The Super Bowl is a Family Affair
The journey to the Super Bowl for any sports figure is a long one. But very few of those journeys lead back to the same house. For the first time in sporting history, two brothers, John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh faced off as opposing coaches in the recent National Football League championship game– Super Bowl XLVII (that’s 47 if you can’t decipher your Roman numerals).
John (the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens) and Jim (the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers) were born in Toledo, Ohio. Their father Jack was a high school and college football coach. John is older than Jim by only 15 months
The coaches of the two Super Bowl teams are brothers. This adds a new dimension to the football contest.
The Harbaugh boys were nicknamed “Double Js” by family and friends. Both brothers played football in high school as well as in college. John become a football coach right out of college, while Jim played professionally in the NFL for twelve years as a quarterback.
In this Super Bowl, John’s Ravens ultimately won the game, but not before Jim’s 49ers narrowed a 28-6 lead in the first half to a final 31-29 score. Parents Jack and Jackie were very careful not to take sides between their competing sons. They watched the game from a special box and were certain to say that they were equally proud of both of their sons.
Other Famous Sporting Siblings
While the Harbaugh brothers made history with their Super Bowl match-up, they are not the first siblings to compete against one another at a professional level. Here are a few others who shared a sibling’s sporting spotlight.
- Williams Sisters (Tennis) – Venus and Serena Williams are the winningest siblings in sports history. Between them, they have won 23 major tennis Grand Slam championships. In eight of those Grand Slam finals, they competed against each other a record eight times. Like the Harbaughs, the Williams girls are 15 months apart. They grew up in Compton, California, were both home-schooled, and were coached by their father. Despite their championship rivalry, Venus and Serena remain quite close, attending one another’s matches.
- Manning Brothers (Football) – Payton and Eli Manning have both played in the NFL’s Super Bowl, although never against another. The closest they came is playing in back-to-back Super Bowls. (Peyton as quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts in 2007 and Eli as quarterback for the New York Giants in 2008). Like the Harbaughs, the Manning brothers come from a football family. Their father is former NFL quarterback Archie Manning. He played for the New Orleans Saints and the Houston Oilers back in the 1970s.
- Gasol Brothers (Basketball) – Pau Gasol and his younger brother Marc grew up in Spain. When the Memphis Grizzlies drafted Pau in 2001, the whole family moved to the United States. Marc was just a teenager, but he was eventually drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2007. Now, however, Pau plays for the Lakers and Marc plays for Memphis. Because they are in the same league, they do play against one another.
- Schumacher Brothers (Motor Sports) – For many, racing your brother usually involves a backyard and taunts of “rotten eggs.” Brothers Michael and Ralf of Germany, however, get to do so in custom cars going more than 200 mph. Their father was a maintenance man at a go-kart track, where he introduced his sons to racing. It’s a difficult rivalry considering Michael is considered to be one of the best Formula One racers of all time. But the two remain close, especially now that both are officially retired.