It wasn’t the greatest of finishes to the 2024 season for Patrick Mahomes. Super Bowl LIX should have been the icing on the cake—but it wasn’t. His Kansas City Chiefs weren’t just walloped by the Philadelphia Eagles—Mahomes himself had one of the worst games of his career. However, he learned early in life from the “fiercest” woman in his life, to “never back down,” a lesson that will surely drive him as he looks to bounce back next season.
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He will recover. He will respond. And with everything he’s got—just like he did after that ugly loss in Super Bowl LV back in 2020. Just two years later, he was a Super Bowl champion once again. In only eight playing years, he’s already a three-time Super Bowl champ, three-time Super Bowl MVP, two-time NFL MVP, and three-time All-Pro.
A guy isn’t this good, this consistently, by accident or purely on talent. A lot of the time, it comes down to mental toughness —something deeply ingrained in him by his family. Especially by a special “black woman in [his] life,” whose strength and resilience shaped him and helped him reach where he is today: his paternal grandmother, Cindy Mahomes.
“The black woman in my life that will always be an inspiration to me is my grandma, Cindy Mahomes. She told me to never back down, no matter what the situation was or is. She never backs down, and she was someone that was gonna do whatever it took to make sure her family was getting treated the right way, or her family was getting the most out of the opportunity that was ahead of her,” he initially said.
Mahomes has shown that he has carried on that “never back down” attitude from his grandma. Cindy, a nurse by profession, had been in an accident that confined her to a wheelchair when the Chiefs QB’s father and former MLB pitcher Pat Mahomes Sr. had been only seven years old.
Despite being told that she would not be able to move from the neck down, she kept working and never gave up on herself, eventually regaining strength in her hands, and went back to college to study psychology. After losing most mobility in her right hand, she even taught herself to be left-handed. She passed away in September 2021 at age 68. But not before she made a lasting impact on those around her.
“She passed away a couple years ago but my entire life she was in a wheelchair but that didn’t stop her from being the fiercest, most competitive, loyal person.”
Mahomes Sr. too was inspired by his mom, crediting her with changing his outlook on life. “She’s definitely been my inspiration. I’d say if she can do that after the adversity she’s had, then this game of baseball is really pretty simple,” he once told the Star Tribune.
She also instilled something arguably even more important than that in Patrick: a love for his family.
“The way she loved her family is something that has carried on within me and that’s how I wanna be whenever I get to talk to my grandkids.”
Even after her accident, Cindy remained an active mother, regularly attending her sons’ athletic events, and coaching her daughter Tenisha’s softball team. It’s evident that her devotion to family is something the Chiefs QB has taken to heart. He is, after all, known as one of the best dads in the sport, and is often seen spending quality time with his wife, Brittany, and their three kids.
The family had kept her passing relatively private, but it must be heartening for Patrick to know that she saw him reach the pinnacle of his profession as a Super Bowl champion once, in 2019, before she moved on.
Mahomes now looks to “honor her legacy” by “the way that I go about my business. How I take care of my family. How I go out there and compete every opportunity that I have.”
“And hopefully, I could have that same competitive spirit and loyalty as I continue to grow older and get off that football field as well. That’s how I’ll forever honor her legacy and grandma, I hope I made you proud,” an emotional Mahomes continued.
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Mahomes’ heartwarming reveal about his grandmother is part of a series called Heart of the Kingdom, a campaign by the Chiefs that celebrates the black women in the lives of their players, staff, coaches, cheerleaders, and more. The campaign began as part of the franchise’s celebration of Black History Month in February.
