Photo by CC user Steve Simmonds on Flickr.
Every now and again in the World of sport we see family dynasties born, father and son duos that not only both play the same sport but between them become part of the fabric of the sport which they play. There are so many of these duos in U.S. sport from the worlds of boxing, basketball, baseball hockey and American football and today we are going to take a look at some of the most prolific, the most successful and the one’s who have embedded themselves into the history of their respective sports.
Jack and John Elway
Jack Elway is father to John Elway, one of the NFLs greatest quarterbacks, he won back-to-back Super Bowl Championships with the franchise where he spent his entire career, the Denver Broncos. John Elway was Super Bowl MVP in 1997 and following his retirement from the game he took on the role as GM at the Broncos and oversaw them win the Vince Lombardi trophy once again in 2015. John’s father Jack was a successful and highly thought of college coach who also became head coach of World League side Frankfurt during their first two years in action, his success inspired son John to become the Hall of Famer that he is today.
The Mannings
Staying with the NFL, few families have lit the place up quite like the Mannings have, a family that is practically royalty in the eyes of NFL fans and the most successful family to ever grace the field. It all started with father Archie who was an outstanding quarterback for Ole Miss Rebels during the late 60s, he set records and lit up crowds with his dazzling style, pro-football sadly didn’t work out quite as well, his team’s win percentage was just 26% by the time he retired. What Archie set in motion however, his boys would soon continue and both Eli and Peyton Manning are the most successful quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. Peyton is considered as the greatest quarterback to have ever lived and is the only player to win the Super Bowl with two different sides. Brother Eli has done alright for himself too winning 2 Super Bowls with the New York Giants and setting NFL and Giant’s records in the process. It seems unlikely that there will ever be another family the NFL who will dominate in quite the same way that these 3 outstanding athletes have.
Bobby and Brett Hull
The greatest father and son duo ever to grace the NHL, Bobby and Brett Hull have both been inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame, both won the MVP (Hart Memorial) Trophy and both won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship. Son Brett Hull sits 3rd on the All-Time scoring list with 741 goals whilst father Bobby notched up an impressive 610 career goals. An interesting fact about these two is that they are the only father and son duo in any professional sport to have had their jersey numbers retired.
