CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Before he was an NFL superstar and Super Bowl Champion, Travis Kelce was a Cleveland Heights High School student-athlete.

What You Need To Know

  • According to the coaches who watched him grow up, Travis Kelce hasn’t forgotten where he came from.

  • Kelce will play for his second Super Bowl title Sunday

  • Both Jeff Rotsky and Mike Jones coached Kelce at Cleveland Heights High School 

In his 20-plus years as a football coach in the Cleveland-area, Jeff Rotsky has helped a lot of kids make it to the college ranks. He remembers one time when he brought his young son on a campus visit with one of his top players.

“My son was probably nine then. And sometimes you couldn’t tell who was the 9-year-old the way they used to get at each other and chase each other, but he was great to my son," said Rotsky, the Villa Angela-St. Joseph head coach.

That player was NFL superstar Travis Kelce, whom Rotsky coached at Cleveland Heights High School, where Kelce was the quarterback.

And Rotsky knew he had something special.

"We were playing Mentor, and Mentor was much better than us," Rotsky said. "And we just went quarterback run. He goes 80 yards for a touchdown on the first play. And I said ‘Holy,’ then later in the game we were in, he just trucked and destroyed a safety," Rotsky said.

“He was the only athlete I ever had that could have been Division 1 in football, basketball and baseball.”

Rotsky said he stays close with Kelce and his family.

And despite a Super Bowl, and numerous other awards, the one Rotsky is most proud of is Kelce’s nomination for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which recognizes not just players' accomplishments on the field, but off it through volunteer and charity work.

“My wife and I run a foundation here in the inner-city of Cleveland, we have for 29 years. Mentoring program where I've always talked to our kids about paying it forward, and you know, when you're blessed like he is to find a way to pay it forward, and he’s doing it. And I’m really proud of him for that,” he said.

Mike Jones coached Travis and his brother, NFL center Jason Kelce at Cleveland Heights High School.

He remembers when Travis was just a young middle schooler.

“A fun, happy young guy. You know, very competitive, but fun, you know. I guess that’s the one thing we’d like to emphasize, he liked having fun,” he said.

Jones has traveled with Kelce’s parents to games in the past and he traveled to last year’s Super Bowl.

He’s happy for the person Kelce has grown to be.

“Travis comes from humble beginnings. So Travis had some hurdles to get over to get to this point, but he got over them. You know, he’s a normal young man just like any other young man that walks through these hallways. But he had something a little special that he had to work to get to. Everything just wasn’t given to Travis. Travis had to work at it,” he said. 

Rotsky said he enjoys seeing Kelce’s success on and off the field.

"I love seeing the things that he’s doing off the field to make the world a better place. And that is really what this thing is. I mean, it’s great to be a great player, and I hope to see him get a chance to be a husband and a father sooner than later because he’ll be great at that as well. But now, he’s living the dream, but he’s earned it,” Rotsky said.

He said he's not forgetting where he came from and plans to make his hometown proud.