Ed Kelce turns and begins the long walk down the path beside hole 18 of Edgewood Tahoe Resort. He is wearing a straw hat and Hawaiian shirt. His two sons, Travis and Jason, are visible just over his left shoulder.
The brothers are waiting to finish the first round of the American Century Championship, an annual celebrity golf event on the shores of Lake Tahoe. The field is rammed with A-Listers from TV and film and football and beyond.
None draws more devotion than the Kelces and, for five hours, only their golf shots provide respite between requests. To stop for a selfie. To sign a fan’s hat or their jersey or their baby. At one point, a black bear comes to see what all the fuss is about.
And yet, as Ed leaves his kids behind and wanders through the hordes, barely anyone affords him a second glance. Remarkable, really, given he is the patriarch of a family that over recent years has morphed into part-commercial empire, part-royal court.
‘It borders on the surreal,’ Ed, 74 tells the Daily Mail. ‘There’s no ifs, ands or buts about that… it’s pretty crazy when you stop and think about it.’
Travis and Jason had already grown from the suburbs of Cleveland to become NFL legends. ‘I’ve been to six Super Bowls. Can you believe that?’ Ed says with a chuckle. But then his youngest son began dating Taylor Swift and this family was catapulted into another stratosphere.
Ed Kelce described Taylor Swift as ‘one of the most giving and caring people I’ve ever met’
Kelce is the head of a family that has morphed into part-commercial empire, part-royal court
He recently followed his sons’ round at the American Century Championship near Lake Tahoe
‘She is a very special person,’ Ed says. ‘One of the most giving and caring people I’ve ever met.’
To think he didn’t recognize the pop sensation when they first crossed paths a couple of years ago. Travis often invites friends over to his Kansas City home before NFL games and one day Swift walked in with her security guard.
‘Oh my god, I know this kid, but I don’t know what her name is,’ Ed said at the time. ‘Taylor Swift, you idiot,’ his girlfriend, Maureen, replied.
Since then, though, the singer has built a close bond with Kelce Sr – or ‘Papa’, as Travis calls him. They have been spotted arm-in-arm and watching alongside one another in the stands. Ed has spoken about his efforts to find Swift a ‘special’ birthday gift that ‘tweaks the strings of her heart’ and turn her ‘all gooey.’
Back in November 2024, he travelled to Toronto to catch one of the final shows of her epic Eras Tour. He exchanged friendship bracelets with Swifties and then took his place among them. ‘It was like (seeing) The Beatles,’ Ed says, while another concert continues around him.
He doesn’t do many interviews and this one is taking place beside the 17th green at Edgewood.
The 200-yard par three runs along the edge of Lake Tahoe and, during the American Century Championship, dozens of boats park up on the shore. Footballs and pens are hurled at the players to sign, while a DJ conducts the party.
By the time the Kelce boys arrive, it is mid-afternoon and the heat, the noise and the atmosphere are ratcheting up. ‘Oh, I love coming out here,’ Ed says.
Travis Kelce teased possible retirement from the NFL following the Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss
Ed Kelce was seen swapping friendship bracelets at Swift’s Eras Tour show in Toronto
Ed Kelce insisted ‘there was never any doubt in my mind’ that his younger son would play on
For a while, it seemed that both brothers might land in Tahoe as former NFL players. Jason walked away in March 2024 and Travis teased retirement a year later.
The tight end had won back-to-back Super Bowls with the Chiefs but back in February – with a historic three-peat on offer, with his family and girlfriend in the crowd – Kansas City was humiliated by the Philadelphia Eagles. Jason’s former team.
Uncertainty reigned for weeks, until Travis confirmed he was not done yet. ‘Oh, there was never any doubt in my mind,’ his father reveals. ‘Although I kept my mouth shut.’
Did Travis ask for any advice? ‘No,’ Ed says. Would he have offered any? ‘No.’ So how did he know his son would carry on?
‘Because he wasn’t ready to quit. It was a sour taste. That sucked. If you were a Chiefs (player) or a Chiefs fan, that Super Bowl was the worst.’
He didn’t spot any particular scars on Travis after that night in New Orleans. ‘I wouldn’t say I saw that in him (then),’ his dad says. ‘I saw that in him for 35 years raising him. And I knew that when it happened.’
Travis has one year left on his $34.25million deal with the Chiefs. What comes next, only time will tell. All that is certain: the 35-year-old won’t be short of offers.
After calling time on his NFL career, 37-year-old Jason now works as an NFL analyst for ESPN
The brothers were mobbed by fans during the celebrity golf tournament earlier this month
‘I think Travis has all the tools and charisma to do something similar to what Jason’s doing,’ Ed says. ‘Only it will be his.’
Jason is now building a career in broadcasting. The 37-year-old works as an NFL analyst for ESPN and even hosted his own late-night chat show.
‘I’ve always felt that’s where his future lies,’ Ed says of his eldest son. ‘I think it’s great – he picked a time that was right for him (to retire). He made the decision and did it and hasn’t looked back.’
Travis has already taken his first steps into TV and film, too. The 35-year-old hosted a gameshow – ‘Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?’ – and appeared in horror series ‘Grotesquerie’. He will soon make his big-screen debut in ‘Happy Gilmore 2’.
Together, the brothers co-host a hugely popular podcast, ‘New Heights’. So does Jason’s wife, Kylie. Swift is hardly short of fans, either.
Between them all, it’s an empire worth nearly $2billion. Financially, the Kelces still make up a tiny fraction of that, of course, but their footprint continues to expand.
Even Donna Kelce, Ed’s ex-wife, has become a celebrity in her own right. She spent decades working in banking. Now she is making acting cameos and is a contestant in the upcoming series of ‘The Traitors’.
Kelce celebrates with Swift and his mom, Donna, after reaching another Super Bowl
Donna and Ed divorced around a decade ago but both remain devoted to their two sons. Even as ‘Papa’ Kelce has managed to keep a lid on his own profile. He isn’t too bothered by all the noise and attention.
When Travis and Jason were kids, they knew the ‘one way to p** off’ their dad was to leave food on their plate.
His biggest concern in the minutes before this opening round of golf? ‘How are you set for sunscreen?’ Ed asked Travis.
A few hours later, he heads down the 18th hole of Edgewood, which sits on the state line separating California and Nevada. It’s been a while since Ed Kelce crossed another border – from football father to head of a booming empire.
