GLENDALE, Ariz. — Nick Allegretti won Super Bowl Sunday long before the game kicked off. The Chiefs backup guard became a father to twin girls when wife Christina gave birth before sunrise Sunday in Chicago.
Allegretti, who attended Lincoln-Way East and the University of Illinois, was awakened by a call from his wife at 3:50 a.m.
“She said to stay there — the babies are coming,” he said.
He walked to the near-empty lobby of the team hotel, where he met his parents. They spoke to Christina via FaceTime before and after her C-section.
“It was the best day of my life at 4 a.m.,” he said in a victorious locker room after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl 38-35. “Nothing can change that, but this makes it even better.”
He and his wife will settle on names once he returns home — they live in Downers Grove— on Monday. Winning the Super Bowl, he said, made a glorious day all the better.
“[The Eagles] were supposed to be the ’85 Bears,” he said. “I took a little offense to that. Those are my guys. We shut ‘em down all day.”
A seventh-round pick by the Chiefs in 2019, Allegretti has played in three Super Bowls. The Chiefs beat the 49ers at the end of his rookie season and lost to the Buccaneers the next year. Allegretti played five special-teams snaps in his first Super Bowl but was busier in Year 2, starting at left guard and playing every snap.
He’s the second player to appear in the Super Bowl and become a father on the same day in as many years. Rams receiver Van Jefferson’s wife, Samaria, gave birth after last year’s game; the couple named their son appropriately — Champ.
Tribute
The NFL paid tribute to former Chicago sportswriter John “Moon” Mullin, who died at 74 from pancreatic cancer in June. The NFL placed a “game ball” in the press box with Mullin’s photo and name painted on the side, calling him “a staple on the Bears beat for decades.” The NFL also honored former ESPN reporter John Clayton and former Dolphins senior vice president Jason Jenkins.
In the #SuperBowl press box sits an NFL tribute to our friend Moon Mullin. It’s lovely. I miss him. Big fan of his work, as he used to say. pic.twitter.com/CNbAZCoXTy
— Patrick Finley (@patrickfinley) February 12, 2023
This and that
• When he caught a touchdown in the first quarter, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce moved into sole possession of second place all-time with 16 postseason touchdowns. He trails only 49ers legend Jerry Rice, who has 22. He had been tied with former Patriots and Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski.
• Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton recovered a ball that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts simply dropped about six minutes into the second quarter and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown.
It had been seven years since a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. The Broncos’ Malik Jackson recovered Cam Newton’s fumble in the end zone after Von Miller sacked him in the first quarter of a 24-10 win against the Panthers.
• Bills safety Damar Hamlin was honored at the 50-yard line before the game alongside those who helped save his life after he went into cardiac arrest last month. He was later spotted sitting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during the game.
