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Parenting & Family

Sport’s Most Successful Father and Son Combos

Imagine if you were the son of a world-famous and highly successful athlete or sports star, would you enjoy your luxury life, traveling the World in style, using the fame that you have to make life easier, or would you strive to go bigger and better in your career than your daddy did?

Living in the shadow of a great sports star must no doubt be difficult and there will be incredible pressure on you to achieve in order to get anywhere close to the success of your father. There are however some truly special sons who decided to do exactly that and here is our top list of amazing, sporting father and son combos.

Jack and John Elway

Jack Elway was a good footballer and a successful college quarterback who had his career cut short through injury, unperturbed, he would go on to become one of the top college coaches around. Working with California University and Stanford as well as reaching out to help promote the european league with Frankfurt, Jack was truly a well-respected and great coach. Jack’s son John would go on to emulate his father’s success and then some, one of the NFL’s most famous quarterbacks, John was a 1st round draft pick for the Denver Broncos where he would spend his entire career, winning back-to-back Superbowls and gaining MVP. Elway Jnr. has been inducted into the hall of fame and after retiring he went on to coach the Broncos to two more Superbowl championships.

Ken and Ken Norton

Ken Norton was an absolute beast in the boxing ring, he was known for his brutal knockouts and his brawler style and he became the heavyweight world champion. Norton racked up an impressive 42 wins in his career including one against a certain Muhammed Ali. Norton’s son, also called Ken decided to steer his career down a slightly different path and decided that the world of football was for him. At college level, the young Norton blew scouts away as a linebacker and once he hit the big leagues he took it to the next level. Norton was the first NFL player to win 3 back-to-back Superbowls having played for both Dallas and San Francisco. Not bad for the son of a star.

Yannick and Joakim Noah

Another father and son combo who found success in different disciplines are the Noah family. Father Yannick was a formidable tennis player, the first Frenchman to win the French Open at Roland Garros and an exciting and entertaining player who picked up 73 titles throughout his career and 3 Grand Slams. Yannick’s son Joakim decided that he wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of his dad and that instead, he would take up basketball. In 2007 Joakim’s decision paid off and he was drafted by the Chicago Bulls. During his time playing for the Bulls, Noah has regularly achieved many plaudits for his style of play and he is regularly features in the All-Star game and has won Defensive player of the year on 2 occasions.

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