What happens when two athletes get together? Well, for George and Claire Kittle, it kicked off an adventure that culminated in a surprise proposal facilitated by San Fracisco 49ers media team: photographers, videographers, drone operators, lighting staff, you name it.

Well, Claire’s parents, Shelley and Marty, were both athletes themselves. Though we don’t know as much about their wedding, we do know they got up to quite a lot. Here’s more about their lives.

Who is Claire Kittle’s dad?

Marty Till, Claire’s dad, is from the small town of Farley in Dubuque County, Iowa. Technically, it’s a city, but it feels odd calling a place with only 1766 people that. We don’t have the exact dates when he attended Western Dubuque High School, but we know he played baseball for three seasons with Buena Vista University, where he was a sophomore in 1984, and one season with the University of Northern Iowa. He would later play for Dubuque County, being inducted into their hall of fame in 2014.

Till graduated from Northern Iowa University with his BA in marketing and management. He’s since put it to heavy use, initially being involved in sales for animal health and veterinary services and goods. He later branched into management, working with Sedona Agricultural Services to handle salesmen. In all this, he managed to stay in Dubuque County, a place close to his heart, even his final job with DDI Inc. where he worked largely coordinating imports.

You can tell he didn’t want to leave by his bio on Instagram. “Iowa to middle TN (my daughter told me to move)” is how it reads. Settled in Tennessee now, he manages the 75-acre property George and Claire Kittle own. His Instagram really is worth checking out. Besides all the 49ers support, you’re bound to see interesting posts about the wildlife and foliage he comes across. There’s some pretty funky looking mushrooms on there too, the man’s living the life.

Who is Shelley Till?

If you thought Marty was already quite the sportsman, Shelley Bardon Till’s record will surprise you. Shelley’s sport was basketball, just like her daughter and son, Claire and Riley. Shelley played basketball at Western Dubuque County, the same one Marty Till went to. With them, her team won the Iowa State Basketball Championship in 1987, following which she played for Drake University in the 1988-89 season.

She then attended the University of Northern Iowa, getting her BA in psychology in 1991. During this time she got into coaching too, starting with Cedar Falls High School while she was still in college. She coached a number of institutional basketball teams through the 90s and even did color commentary for the University of Iowa’s women’s basketball games in 2005.

Starting in 2005, Shelly Till started her own coaching and consultancy firm, still active near 2 decades later. As she describes it, “I deliver coaching and training to boost confidence, level up performance and enhance leadership.” There’s definitely a market for that in today’s world, where image can mean a lot, and you have to know how to hold yourself.

But that’s certainly an interesting pair of parents, and you can kind of see how Claire turned out the way she did: sporty, resilient, and upbeat.