This morning, the Kansas City Chiefs announced that TE Travis Kelce has been selected as the team’s nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide. The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award is the league’s most prestigious honor, recognizing players who excel on the field and demonstrate a steadfast commitment to creating a positive impact beyond the game. Kelce is joined by 31 other nominees, with a selection from each club.
“Over the past 12 years, Travis Kelce has grown into one of the most dynamic individuals in all of football, both on and off the field,” Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said. “He’s a three-time Super Bowl Champion, a nine- time Pro Bowler and one of the greatest tight ends in NFL history. He’s also a tremendous leader, a role model for young people in Kansas City and an inspiration to football fans around the world. Through his new Ignition Lab, the growing Eighty-Seven & Running Foundation and his partnership with Operation Breakthrough, Travis has impacted the lives of thousands of young people in the Kansas City region and beyond. Very few athletes in the history of the game have balanced the same level of team success, individual accolades and community engagement. The Chiefs organization and the Kansas City community are proud to have Travis as the club’s nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award.”
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Cast your vote for your favorite Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee. The player with the most votes wins $35,000 for their charity, while nominees with the second and third-most votes win $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, for their charities. Vote today, tomorrow and every day until January 6th.
“I’m truly honored to be nominated as the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. This organization and this city mean so much to me and to have the Chiefs nominate me again is special,” Kelce said. “Growing up in Cleveland Heights with supportive family and friends, I know the power of having people in your corner. It’s been incredible to be able to work towards providing that same support and inspiration to kids through Eighty-Seven & Running and our work with Operation Breakthrough and the Ignition Lab. To see the inaugural class from the Ignition Lab getting ready to graduate is so special and something that I’ll cherish forever. I know how valuable hope and purpose is in those high school years, and these kids have really seized the opportunity. Being able to give back to the community here in Kansas City as well as show love to my hometown is not something I’ll ever take for granted. I’m forever grateful to represent Kansas City, the Hunt family, our fans and my foundation, and it’s an honor to be nominated.”
All 32 nominees will be recognized for their achievements during the week leading up to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. The winner of the 2024 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award will be announced during NFL Honors, a primetime awards special to air nationally on FOX and the NFL Network on Thursday, Feb. 6. Each nominee will receive up to $55,000 and the award winner will receive up to a $265,000 donation to their charity of choice. All donations are made possible by the NFL Foundation and Nationwide Foundation.
Since entering the NFL as a third-round draft pick in 2013, Kelce has been an impactful contributor to the Kansas City community, while also being a dominant force on the field and already being hailed as one of the greatest to play the position. Since establishing his foundation, Eighty-Seven & Running, in 2015, Kelce has grown his contributions both in scope and financial contributions. In 2020, Kelce was recognized for his diligent efforts to support Kansas City youth with his first Walter Payton Man of the Year nomination.
With inspiration from his own positive childhood experience of growing up immersed in the diverse suburb of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Kelce saw the importance of his own impactful family structure, including the village of friends and family that supported him throughout school. With this understanding at the forefront, Eighty-Seven & Running helps underserved youth strive to become productive citizens, motivating them to explore their abilities and discover their passions while learning critical life skills and mentorship.
Kelce has continued his dedication to the youth of Kansas City throughout his 12-year career, partnering with Operation Breakthrough, an after-school program diligently working to provide support and extracurricular opportunities to some of the most impoverished community members of Kansas City. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelce was an avid supporter of Operation Breakthrough, helping to keep their doors open through a tumultuous economic time and generating thousands of meals for Operation Breakthrough’s food-insecure population.
In 2020, Kelce purchased an abandoned muffler shop with the vision of turning the space into the “Ignition Lab” – a safe, after-school program for inner-city students to gain real-world, tangible experience and life skills and ignite their passions as an extension of Operation Breakthrough. This year, the inaugural class of the Ignition Lab is set to graduate high school, bolstered with work experience, internships, industry skills and support. Since its inception in 2020, the Ignition Lab has grown the number of students served by 350%.
In the four years of its existence, Ignition Lab students have launched three entrepreneurial businesses, including a food truck, a hydroponic farm and a digital media studio, all providing opportunities for students to discover their unique interests and further develop their skills. Along with the unparalleled knowledge, these ventures provide students an opportunity to earn wages from their work to help support their families. Ignition Lab students also complete a required financial literacy course to help equip them for success beyond their time in the program.
Kelce has been open about his struggles in school, explaining that he often lacked motivation. From his own experience, Kelce has focused on equipping students with a diverse set of practical skills, including computer, culinary and digital media skills, offering Operation Breakthrough students a myriad of opportunities to actively engage in their learning. Beyond the classroom, Kelce has ensured that students are also left with the gift of service by having Ignition Lab teens complete mentoring hours for younger students as part of summer school teaching teams. There have been over 25,000 hours of peer-to-peer mentoring completed.
Since beginning his historic career over 10 years ago, Kelce has made an impact not only in Kansas City, including visits to children to encourage healthy lifestyles, visiting first responders, providing his time and voice to food banks and promoting the values of youth football.
A three-time Super Bowl champion over his storied 12-year career in Kansas City, Kelce has shattered nearly every tight end record at a breathtaking pace. Entering the 2024 campaign, he caught a pass in 158 consecutive games, the longest streak in franchise history and still active as of today. His 11,965 receiving yards are the third most by a tight end in league history, trailing only PFHOF TE Tony Gonzalez and TE Jason Witten. He is just the second player in Chiefs history to surpass 11,000 total yards with 11,980 (WR Dante Hall, 12,356). As of today, Kelce is tied with Gonzalez for the most touchdown receptions in Chiefs history with 76 and has caught 53 of those touchdowns from QB Patrick Mahomes, giving the pair the third-most QB-TE touchdown connections in NFL history and the most in Chiefs history. In a valiant display of consistency on the field, Kelce amassed at least 1,000 receiving yards each season from 2016-22, the most consecutive such seasons by a tight end in league history. Kelce is no stranger to big games, with 38 100+ receiving yard games, the most by a tight end in NFL history. In 22 career postseason games, he leads all tight ends with 19 receiving touchdowns, and his 165 postseason receptions are the best amongst all NFL pass catchers. Kelce has not missed a Pro Bowl nomination since 2015 and has been named AP All-Pro first-team four times and second-team three times.
Fans are once again encouraged to participate in Nationwide’s annual Charity Challenge, a social media and online contest that allows fans to show support for their favorite Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee. Fans can vote on X/Twitter by posting #WPMOYChallenge along with the last name/X handle of their chosen nominee or by voting directly on NFL.com/ManOfTheYear. The nominee who receives the most collective hashtag mentions and online votes will win an additional $35,000 donation from Nationwide to the charity of their choice, with the runner- up receiving $10,000 and the third-place winner receiving $5,000. Charity Challenge voting takes place from Thursday, Dec. 5 to Monday, Jan. 6.
Beginning Week 14 and continuing through the end of the season, each of this year’s nominees, including Kelce, will wear a special Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year helmet decal in recognition of their accomplishments on and off the field.