What is Tony Gonzalez’s ethnicity? Former Chiefs TE’s legendary career explored

Travis Kelce is indisputably one of the best tight ends in the NFL today, but he might have never been this successful without Tony Gonzalez leading the way.

The Kansas City Chiefs legend is the all-time record holder for receptions and receiving yards at his position, and the likes of him and Shannon Sharpe helped to change the perception of tight ends as mere sixth offensive linemen. He is also one of the most racially diverse players in NFL history.

Gonzalez's paternal grandfather was born in the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde with the surname "Goncalves", but moved to Argentina, hence the Hispanicization of said surname. His paternal grandmother was part Jamaican and part Scottish. His mother's parents, meanwhile, were mainly African-American with some European heritage.

---

An overview of Tony Gonzalez's career

Form an early age, Tony Gonzalez showed signs of athletic promise

At Huntington Beach High School, he excelled in both football and basketball, being named an All-American in the latter and winning MVP awards in the latter as a senior. He was also named Orange County High School Athlete of the Year, sharing the award with future golf superstar Eldrick "Tiger" Woods.

Gonzalez committed to the University of California-Berkeley, where he continued to play both football and basketball. In the former, he was a Consensus All-American and first-team All-Pac-10, while in the former, he helped the Golden Bears reach the Sweet Sixteen.

Soon, however, he had to choose between sports, and he went with the gridiron. Speaking to STACK TV, he said:

"You get done playing football and then you transition to basketball, [which] had already been going for a month, but ultimately the decision was pretty much made for me."

He would be drafted 13th overall by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1997.

Gonzalez would spend twelve seasons in the Kingdom, where he obviously established himself as not just one of the most prolific tight ends ever, but one of the most reliable players as well. He missed only two games and suffered only five fumbles (two of them lost), but he also gained a reputation for coming up short in the playoffs - never winning a postseason game in Missouri.

In 2010, he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons, where he would finally get his first playoff win in his penultimate season in 2012, reaching the NFC Championship Game in the process. After 2013, he retired, eventually being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.