Contrary to what non-football fans know, Kansas City Chiefs‘ Travis Kelce was quite famous before Taylor Swift came into the picture. It might be difficult for them to imagine this, but his fans in his hometown of Cincinnati would get starry-eyed at his mention. Chiefs WR Cyrus Allen, who spent some time in the city, shared a tidbit with the press that is telling of what the star tight end means to it.

“Man, it’s crazy. I ain’t gonna lie,” the rookie said at a recent presser. “I feel like he’s got a lot of stuff named after him. The hotel we were at, I think even our key card had a picture of him on it. So for me, I’m like, ‘This is Travis Kelce? That’s crazy. I wish I could get that treatment.’”

Cyrus Allen spent the final year of his college career with the Cincinnati Bearcats, where Travis Kelce. He is the most high-profile football player the school has ever sent to the NFL. Today, he’s one of the most famous tight ends in the league. But the extent of his fame would shock people if they knew he was practically a nobody when he was playing in college. His most notable season came in 2012, which was his final collegiate season, where he recorded 722 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Andy Reid spotted him at a game, and there was no looking back since then. Today, he is a three-time Super Bowl Champion.

The Chiefs drafted him in the third round in 2013. Reid hilariously recalled on the Kelce brothers’ podcast that he also spoke to Jason and jokingly asked him if his younger brother was going to mess up this opportunity. Travis has not given him a reason to be disappointed since then. Even though Kansas City is the immediate thought one has when they hear the TE’s name, he’s also representing Cincinnati on the field.

For example, Adriatico’s, a local restaurant, caught a lot of attention after Travis Kelce mentioned he wanted to go back and eat a giant pizza there. He said on the New Heights podcast that he used to go there regularly as a Bearcat. And, there really is a hotel that has designed its key card to look like a college ID card belonging to Travis Kelce. It has a pretty recent photo of the TE on it, but it’s a small nod that speaks volumes about his legacy at Cincinnati. He’s a Cleveland guy, but Cincinnati is the city that made his career.

However, those who knew him from this past life still see him as the same, down-to-earth guy he was then.

Despite Global Fame, Kelce Remains “the Same Old Travis” to Those in Cincinnati

We know Travis Kelce, the lore. But not many knew what he was like when he was still just a college football player, having the time of his life. Former Bearcat WR Danny Milligan remembered him as the guy who would take the initiative to calm things down. He would randomly start singing Silent Night or Jingle Bells (yes, this is true) to cheer his teammates up.

But they also saw the side of him that would bring him so much fame. Another former teammate, Austen Bujnoch, said that Kelce was competitive no matter what. Be it ping-pong, video games, or football, he wanted to win. But they knew he was slated for more success. On the gridiron, however, Kelce was the go-to.

“He is truly a quarterback’s best friend,” Milligan told Local 12 news in 2024, ahead of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl game. “We began to see that both at UC and now at Kansas City.”

That enduring perception of  Kelce as ‘the same old Travis’ amongst his former teammates helps explain why his presence still looms so large in Cincinnati. For Cyrus Allen, finding Kelce emblazoned on his Bearcats hotel room key card should come as no surprise. Who wouldn’t want to embrace Kelce and his legacy as one of their own? Not Cincinnati, that’s for sure.