“Who does?” Amy Weida Karlaftis said this when asked if she ever envisioned this day – her son, George Karlaftis, playing in the Super Bowl. Drafted in 2022, Karlaftis achieved his dream of winning two consecutive Super Bowls in 2023 and 2024. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that his journey to the league is truly inspiring!

The Chiefs edge rusher was born in Greece to dad Matthew and mom Amy Karlaftis. His parents met at Purdue University and fell in love with each other. Soon after marrying, the couple shifted to Greece, and together the couple shared one daughter and two sons, excluding George. Besides that, the couple was into sports, so we can easily know how the sports blood came into George’s life. Matthew ran track and field at Miami and played a bit of football too, while momma Amy “was a three-sport star at West Lafayette High and left school as the girls’ basketball team’s leading scorer.” She was also into other sports, like swimming and volleyball. It all sounds like a perfectly happy family, right? Unfortunately, not!

The family met with a tragedy when the father Matthew died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 44 in 2014. At that time, George was just 13. He remembered that day, saying, “I burst into tears. I couldn’t believe it. After two or three hours, though, something inside me told me that I would have to find the strength to carry on for my family.” Being the eldest child, he had to cope with pain, and soon he stood up, taking every responsibility of his home and family. As George once said, “From that moment on, our lives just changed in an instant,” the entire family was brought back to mom’s home, to West Lafayette, Indiana, by his mother.

This was because, after losing the man of the house, the five remaining members of the family needed support. The athlete’s mother, Amy, once said in an interview, “I think George took the majority of the pain on his shoulders, whether that’s what he should have done or not.” She continued, “When you lose your father, Greek custom is you become the man of the house. Well, at 13, we all know, it’s not very possible to become the man of the house, but he took that true to heart and tried to do his best to be there for me, be there for his siblings, which he still does to this day. He had to grow up way too fast and become mature like overnight.” In his difficult phase and struggle, his mother, grandfather Giorgos, and uncle Aristidis all helped him to overcome the personal battle and do something in his life.

But the interesting part of the story is, George, who once feared playing football, is now a star player for the Kansas City Chiefs. And the credit for this goes to his late father.

George Karlaftis’ Father

George Karlaftis’ path to the Super Bowl is a story of legacy, determination, and the invisible presence of a father who couldn’t be there to witness it all. George’s father, Matthew Karlaftis, was also a former football player at the University of Miami, besides his track and field interests. However, his athletic dreams were cut short by a severe head injury. Yet, his never giving up attitude helped him to go on to earn a PhD in civil engineering. Soon after that, he worked “as an associate professor at the National Technical University, producing important research” in Athens. But tragically, he passed away on the same day he was granted tenure – a moment that should have been a celebration of his achievements.

Here, on the other hand, for George, football wasn’t an obvious path. His father’s injury was a shadow over the idea of playing, but once he tried it, his talent was undeniable. George’s mother, Amy, recalled the early days when he sacked a quarterback and asked, “What do I do now?” It was a moment of innocence that quickly turned into a burning passion, and soon, football became George’s world. Not only that! Amy even discovered a list of goals her son had tucked away in his drawer-dreams that he was determined to turn into reality, one by one. That note reads: “My Goals,’ and it had like, ‘Get a girlfriend in high school. Be All Hoosier Conference in high school. Go to the Nike Opening.”

Now when George takes the field for his games, his family is there to support him, but the absence of his father is deeply felt. But Amy believes that every time George makes a big play, like a sack, he’s thinking of his dad, as “he looks up, and… that drives him for sure.”