The Seattle Seahawks may have won Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, but no one walked away a bigger winner than Kenneth Walker III (well, maybe except Bad Bunny).
The 25-year-old running back was named the Super Bowl MVP for leading his team to only their second ever victory, taking command of an impressive defensive game that never really let up.
Kenneth built a total of 27 carries over 135 rushing yards, not only a season high, but the highest ever in a Super Bowl since the Denver Broncos’ Terrell Davis back in 1998. The Seahawks ended the night with 29 points to the New England Patriots’ 13.
© Getty ImagesThroughout his professional career in the NFL, and way before, his close-knit family has been by his side cheering him on. Meet your reigning Super Bowl MVP’s large family below, and how they stopped him from almost giving up on the sport he loved…
Growing up in Tennessee
Kenneth was born on October 20, 2000 in Arlington, Tennessee, near Memphis, although his family moved out to a suburb soon after.
He attended Arlington High School and played for their football team after being encouraged to try out the sport by his parents. “I used to go around the neighborhood with my uncle and my mom used to take me to the park to watch him play football,” he said on his YouTube channel.
© Getty Images“One day my mom signed me up for football. And that’s how I really got into it,” he continued, receiving further inspiration from his uncle.
Kenneth’s family
Kenneth was born to Kenneth Walker Jr., aka Kenneth Walker II, and Shaunteshia Brown, both of whom were his biggest supporters. He also has several siblings, all of whom were present when he chose to stay home when he was drafted by the Seahawks in the NFL picks in 2022.
“I got three older sisters, an older brother and two younger brothers,” he noted during an interview with Big Ten Network, maintaining that they’re all “super close.” And from a young age, it was his dad who encouraged him to become an athlete.
© Getty ImagesIn fact, the pair started working out together to achieve that goal. “Grown men didn’t want to do the workouts I was putting him through,” his dad joked during an interview with Detroit News.
He eventually found his way to Michigan State University, where his football career really took off. His mom Shaunteshia told Detroit News: “There was something that he was really looking for in college.”
“I think he wanted to be somewhere that he can be a part of something and to grow. And I think him being at Michigan State, it helped them grow and also it has helped him grow.”
© Michigan State Sports AthleticsAlmost quitting football
At two separate points, Kenneth almost quit the sport that brought him fame. At one point when he was in high school, he told Fox Sports, he got into a heated argument with a coach, which almost made him turn his back on it altogether.
“Me and my coach got into it, and I was mad or whatever, I was like, I’m pretty much done with football,” he recalled. “But [my parents] instilled in me to not make a decision based off emotion, [which] really helped me. And I carry that with me to this day.”
When he was in high school as well, at one point, his parents helped him through a health scare that almost upended his football career. It was discovered after a painful spell that a teenage Kenneth had blood clots in his lungs and might never play again.
© Getty ImagesHe was put on blood thinners in the lead up to his senior year. However, his parents were determined to coach him back to health, and after he was permitted to work out with his dad, he eventually got strong enough to resume his career, per the Seahawks’ website.
