Donna grew up in a quiet neighborhood in a suburb of Cleveland. She was just in the fourth grade when they moved there and her grandparents lived upstairs. A few years later, her mother was very ill and passed away. Donna was 12 and her brother was just 10 but her father soon remarried Mary, Donna’s stepmother, who went on to become her strength. “And, by the grace of God, if we didn’t have her, I don’t think we would have made it through,” Donna shared in 2023.

However, she had a traditional father who wanted her to follow the vision he had for her, and sports wasn’t a part of that. Neither was higher education. He wanted Donna to attend secretarial school, but Mary helped her go to college and earn a degree in broadcast communications from Ohio University. With that, she became the first person in her family to graduate from college. Soon she went back to school for her masters and ended up with a career in banking. But there is so much more to this story.

While Donna’s boys, Travis and Jason, are big NFL names now, her own road to sports wasn’t exactly smooth. She didn’t have that sports-obsessed dad cheering her on. Nope!

In an interview with THRIVE@50+, Donna Kelce shared how her stepmother’s influence gave her the confidence to chase what she wanted, no matter the hurdles. “My stepmother came to us when I was about 12 years old. She taught me how to be and try for anything I wanted to do. That it was limitless for women. My dad was very traditional. He didn’t feel like women should be in sports. But I wanted to play sports,” she recalled. But Donna had to get creative—literally sneaking away to track practices.

One day, Travis Kelce’s mum came home excited after training for a 50-yard dash and a broad jump event. She told her dad to watch her on TV that night. “So, I had to sneak away in middle school to go for track training. One time I remember, in particular, I was training for the 50-yard dash and broad jump, and when I came home, I told my dad you really wanna see me on television tonight. He really did not want me doing this, but once he saw me, and saw how good I was, I think he changed his mind.” What was the result of all this practice?

With Mary’s support, Donna went on to compete at the Junior Olympics in track and field. Her school’s track coach helped her sign up. She performed so well that the Cleveland Heights’ local news station interviewed her back then.

So, what message does the 71-year-old have for the youth? “Just stay true to yourself. It is important to take ownership of yourself.”

Despite the hurdles, Donna’s passion for sports never dimmed. On The Martha Stewart Podcast earlier this year, she shared more about those early struggles. Mama Kelce recalled how her father had preconceived notions about how her future should be. “He felt I’d either be a mother, a nurse, or a teacher,” Donna explained. Yet, like many young female athletes of her time, her athletic journey was cut short. In high school, there weren’t myriad opportunities for girls in sports.

Donna had talent and drive but was playing in a time before Title IX (the landmark U.S. legislation that paved the way for women in sports). She competed as much as she could, but her journey ended prematurely. “It was intramural. It wasn’t inter-school,” she added, highlighting the limited options available to her. Still, Donna’s love for sports didn’t go to waste—it passed down to her sons, Jason and Travis Kelce— both Super Bowl champions.

Jason and Travis Kelce got their athletic abilities from their mom!

In February 2023, the Philadelphia Eagles competed against the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. It was Jason versus Travis and so, Ed and Donna Kelce became the first-ever NFL parents with sons on both sides. So, what did the mother do? She wore a jacket that made it clear that she was cheering for both her sons.

However, we can’t deny that the Kelce brothers got their athletic abilities from their mother. So when Donna wrote, “Did you know that my sons got it from their momma?” on her Instagram, one can’t deny it. In fact, her brother, Don Blalock, played football at Purdue University.

On the other hand, Ed came from a long line of military veterans. But he was just as important in the Kelce brother’s road to fame. After all, it was Ed who trained them in baseball and even built a place to play sports in their garage. Though Donna and Ed got divorced when their sons were in college, they remain good friends even today and appreciate each other.

In the 2023 documentary ‘Kelce’, they admitted that they stayed together longer for the sake of their children. After their split, Ed moved to Philadelphia so he could stay closer to Jason and his grandchildren, whereas Donna continues to travel to watch her sons play. And since Travis Kelce has been in a relationship with Taylor Swift, Donna too has taken a liking to the singer.

“I’ll tell you something very special that I noticed about Taylor the first time I met her. She gets up to go get a drink or something, and she starts picking up empty bottles, cans, plates that are scattered around. And that really, to me, said a whole lot,” Donna Kelce told PEOPLE. Well, whatever it is, the Kelce’s are always on the same page!