It’s been more than a week now, so the reality of it has fully sunk in, but there was a time when Kansas freshman Gradey Dick could hardly believe that he was hanging out with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
That opportunity came after a recent KU victory over Kansas State at Allen Fieldhouse, which Kelce attended two days after the Chiefs earned their third trip to the Super Bowl in the past four seasons.
The Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will meet for the Lombardi Trophy at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in Glendale, Arizona.
Kelce, who is tracking hard toward going down as the greatest tight end in NFL history, was introduced to the KU crowd during the game and then met up with Dick after the game.
The first encounter was in the KU locker room. After Kelce spoke to the team, the two spent a little more time together talking about everything from their chosen sports to life lessons. A few social media posts even surfaced of the two hanging out at The Hawk on KU’s campus.
Dick, who considers himself a Chiefs fan but admits he’s not quite as crazy about the team as his family members, called the encounter “amazing.” He added that he quickly realized how important Kelce’s words of wisdom could be for his future.
“It was a crazy experience,” Dick recently told the Journal-World. “But at the same time, in my mind, it wasn’t really like I was hanging out with a guy going to the Super Bowl and probably the greatest tight end of all time. That’s the thing I learned quick. Just talking to him for a couple of minutes, he doesn’t seem like he’s too big for anyone. And then those couple minutes turned to a couple hours and we were just chatting it up.”
Included in the conversation between the two were discussions about Dick’s goals in basketball and the levels he wants to reach. Hearing Kelce, a hard-working, humble, diamond-in-the-rough type of player from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, share stories of his own path to success was something that Dick viewed as invaluable to his own journey.
“He was giving me advice, but also just giving me warnings of what to watch out for,” Dick said. “He was just kind of explaining how people may try to get at you that don’t always have your best interest in mind. Everyone knows that, but he was just kind of explaining the gravity of it and saying be careful.”
The night ended with Dick and Kelce, along with a couple of Dick’s teammates, shooting a few baskets inside the gym at KU’s McCarthy Hall. When they went their separate ways, Kelce gave Dick his contact information and said he should reach out if he ever needed anything.
While the KU freshman said he appreciated Kelce’s generosity and looked forward to future interactions, he credited his time at KU and the program’s enormous brand as the catalyst that created such a memorable moment.
Dick also said that as soon as he heard Kelce would be in the building for that K-State game, his initial reaction was that it was time to put on a show.
“Yeah, of course,” Dick said. “It just shows the culture of KU and this university and what it can draw in. Through this family aspect that we have here, it just draws people in; they just love it.”
