Nelly Korda is the highest ranked professional golfer in the world. His sister, Jessica, is ranked number 18. Their brother, Sebastian, chose to play tennis. He is ranked 34th in the world. That’s a lot of athletic talent sitting around the table whenever the Kordas get together.
Of course, if sisters Serena and Venus Williams meet over the holidays, that’s 30 major tennis titles in the house. Serena won 23 and Venus won seven.
The Mannings are a famous family of football quarterbacks. Most football fans know that before appearing in television commercials, brothers Peyton and Eli each won two Super Bowl rings during their careers in the National Football League (NFL).
What is less well known is that their father, Archie Manning, was an American quarterback at the University of Mississippi who went on to a 13-year career in the NFL. Together, the Mannings threw for over 150,000 yards in the NFL.
Christian Pulisic is a star of the United States men’s national soccer team. Both his father and mother played college football at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. But the Pulisics might not sit down for Thanksgiving dinner this year. Christian is busy playing the World Cup.
Families of basketball players? Stephen Curry and his brother Seth are National Basketball Association (NBA) sniper guards. In fact, Stephen may be the greatest shooter of all time.
The Curry brothers likely inherited their shooting skills from their father. Dell Curry played 16 seasons in the NBA, from 1997 to 2002, after playing at Virginia Tech.
But for hoops, it’s hard to beat the Barrys. Rick Barry was a Hall of Fame player from 1965 to 1980 who had three sons – Brent, Jon and Drew – who played in the NBA. Brent and Jon each played for 14 seasons.
There may be another basketball family on the way. LeBron James said he wanted to play long enough to play in the NBA with his son Bronny. The youngest, James, is 17 and is one of the high school’s brightest prospects.
Almost every family has some sort of sports history. Maybe your dad played youth baseball or your mom ran a marathon. Or someone in the family may talk about the disappointment of being kicked out of the high school basketball and baseball teams. (It’s part of my story.)
Ask your family what their sports stories are for Thanksgiving. And if you go out to play football or a game called HORSE at the basketball hoop, you may be able to create new family sports stories.
Fred Bowen writes the sports opinion column for KidsPost. He is the author of 27 sports books for children. His latest book is “Hardcourt: Stories From 75 Years of the National Basketball Association”.
