How Caitlin Clark became ‘No. 1 Chiefs fan’ admired by Patrick Mahomes, teammates

Caitlin Clark grew up in Iowa in a family full of Chiefs fans.

Dad. Older brother. Aunts and uncles and cousins living in Kansas City attended home games and she sometimes tagged along. Once as a little girl she threw a fit at Arrowhead, bawling because she didn’t get to sit with her brother and older boy cousins close to the field. She got stuck in seats way up high.

But now, it’s front-row seating from here on out. Talent has its perks.

The 22-year-old superstar at the University of Iowa plays Friday in the NCAA women’s Final Four. On Thursday she became The Associated Press Player of the Year in women’s basketball for a second consecutive year.

She was back at Arrowhead this past Christmas Day, this time as a record-busting college athlete with the privilege of standing on the sidelines watching the team warm up. She later watched the game from a suite not far from Taylor Swift.

(Alas this new Swiftie, a woman described as the “Taylor Swift of women’s college basketball,” didn’t get to meet the singer who is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.)

She tells people proudly she is no bandwagon Chiefs fan.

Growing up in West Des Moines, Sundays were for watching Chiefs games. Mom, a great cook, in the kitchen whipping up good eats. Dad watching the game in the basement where the family had a Chiefs-themed vending machine.

“That’s what I really looked forward to most on Sundays … we would be watching the Chiefs,” she has said. “… and I would be upset if they lost and I still am. Like every Sunday that’s what (is) usually the brightest part of my day is turning on the TV and watching the Chiefs.”

Somewhere, Mama Clark has videos of this basketball phenom wearing a kid-size Chiefs helmet knocking heads with her brothers in the front yard.

She wanted to do what her brothers did, even though sometimes they didn’t want anything to do with her, she has said. But she credits all that sibling ribbing and hours playing tough basketball with her brothers for who she is today. She calls them her biggest fans.

She carried her Chiefs loyalty to college. In Iowa City, with no NFL team in the state to call its own, people cheer for the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. Chicago transplants root for da Bears.

But over the last few years, Clark has managed to convert teammates and her own fans into members of Chiefs Kingdom.

In Kansas City, the admiration and respect are mutual and strong. She sees all those Chiefs fans cheering for Iowa.

Patrick Mahomes gushes

Reporters asked Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes about her at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas in February as Clark closed in on breaking the all-time women’s college basketball scoring record.

She did it just a few weeks later, passing Kansas Jayhawks legend Lynette Woodard. The Hall of Famer called the excitement around Clark “beautiful” and said she was glad to be part of it.

“She is just a tremendous player and tremendous person,” Mahomes gushed. “I’ve met with her and talked. You can tell she loves the game.

“She loves playing at Iowa and is going to be one of the best women’s basketball, one of the best college basketball players to ever play, and then go to the WNBA and dominate there as well.”

The three-time Super Bowl MVP, who played impressive basketball himself in high school, joked: “Hopefully I never have to play her one-on-one because she’ll for sure be getting buckets on me.”

Clark finishes her college career this weekend. On Friday, No. 1 Iowa faces No. 3 UConn around 8:30 p.m. CT in the Final Four at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. No. 1 South Carolina and No. 3 North Carolina State play first at 6 p.m. The championship game is Sunday.

Don’t be surprised if some celebrities show up to watch Clark. On Monday, “Ted Lasso” star and University of Kansas basketball fan Jason Sudeikis watched Iowa beat Louisiana State in the Elite Eight round. He took pictures with her and the team afterward.

Maybe that wish of hers to have Mahomes at one of her games might come true.

Last April, as Kansas City prepared to host the NFL Draft, Chiefs announcer Mitch Holthus and senior team reporter Matt McMullen delved into Clark’s longtime fervor in an interview posted on Chiefs.com.

“We cannot tell you enough how much fun it is to watch you play, but the person you are, the character that you bring, not only to the basketball floor,” Holthus said, calling her a role model for young girls like his two granddaughters who play basketball.

“So now all the Chiefs Kingdom knows. Number 22 in your program but No. 1 in your heart and maybe the No. 1 Chiefs fan in the entire Chiefs Kingdom.”

Chris Jones: ‘Biggggg Caitlin Clark fan’

In November, during the Chiefs-Eagles game, Clark popped up on “Monday Night Football With Peyton and Eli” where the All-American told the Manning brothers about being a Chiefs fan. She was the first college athlete to be a guest.

The former NFL quarterbacks were curious how someone born in Iowa, who went to high school in Iowa, who went to college in Iowa became a Chiefs fan.

She described the annual trips to Arrowhead with her cousins. “So I’m not a bandwagon Chiefs fan,” she insisted. “I was a Chiefs fan even when they weren’t very good.”

She also talked about a photo making the rounds that had been shared on the Iowa women’s basketball page.

“There was an embarrassing picture of me in all Chiefs gear floating around earlier today,” she said. “But I love it.”

(Um, some might say Chiefs gear trumps being immortalized in butter at the Iowa State Fair any day.)

The brothers asked her opinion about the combination of Mahomes and Kelce on the field.

“Oh man, they’re one of the best duos. I think it’s kind of similar to how we run offense at Iowa,” she said. “Good point guard, good post player. Good quarterback, great tight end. And they’re fun to watch. They make football exciting.”

She’s drawn that comparison before between Iowa and the Chiefs.

“It’s offensive fire power, it’s exciting,” she told Holthus in their interview. “It’s not usually what you see on the football field. It’s just so many different exciting plays and that’s kind of how I play basketball too. So I think that’s why I’m kinda drawn to it in a way.”

Bringing fans to Chiefs Kingdom

Clark was in the stadium on Christmas Eve 2022 when the Chiefs beat Seattle 24-10 in one of the coldest games at Arrowhead.

“I definitely picked the wrong game because it was absolutely freezing but it was still a really good time,” she told Holthus.

She happened to have a break in her basketball schedule and “my guy Chris Jones had the hookup with the tickets, then (general manager) Brett Veach got us on the field which, my brothers were just like in a daze, they thought it was the coolest thing of all time,” she said.

Defensive tackle Jones signed one of his jerseys for her that day and it’s “hanging up in my room in Des Moines,” she said, mentioning that other players including Mahomes have reached out to her as they’ve followed her career.

“I think Chris Jones is one of the biggest Iowa women’s basketball fans now so that’s pretty cool,” she said.

Jones played football at Mississippi State, Holthus noted, so is likely happy whenever Iowa beats his old college conference rival South Carolina, which could happen Sunday should the teams play for the championship.

In an Instagram post last year Jones showed off the No. 22 Iowa jersey Clark autographed for him.

“Chris Jones is a biggggg Caitlin Clark fan,” the Instagram post said.

Jones has followed her career for a while now, letting the world know through social media posts including one last year where he complimented her with “Caitlin Clark is a Dawgg.”

After Iowa beat LSU on Monday, Jones took to social media and flat-out declared: “The women’s basketball games are more exciting than the men.”

She’s proud of how she’s been able to win over so many Iowans to Chiefs Kingdom. They know how much she loves the Chiefs “so they’re like ‘well, we gotta watch whatever Caitlin watches,’” she told Holthus last year.

“And now all of them are saying we gotta get Patrick Mahomes to a game,” she said. “Before I graduate we’ve got to make that happen.”

Mahomes himself told her through social media direct messages how much he would like to see her and the Hawkeyes play live, she told an Iowa sports radio show earlier this year.

It hasn’t happened yet as she closes out this stellar college career.

Maybe at the buzzer?