At the Cleveland Heights Recreation Center in 1995, five-year-old Travis Kelce met Aric Jones, who would become his lifelong closest friend. Jones, 32, claims that he is “living out a childhood dream” with the NFL player and his closest Cleveland Heights pals decades later.
The Homebred designer, who has been the life of the party in the Kelce family suite since 2016, describes how their Cleveland Heights buddy group came together as “a cohesive unit” to help Kelce succeed in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE.
Together, we played hockey for the Mighty Mites. “I was the smallest and funniest player on the team, and Trav was the biggest and best when I was four and he was five,” Jones remembers.
Although Jones and Kelce, 34, did not attend the same Cleveland Heights school until high school, the Ohio native claims that he and Kelce “essentially crossed paths in every single facet of life,” including through their families. Chiefs fans may recognize Jones as a frequent visitor to the Kelce family suite at Chiefs games.
“Travis went to middle school and played rec league basketball with my older brother,” Jones relates. “When my brother was playing 5th grade travel league basketball, Travis was the 4th grader playing up on my brother’s team.”
“It was always Jason [Kelce] and my older brother, and then Travis and me, playing in sports camps together for years,” he recalls.
Jones and Kelce, who was “always the biggest and most talented kid” on his teams, played hockey together with the Mighty Mites before attending the John Carroll Sports Camps.
“The camp counselors used to be afraid of Jason,” Jones recalls, “and my brother and Travis were always competing to be the best two players.”
Even before high school, Jones recalls being able to see Kelce’s physical ability and work ethic.
“I will always remember that. Travis’s school was coming to play my school, and I was in the seventh grade. “And throughout the entire school day, every child in the school was whispering, ‘Travis is coming up here to play today,'” he remembers.
According to Jones, “And then when Travis was walking out of the visitor locker room, a group of kids from my middle school were waiting outside the locker room, literally screaming his name all the way out to the field.”
Jones says that at the time, “nobody else was” as “huge” as Kelce. “And I will always remember him walking down the corridor to the field with his autograph, followed by a bunch of students from the other school. And I thought, “Dude, this is different.” This is not the same.
However, Kelce never took offense at the local notoriety, and according to Jones, his lifelong best buddy has always supported his pals just as much as they support him.
“You can hear Travis shouting, ‘Get in there!’ in the background of a YouTube video of me scoring my first freshman touchdown in my first game of the season. Regarding his pal, he shouts, “Get in there!’ and he’s just, always been there.”
According to Jones, they were “a bunch of Sports Illustrated Kids kids with a dream,” who were always there for each other. According to Jones, Kelce “would drive hours to watch me play, and I would do the same” while they were attending separate places for college.
During their time in Cleveland Heights, Jones and his family were close to Kelce’s parents, Donna and Ed Kelce, and he claims that they remain “like family” to this day.
“I recall the first game that we all attended to see Travis play. That day, I learned how to shotgun a drink from his dad, Ed,” Jones says.
“And Mama Kelc is the same person doing the same thing she always did,” he continues. We would all eat the meal that Mama Kelce and the mothers prepared for the team before each of our home games. Our pregame meal would be her. We have been consuming the sweets she mentioned during last year’s Super Bowl for years.
In his junior year, Jones acknowledges that he and Kelce were often “separated” from each other in math class for playing about. “I was the backup quarterback and Travis was a senior, which kind of explains our true dynamic,” Jones adds.
Travis and I attended our first house party together. Travis and I were involved in our first vehicle accident. “He was there for a lot of my adolescence,” Jones adds.
“First and foremost, we are friends, but we are also competitors because that’s what sports teach you,” he adds. “We’d go to practice together, go on trips, sleep in the same room sometimes, maybe even in the same bed depending on the amenities where we were, and we always pushed each other.”
“As a group of friends, we still tell one other that everyone is a star in their own role if they perform their job. And wonderful things like our fourth Super Bowl participation occur if everyone does their part and helps each other succeed.
“Everyone sees the Bentley and the Ferrari, and Travis is the car, but are you popping the hood?”because the engine is us. And that’s how I see it,” Jones adds of his and Kelce’s core circle of pals, which consists of people they’ve “built along the road,” such as Chris Pearson, Reggie King, and Ross Travis, as well as Cleveland Heights residents Harry Clark and private chef Kumar Ferguson.
Jones has a clear memory of the 2013 Chiefs draft selection of Kelce. I was still in college when Travis was selected, and I sobbed that evening. We were hosting his draft party in Cleveland a week later.
While living together, Jones worked as a season ticket salesperson for the NFL franchise during Kelce’s second season with the Chiefs. However, Jones did not get that position as a result of his relationship with Kelce. Actually, the exact opposite took place.
According to Jones, “nobody in the Chiefs organization even knew we were friends.” “They didn’t know that Travis and I were friends until I was probably working for the Chiefs for three or four months.”
According to Jones, who recalled the NFL player sharing an inspirational book with him, things “really started ascending” for Kelce and his Cleveland Heights gang during that season.
One of the novels Trav shared with me is “The Energy Bus,” which is my favorite book. All of it comes down to how much your energy and mindset contribute to the outcome of whatever it is you’re doing,” he says.
According to Jones, their group’s success is largely due to the idea that “you get out what you put in,” and Kelce’s commitment to winning serves as a “motivational force” for his close pals. “We just go to work every day,” was Trav’s reaction when we congratulated him via group text last year after he received a bonus or something related to his contract.
That was the exact reaction. How are you unable to get up, go to work, and do your duties each day? He says. Because that’s all it is: you show up for work, you perform your job, and you fulfill your obligations. It all comes down to principles.
Jones claims that when they are just spending time together, his pals haven’t changed at all. “We joke around and speak trash to one other when we’re alone in the room. We’re teasing one another. It reminds me a lot of the lunch table in high school. We like discussing both the past and the future. Discuss high school recollections and debate football. Things may become a little raucous at times.
Jones claims that last Thanksgiving was “the best Thanksgiving ever” since he and Kelce spent the occasion with friends “eating KFC and watching Four Brothers and Batman.”
Additionally, Kelce and Jones were on the golf course just two weeks ago. He reiterates their mutual love of athletics by saying, “He was trying to teach me because he’s getting into it now.”
The group has created game-day duties to assist the NFL star remain focused on football while Kelce’s career continues to skyrocket, both on and off the field.
Obviously, Kumar prepares Trav’s meals, and Patty Cuts cuts Trav’s hair on game days. Depending on who they are, he will either drive alone or with two others to the game. Jones, who is essentially “the party captain” on game days, adds, “I don’t go to the games with Trav because my job is to be on the party bus entertaining the guests.”
Up front, I’m making as much noise as I can. Regarding his job, he said, “I’m the fan guy.” “They recognize me because I’m the one up there talking to the fans, making noise in the suite, and directing all of the energy toward the front where it belongs. Energy is at the front, and there’s a party in the rear.
Additionally, Jones’ contribution doesn’t stop during NFL off-seasons. He accompanied Kelce when he hosted Saturday Night Live in February 2023 and went to the West Coast to attend Coachella Music and Arts Festival and Vegas Prizefight.
“It doesn’t just end with the season. This is a wonderfully harmonious and just thing. We do this,” Jones explains.
This group’s secret sauce is their unwavering commitment to supporting their chosen brotherhood, love of football, friends, and family, as well as their common determination to succeed.
“We’re simply a group of Midwest kids that value and respect one another, and we learn from one another via athletics. That’s what makes sports so wonderful. We all have a passion for sports. We recognize the mindset that must accompany athletics,” he says.
Jones goes on, “That’s why child sports are so essential because the ideas are the same whether or not you see the results early on. Additionally, it’s off the field. Because everything is the same, I can use the lessons I’ve learned from sports, my chats with Travis, and other experiences to my marketing abilities, Homebred, and the place I’m in. You may not understand, however, if you’re not a sportsperson.
You can sense that mindset when Travis is the unofficial leader. Therefore, how can you not lag behind the Chiefs when you have someone like him in charge of your team?