Today's Tidbit... Before The Kelces Were The Borns

With the Kelce brothers opposing one another in Super Bowl LVII, we'll look this week at a few brother combinations that played a part in football’s history.

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The Kelce brothers are getting some attention for playing one another in one of the bigger football games of the coming weekend, so it is worth recalling the battle between Arthur and Charles Born in the biggest game of the 1926 season, the Army-Navy game. Like the Kelces, the Born matchup received attention nationwide.

The Borns hailed from Racine, Wisconsin, and attended St. John's Military Academy for high school. Arthur was a year older and chose to attend the Naval Academy, where he worked his way into Navy's starting lineup as a senior guard. Charles took a different tack, opting for the Long Gray Line, starting at end as a sophomore and finishing his career as a 1927 second-team All-American. Their younger brother, Howard, played for Navy a few years later.

('Family Tied Will Be Gridironed Out,' Chicago Tribune, October 24, 1926.)

With both sons in starting roles, the Borns' parents were pleased the 1926 contest did not occur in the City of Brotherly Love but 75 miles south of home in Chicago's Municipal Grant Park Stadium. The stadium shed that name and was rededicated as Soldier Field during the pre-game ceremonies of the Army-Navy game.