At 44 years young, Philip Rivers is back in the NFL.
On Tuesday afternoon, news broke that Rivers — who retired from professional football following the 2020 season after a 17-year career — would be re-signing with the Indianapolis Colts, the team with which he originally ended his career. The Colts are going through something of a crisis at the quarterback position, with Daniel Jones out for the season, Anthony Richardson Sr. on injured reserve and Riley Leonard’s availability not guaranteed. Therefore, the veteran signal-caller emerged as a remarkable emergency option to take the reins if needed.
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Having just celebrated his 44th birthday on Monday, there’s no shortage of tidbits about his return that catch the eye.
Rivers’ eldest daughter, for instance, is a few months older than the 23-year-old rookie Leonard. During Rivers’ final season he handed the ball off to then-rookie Jonathan Taylor — who is now a soon-to-be three-time Pro Bowler and six-year NFL veteran in his own right. When Rivers was first drafted by the New York Giants (and subsequently traded to the then-San Diego Chargers), his new rookie tight end Tyler Warren was still a few weeks away from his second birthday.
But above all other notes, one fact about Rivers’ stands out above the rest: He’s a grandparent. Rivers mentioned in a May video on Jon Gruden’s YouTube channel that he had a 6-month-old grandson.
But if Rivers plays this season, he won’t be the first grandparent to play in NFL history.
Here are some of the most notable players across major U.S. professional sports who were grandparents while still playing.
Brett Favre
Few NFL quarterbacks can boast as lengthy of a career as Favre, who was drafted in 1991 but didn’t retire until the conclusion of the 2010 season. During that time, he won three Most Valuable Player awards and a Super Bowl, started 297 consecutive regular-season games and, just before his final campaign, became a grandparent.
“A grandpa at 40. It almost makes me feel old,” Favre quipped soon after the news broke.
Julio Franco
You’d be hard-pressed to find many baseball careers both longer and more well-traveled than that of Franco. He started in the minor leagues in 1978 and proceeded to spend the next three and a half decades plying his trade in a number of cities (and countries). Teams that have counted Franco among their ranks at some point include the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Chiba Lotte Marines, Samsung Lions and Mexico City Tigers, among many others.
Franco’s marathon career saw him still in the major leagues at 49 years of age, when he became a grandpa.
Robert Parish
Parish accomplished plenty during his extensive NBA career — being named to nine All-Star teams and winning four titles — but the Hall of Fame center’s greatest achievement might have been his longevity. Parish played into his 40s and holds the NBA record for total games played.
In fact, he played so long that by the time he finally surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the record, the veteran big man had become a grandfather.
“We don’t keep records on that,” an NBA official was quoted as saying after being asked if Parish was the league’s first active grandfather.
Gordie Howe
Before there was LeBron James and Bronny James or Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. there were the Howes. Gordie, one of hockey’s best-ever players, played with not one but two of his sons during the later stretch of his three decades of professional hockey.
By the time he eventually retired at 52, there was another member of the Howe family that even its timeless patriarch couldn’t stay on the ice long enough to try to play with — Gordie’s grandchild, who was born while he was still an active player.
Stan Musial
One of baseball’s all-time greats, Stan Musial won the MLB MVP award three times and played in a whopping 24 All-Star games across his lengthy career, which stretched from 1941 to 1963.
Musial reportedly owns an even more select distinction within the already small active professional athlete grandfather’s club — best first performance as a grandparent. Musial belted a two-run home run on the first pitch of his first at-bat after his grandchild was born.
Fittingly, gifts for the legendary player during his final season included rocking chairs and a savings bond for his newborn grandson.
