brothers' NFL games. "Divide and conquer," he explained to the Los Angeles Times.

Of course, Mom and Dad were able to attend the same match in 2023 when Jason's Philadelphia Eagles took on Travis' Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. "We'll try to enjoy it," Ed said of the special occasion. "But by 10 o'clock Sunday night, somebody's brokenhearted and somebody's celebrating. We'll deal with that the best we can when it happens." With the Chiefs winning 38-35, it was the youngest of their two sons that they had to congratulate, and their oldest they had to console.

Considering how much X, formerly known as Twitter, has changed in recent years, many would say that Elon Musk has done him a favor. But in 2024, a confused and seemingly angry Ed Kelce revealed that the multi-billionaire had banished him from the controversial platform for the rest of eternity.

"Arms dealers are free to peddle their wares on X, but I'm banned for life and they won't say why, just a generic 'Terms Of Service' violation,'" Ed wrote in a series of Facebook posts about the decision (via The Independent). The footballing dad then claimed he only ever uses social media to repost articles from other sites about his sons Jason and Travis Kelce and to get the latest updates from the NFL world.

"I was active on X/Twitter from September to February, reading others' posts," Ed went on to explain. "Apparently the X Twits believe I posted something contrary to their rules in May or June 2023." The former steel industry worker then put forward the theory that he'd been hacked, arguing that X's security left a lot to be desired. He finished his tirade with, "My comments when I started this conversation were merely to highlight the hypocrisy of these social media turds."

When it comes to gift giving, Ed Kelce undoubtedly subscribes to the old adage that it's the thought that counts. In 2024, the Cleveland native revealed that he was planning to spend no more than $10 on a 35th birthday present for his son Travis Kelce's possible fiance, Taylor Swift.

While appearing on the "Baskin and Phelps" podcast, Ed insisted this wasn't a case of being a cheapskate. "You're not going to crush Taylor Swift with a gift that cost, you know, $100,000," he argued, not unreasonably considering the "Blank Space" singer has a reported net worth of $1.1 billion. "You've got to get something that tweaks the strings of her heart that you spend 10 bucks on," he continued. "Then she'll just be all gooey. You've got to find something that triggers the emotion."

And Swift isn't the only member of Ed's inner circle who's given such treatment. "There's nothing they want that they don't already have," he went on to add about his two superstar sons. "You have to look beyond that. You've got to dig down and come up with something special."

In 2023, Bethenny Frankel took to Instagram to give her thoughts about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's rumor-mongering romance. And the "Real Housewives of New York City" star didn't mince her words, describing the former (via The Independent) as someone who "loves to be the center of attention" and the latter as a "peacock." But she was soon put in her place by Travis' father, Ed Kelce, and in the most perfectly succinct style, too.

Addressing Frankel's comments in a Facebook post, Ed simply responded, "Who TF is this troll?" The reality TV favorite later claimed on her podcast "Just B with Bethenny Frankel" that she wasn't attacking Taylor and Travis' relationship before remarking, in what some would say was a blatant case of pot calling the kettle black, "I just wish he [Ed] would have expressed an opinion versus just a verbal insult, because I think, you know, as we teach our kids, it's better to express yourself than to just criticize."

This isn't the only time that Ed has leaped to the defense of his youngest son with just five words, either. After hearing Lil Wayne rap, "I twist my Taylor spliffs tight at the end like Travis Kelce," on Kanye West's "Lifestyle," the Cleveland native posted on Facebook, "Mental illness on full display."