Travis and Jason Kelce were met with a standing ovation at the Cavaliers’ Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse as they were honored by their hometown team on Tuesday night.
Jason announced his retirement from the NFL on Monday while his younger brother Travis is fresh off of his third Super Bowl win with the Chiefs last month.
And the brothers were cheered on by the crowd after a tribute video was shown for Jason, with the Eagles great holding up a Cleveland Heights T-shirt and Travis holding up a framed No. 62 Cavs jersey with ‘Kelce’ on it.
The brothers are Cleveland Heights, Ohio natives and lifelong fans of their hometown Cavaliers, who beat the Celtics 105-104 on Tuesday.
They both wore customized black Cavs jerseys with their respective jersey numbers on them as the crowd went wild behind their courtside seats.
Jason Kelce and Travis Kelce are honored during the game between the Cavs and Celtics
Travis proudly held up a framed No. 62 Cavs jersey in other of his brother Jason
Jason and Travis looked up at the screen as it displayed a tribute video for the Eagles great
The Cavs also gave away bobbleheads of them on Tuesday night, while also selling exclusive Kelce/Cavs merchandise to benefit local schools.
In a nearly two-minute long video dedicated to Jason, the Cavs included footage spanning from his childhood to his pro NFL career.
The montage also featured voiceover from his brother Travis, who said, ‘All he knew is that he was going to work hard and give it his best.
‘And sure enough I was sitting there taking notes, watching him do it.’
The Cavaliers just had a really nice tribute for Jason Kelce, who retired on Monday. #Cavs pic.twitter.com/WRJKdLJWU0
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) March 6, 2024
In another clip, the brothers could be seen chugging beers courtside, while Travis greeted Cavs star Donovan Mitchell at a different point in the game.
The brothers were also gifted with the team’s golden ball.
Earlier in the night, the NBA revealed their Kelce brother bobbleheads, which feature the siblings in black Cavs jerseys and their respective NFL jersey numbers – 87 for Travis and 62 for Jason.
On Monday, Jason beautifully summed up his career in a 45-minute retirement speech.
Jason and Travis Kelce were given the Cavs’ ‘golden ball’ on Tuesday night in Cleveland
And his wife, Kylie, has revealed that he began working on the speech four years ago.
‘I’ve heard multiple versions over the last four years,’ Kylie told NBC 10. ‘This was a completely different version. I think every year he sort of started from scratch as to what was sitting on the surface. But when he said that he was contemplating retirement “for years”, he meant “for years.”‘
‘I think I was the only one that had heard his speech before we went into it,’ Kylie added. ‘I think it was a perfect summary of 13 years. I always say he’s not from (Philadelphia) but he gets it, so that was the perfect example.’
Jason said it was no coincidence the best years of his career happened after he met Kylie after an Eagles Christmas party.
‘It of course it made me emotional, it cracks me up that he tries to talk about what he remembers from that night because he was, as I’ve said before, intoxicated,’ Kylie said of he night her and Jason met. ‘It was very very sweet, very kind. It was far too much credit.’
Kelce also became emotional as he discussed his bond with his brother Travis on Monday.
Jason, 36, pictured alongside his wife, Kylie, and their three young children
Tears streamed down Kelce’s face throughout as he struggled to get his words out
Travis was brought to tears as he watched his brother speak, sat alongside their parents
‘I won’t forget falling short to the Chiefs and the conflicting feeling of the heartbreak I had selfishly for myself and my teammates and, at the same time, the amount of pride I had in my brother. He climbed the mountain top once again.
‘We have a small family. No cousins. One aunt and one uncle. It was really my brother and I our whole lives. We did almost everything together. Competing, fought, laughed, cried and learned from each other.
‘We invented games, imagined ourselves as the star players of that time. We envisioned making the game winning plays, day after day. We won countless Super Bowls in our minds before ever leaving the house. And when we weren’t playing, we were at the other one’s games.
‘Butt seated in a long chair or bench, a Capri Sun in our hands that mom had packed, cheering during the game and waiting outside and afterward to celebrate a victory together or offer encouragement after a defeat.
‘There is no chance I’d be here without the bond that Travis and I share. It had made me stronger, tougher, smarter and taught me the values of cooperation, loyalty and understanding.’