Author: rincon

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Sometimes, greatness runs in the family.

Several players in sports history have followed in their father’s footsteps to become stars of their own. In fact, some of the greatest players in major North American sports are sons of former professional athletes. 

Not many father-son duos get the opportunity to play together, though — like what LeBron and Bronny James did with the Los Angeles Lakers at the start of the 2024-25 season.

That said, here are the 10 best father-son duos in sports history.

The elder Long had an unusual path to a Hall of Fame career, playing at Villanova right before its college football program briefly shut down. But as he emerged as a standout there, the Raiders selected him in the second round of the 1981 NFL Draft. He went on to become one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL in the 1980s, making eight Pro Bowls and helping the Raiders win Super Bowl XVIII. 

Long’s eldest son, Chris, followed in his footsteps. The second overall pick in 2008, Chris Long had several solid seasons with the Rams before winning a Super Bowl title with the Patriots in 2016 and the Eagles a year later. Long, who finished his career with 70 sacks, was one of the few players in NFL history to win back-to-back Super Bowls with different teams. He and his father also became the first father-son duo to ever win a Super Bowl. 

Kyle Long, meanwhile, played on the other side of the ball. The three-time Pro Bowl guard was a first-round pick of the Bears, and he spent most of his career in Chicago, losing to the Eagles (and his brother) in the memorable “Double Doink” playoff game. He joined the Chiefs for a season in 2021 after a one-year retirement but did not appear in any games with them due to injury. 

9. Cecil Fielder and Prince Fielder

A pair of Fielders are among the top power–hitting father-son duos in MLB history. Cecil Fielder was an All-Star for the Tigers in the early 1990s after stints with the Blue Jays and in Japan, leading the American League in homers in back-to-back seasons. He also became the first AL player since Babe Ruth to lead the league in RBIs for three straight seasons. He later won a World Series with the Yankees, finishing his career with 319 homers and three All-Star nods.

The younger Fielder was every bit the slugger that his father was. He quickly emerged as one of the game’s top sluggers when he was with the Brewers in the mid-to-late 2000s, hitting 50 homers in his third season. He later joined the Tigers, nearly helping them win a World Series in 2012. A six-time All-Star, Fielder’s 50-homer season made the Fielders the first father-son duo to record at least 40 homers in a season. He also hit the same number of homers as his father did in his career. 

Decades before Klay Thompson was a centerpiece of the Warriors‘ dynasty, his father was a key contributor to the Lakers’ dynasty in the 1980s. He helped Los Angeles win a pair of titles, averaging over 10 points per game off the bench in those championship seasons. Prior to that, Thompson was taken with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1978 NBA Draft by the Trail Blazers, enjoying eight solid years there before joining the Spurs in 1986.

Klay Thompson made up half of the “Splash Brothers” twosome that won four titles between 2014-22. The five-time All-Star averaged over 20 points per game in each of Golden State’s title-winning seasons, with the Warriors reaching the NBA Finals two more times during his tenure with the team. The Thompsons are one of five father-son duos to have ever won an NBA title.

The other half of the “Splash Brothers” was the son of an NBA standout, too. Dell Curry broke out as one of the first great 3-point shooters in the league, making 40.2% of his shots from deep over his 16-year career. He also won Sixth Man of the Year in 1994 and is second on the Hornets‘ all-time points leader list.

Of course, Steph Curry took his father’s 3-point prowess to a whole other level. The Warriors star revolutionized the game with his 3-point shooting, winning two MVPs (including the first unanimous one in league history) en route to guiding Golden State to four championships. Curry set the NBA’s all-time record for 3-pointers made in 2021, six months before he won his first Finals MVP. 

The Earnhardts are two of NASCAR‘s most iconic drivers. The elder Earnhardt participated in 676 Winston Cup races, winning 76 of them. Earnhardt’s career came to an end after he was involved in a fatal crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. He was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural class in 2010.

Earnhardt Jr. won 26 Cup Series races, including the Daytona 500 twice (2004, 2014). He had 260 top-10 finishes in Cup races in his career and was named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2021.

5. Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds

Before Barry Bonds reset the record books, his father also joined the record books in a unique way. Bobby Bonds, a three-time All-Star, was just the second player to hit 300 career home runs and steal 300 bases, recording 332 homers and 461 stolen bases.

Three decades after Bonds emerged as a young star with the Giants, his son added to his already Hall of Fame career in a big way during his time in the Bay Area. He won five of his seven NL MVPs during his 15 seasons with the Giants, including four in a row at the start of the century. Bonds broke a couple of home run records as well, hitting 73 homers for the most in a single season ever in 2001 and setting the all-time record for homers with 762.

The Guerreros have left their mark on Canadian baseball history. The elder Guerrero was a four-time All-Star with the Expos, finishing in the NL’s top 10 in homers four times during his eight seasons in Montreal. He added to his historic career in his first season with the Angels, hitting 39 homers in 2004 to win his first and only MVP. The nine-time All-Star became a Hall of Famer on the second ballot.

As for the younger Guerrero, he turned into one of MLB’s best power hitters in just a short time. He hit 48 homers in his third season in 2021, which marked his first of four straight All-Star nods. Guerrero Jr. is only 25 years old, so it’s possible this father-son duo could climb the list.

3. Bobby Hull and Brett Hull

The Hull family produced two of the greatest players in NHL history. Bobby Hull was arguably the best player in the history of the sport during his prime, leading the league in goals seven times and finishing second all-time in goals scored (610) at the time of his retirement. The two-time MVP winner also led the league in scoring three times.

The younger Hull might have been an even better player than his father. Brett Hull scored 741 goals in his career, the fifth-highest in league history. He also won Stanley Cups in 1999 with the Stars and in 2002 with the Red Wings. A nine-time All-Star, Brett Hull was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009, joining his father to become the Hall’s first father-son duo.

2. Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr.

Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. notably made history when they became the first father-son duo to play together in the majors. Before they appeared in 51 games together in the early 1990s, Griffey Sr. played a key role in the Reds‘ World Series triumphs in the 1970s. He was one of the best contact hitters in the game when they won it all in 1975 and was an All-Star a year later when the Reds claimed the World Series again. Griffey Sr. ended his career as a three-time All-Star.

The younger Griffey is known as one of the greatest players in MLB history. He was a 13-time All-Star and an MVP winner, leading the AL in homers four times. Junior, who mostly starred for the Mariners and Reds, also won 10 Gold Gloves in his career. He ranks seventh all-time with 630 career home runs, and he set a record at the time for the highest Hall of Fame voting share in 2016.

1. Archie Manning and Peyton Manning, Eli Manning

Most families would love to have one quarterback good enough to make the NFL. The Manning family not only had three (likely to be four soon), but all three also became top quarterbacks in the league.

Archie Manning was a two-time Pro Bowler over his 14-year NFL career, spending most of it with the Saints in their early seasons as a franchise. While the Saints never had great team success with Manning, he was widely viewed as one of the best passers of the 1970s.

Manning’s two quarterback sons wound up having even better careers than he did. Peyton Manning, the elder of the two, lived up to the hype as a generational prospect when the Colts selected him first overall in the 1998 NFL Draft. He won four MVPs during his time in Indianapolis and brought the Colts a Super Bowl title in 2006. Manning continued his all-time career with the Broncos in 2012, adding another MVP award and Super Bowl championship in the final four seasons of his career. He still holds several NFL records, including MVP wins, and was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2021.

Eli Manning could become a first-ballot Hall of Famer soon, too. The Giants‘ decision to trade up and nab him with the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft paid dividends. While the youngest Manning didn’t have the individual prowess that his older brother had, he led the Giants to a great deal of success. He helped them pull off one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history in the 2007 season, giving the then-undefeated Patriots their first loss in dramatic fashion. Manning took down the Patriots in the Super Bowl again four years later, making him one of a handful of quarterbacks to start in two Super Bowl wins. 

Honorable mentions:

• Sandy Alomar, Roberto Alomar and Sandy Alomar Jr.
• Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders
• Doc Rivers and Austin Rivers
• Joe Bryant and Kobe Bryant 
• Clay Matthews Jr., Clay Matthews III and Casey Matthews
• Ed McCaffrey and Christian McCaffrey
• Marvin Harrison and Marvin Harrison Jr.
• Peter Schmeichel and Kasper Schmeichel
• Tim Hardaway and Tim Hardaway Jr.
• Bill Walton and Luke Walton
• Bruce Matthews and Jake Matthews
• Richard Petty and Kyle Petty
• Calvin Hill and Grant Hill
• LeBron James and Bronny James

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Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are one win away from making NFL history. 

The Chiefs clinched their ticket to Super Bowl LIX with their win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game, giving them the chance to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowl titles. 

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For perspective on the difficulty that comes with three-peating, nine NFL teams (eight franchises) have repeated as Super Bowl champions, but the first eight failed to make it back to the championship game the ensuing season, according to FOX Sports research. So, the Chiefs have already made history in that regard. 

But the two-time defending Super Bowl champions aren’t the only team with such an opportunity in front of them.

The UConn Huskies are the back-to-back men’s college basketball champions. UConn appears to be on track to make the NCAA Tournament again in 2025, but it hasn’t been as strong of a team as it was the last two seasons. Through January, the Huskies already had twice as many losses (six) as they did the year before, when they finished 37-3.

There have been a pair of other teams who’ve recently had a chance to three-peat but fell just short. The Las Vegas Aces lost in the semifinals of the 2024 WNBA playoffs after winning two straight titles. Georgia had the opportunity to three-peat in 2023. However, it was left out of the College Football Playoff that year after losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. 

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at some teams who have managed to pull it off.

Here are some of the teams that have most recently three-peated in their league across a plethora of sports — both professionally and collegiately — in reverse chronological order.

Right now, it’s Manchester City’s world, and the entire Premier League is just living in it. Winners of six of the last seven Premier League championships, Man City has been a runaway freight train, headlined by the attack of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland.

College Softball: Oklahoma (2021-24)

The Sooners have lost just 15 games over the past four years and have shown no signs of letting up under coach Patty Gasso. Oklahoma has beaten Texas and Florida State twice apiece to win its titles.

The one they call Ronaldo helped Real Madrid three-peat in the mid-2010s, along with the likes of Karim Benzema and Alvaro Morata (for one season in the three-peat stretch). Ronaldo’s final season with Real Madrid came in the final season of the team’s three-peat.

The game of basketball has treated the UConn faithful well over the past decade. Losing a whopping five games over four years (151-5), the Huskies were the unstoppable force of women’s college basketball, boat-racing teams up and down the floor. Breanna Stewart, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Morgan Tuck were part of what was arguably the golden age of UConn hoops.

Johnson drove laps around everyone in the latter half of the 2000s, winning 35 races from 2006-10 and six Cup Series championships in eight years. He ended his career with seven championships, tied with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the most in NASCAR history.

Phil Jackson retired following the 1998 season with the Chicago Bulls — until, of course, he became the head coach of the Lakers in 1999. Led by the star power of Shaquille O’Neal and an emerging superstar by the name of Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles won three straight titles, while Jackson actually claimed his sixth consecutive title as a coach, as he won in each of his final three seasons at the helm in Chicago with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

In what was the last true Yankees dynasty, the team won four titles in five years — with the wins in the three-peat coming in convincing fashion. Sweeping the San Diego Padres in 1998 and the Atlanta Braves in 1999 and then beating the New York Mets in the 2000 Subway Series, the likes of Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte cemented their respective places in Yankees history.

WNBA: Houston Comets (1997-2000)

The first four seasons of the WNBA were controlled by the Houston Comets, who won each of the first four league titles. As the Comets dominated the sport, Cynthia Cooper won two WNBA MVPs. Cooper and Tina Thompson each went on to have Hall of Fame careers, but the Comets disbanded as a franchise following the 2008 season.

The pride of Long Island won its first Stanley Cup in what was the Islanders’ eighth season in the sport. A run that featured Hall of Famers Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies and goalkeeper Billy Smith saw the Islanders sweep the Stanley Cup in 1982 and 1983 and avoid a Game 7 in each of the four seasons. This run came directly after the Montreal Canadians also four-peated.

College Baseball: USC Trojans (1970-74)

The Trojans baseball program was a behemoth under manager Rod Dedeaux, winning five consecutive World Series thanks to the contributions of George Milke and Russ McQueen, among many others. To date, the five-peat remains an NCAA Baseball record, with two being the most consecutive titles by any other team.

Thought some of the aforementioned runs were impressive? Those don’t hold a candle to John Wooden’s UCLA teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s. A period that saw the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and Curtis Rowe, among many others, put on the Bruins uniform saw UCLA win titles in nine of 10 seasons.

No NFL team has three-peated in the Super Bowl era (1966-present), but the Packers did three-peat, as they won the final NFL championship in 1965 and then the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967. Near the end of Vince Lombardi’s reign as head coach, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor and Willie Davis helped lead Green Bay to three consecutive titles, including a pair of blowouts in Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II. The Packers also three-peated from 1929-31.

The Golden Gophers lost one game over their three-peat span (25-1) under head coach Bernie Bierman. Minnesota won two more titles under Bierman in 1940 and 1941. The head coach was ordered to report to the Marines during WWII, with him returning as Minnesota’s head coach in 1945.

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