Appearing on a Wheaties box is one of the defining moments in the career of an American athlete. Imagine sitting at the breakfast table, ready to pour your cereal into an empty bowl (ahem, cereal first, milk later), and there on the orange box is the picture of an athlete. A baseballer, a footballer, a basketballer, a tennis player – it could be anyone. The one common factor these names have is that they’ve shaped the American landscape in their respective sport. And the latest one to join the list is none other than Coco Gauff!

The honor comes one year after Gauff won her first Grand Slam, where she became the first American woman since Sloane Stephens in 2017 to grab the home major. “At the age of 20, Coco Gauff is already showing the world that anything is possible when you dare to dream — the definition of a Wheaties Champion,” were the words of KC Glaser, senior brand experience manager for Wheaties. “We are thrilled to recognize Coco as our newest Wheaties champion amid her incredible season on the court and her ongoing activism work off the court.”

With a Grand Slam and 7 WTA titles in her pocket, Gauff was also the youngest woman to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999. No wonder the two-star athletes have appeared on the iconic orange boxes, counted among the now 13 tennis athletes. Today on Aug. 20, tennis great Billie Jean King, who first appeared on Wheaties boxes in May 2024, will be handing over the torch to the World No. 2 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during US Open Fan Week.

Wheaties, The Breakfast of Champions, has been endorsed by some of the greatest athletes in the country, with the tradition beginning in 1934. New York Yankees slugger Lou Gehrig was the first, with the list including names like Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, Stephen Curry, and Aaron Rodgers, among others. But the tennis community might remember some familiar names – Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Arthur Ashe, Chris Evert, Chris Baley, and the last one before BJK – the younger one of the two Williams sisters.

“In 2001, Wheaties paid homage to a true champion and an icon by putting her on the cover of a Wheaties Box. Althea Gibson was the FIRST Black Woman tennis player to be on the box. Today, I am honored to be the second,” Serena wrote in an Instagram post after featuring on the Wheaties’ cover.

More than anything else, appearing on a Wheaties box is about nostalgia. As T. Bettina Cornwell, head of the Department of Marketing at the University of Oregon put it, “Wheaties has something that brands can’t buy—and that’s history.”

Interestingly, if the lure of creating history doesn’t bring over an athlete to the cereal brand when General Mills comes calling, an immense payday might. As one famous decathlete found, ‘millionaire’ was just the beginning.

Like Caitlyn Jenner, Coco Gauff receives huge monetary upvalue

One might recognize Caitlyn Jenner as a Hollywood name today, but once upon a time, she was a decathlete who won an Olympic Gold. After coming home a winner from the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, General Mills approached then-Bruce Jenner to appear on a Wheaties box. Saying yes was the only option.

“We were signing the contract, and I remember the guy handing me my copy, and he says, ‘Congratulations, you’re a millionaire,’” Jenner told Forbes. “I’ll never forget that. I said, ‘Me?’” She further added, “By far out of everything I’ve done in my career, General Mills had the biggest impact, and everybody remembers the commercials. It was just a very big deal.”

Today Jenner’s net worth is reported to be around $25 million, and some of that is of course from her career as a media personality. But Wheaties was the beginning. Similarly for Coco Gauff, whose net worth is estimated to be around $12 million, the brand is about to add another huge revenue source to her income. Talk about the monetary power of nostalgia!