NEED TO KNOW
- Patrick Mahomes exclusively tells PEOPLE what he was like as a high school student in Whitehouse, Texas
- The Chiefs star also shares what his favorite sports movie was at the time
- Mahomes, who played football in high school before launching his NFL career in 2017, recalls the feeling of playing back then “on Friday nights under the lights”
Before he was a three-time Super Bowl champion, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was a student at Whitehouse High School in his Texas hometown.
Mahomes, 29, now the face of T-Mobile’s Friday Night 5G Lights campaign alongside former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, exclusively tells PEOPLE what he was like in his high school days.
“I just really loved sports,” says Mahomes. “Definitely competitive, and always working to get better. I think a lot of students can relate to just wanting to work hard and have fun.”
The quarterback says he “loved all the sports movies growing up” and says Remember the Titans was “at the top” of his list.
Mahomes recalls the emotions of competing for his high school team in Whitehouse, telling PEOPLE, “I know a lot of my memories were on Friday nights under the lights. There’s no feeling like it, especially in Texas high school football.”
Through their campaign with T-Mobile, Mahomes and Gronkowski are giving other small-town schools the chance to win major upgrades that will benefit athletic and academic programs.
Mahomes says the impact of the campaign is “huge,” and adds, “Growing up in a small town, you know every dollar of support helps. I’m grateful to be a part of this incredible program with T-Mobile where we can support some deserving schools across the country.”
And working with Gronkowski, who won four Super Bowls during his NFL career, was “awesome” for Mahomes.
“He’s got so much energy and just loves the game,” Mahomes says. “Gronk’s all about supporting athletes and having fun, so it really matched the spirit of Friday Night 5G Lights.”
Mahomes graduated from Whitehouse High School, where he met his wife Brittany, in 2014. He played at Texas Tech University before being drafted to the NFL in 2017.
This season, Mahomes and the Chiefs are looking to respond after their disappointing showing in the 2025 Super Bowl, where the Philadelphia Eagles squashed Kansas City’s hopes of the NFL’s first three-peat.
But Mahomes said he’s not looking for a “revenge tour” this season.
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“Whenever you lose, you kind of have this taste in your mouth that you want to go out there and revenge that, or whatever you want to say,” Mahomes said during an interview with Up & Adams released July 7.
“I feel like I’ve had to sit back and just listen to people talk and talk, and I’m like, ‘Let’s just play football and just handle it all out there,’ ” he said.
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