2nd Generation Professional Athletes in Different Sports (MLB/NBA/NFL/NHL)
After watching Patrick Mahomes lift another Super Bowl trophy a few years back, I had an interesting thought about how unique it was that his father played a different professional sport than him. After thinking of a few more examples over the next couple of days (i.e., Barry & Shane Larkin, Darryl and D.J. Strawberry) I tried to Google something along the lines of “athletes whose father played a different professional sport than them.” Aside from https://www.ranker.com/list/athletes-with-children-in-different-sports/patrick-alexander I really couldn’t find any other notable lists of a compilation of athletes who fit my criteria – I was only looking for father/son combinations who played in different Big 4 (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL) leagues throughout their careers. The linked list above, coupled with a few of my own examples, provided me with almost 20 father/son duos, yet zero confirmed list/documentation of all such pairs. I gave up after that and thought it would just be a stupid thing that I looked up one afternoon and never really considered again. However, at the beginning of June 2025 I stumbled upon three more examples all within a span of a week by chance – a throwaway line on a podcast about Pat Riley, an article on Twitter about Jahmai Jones, and a conversation about Jake Mangum on a Rays v. Red Sox Broadcast. I was shocked that a year after I had put together my original small list and never really thinking about it much since, those three examples would happen to pop up in my life without me seeking them out all within a few days of each other. That reignited my interest and I have spent the past year researching in my free time whenever I was bored. I scoured random forums, asked ChatGPT and Microsoft Co-Pilot for help (I am novice when it comes to doing AI research), and combed through the Wikipedia pages of every single NBA and MLB player (since 1900). Thus, I present you with my unofficial (because I am bound to have missed some examples from going through Wikipedia pages) list of Second- Generation Professional Athletes Who Played a Different Sport than their Father.
MLB/NBA
Barry Larkin – Shane Larkin
Darryl Strawberry – D.J. Strawberry
Lee Riley – Pat Riley
Desi Wilson – D.J. Carton
Gerry Hannahs – Dusty Hannahs
Mychal Thompson – Trayce Thompson
Dick Surhoff – Rich & B.J. Surhoff
Rich Manning – Matt Manning
Rick Roberson – Chris Roberson
MLB/NFL
Patrick Mahomes – Patrick Mahomes
Jerry Goff – Jared Goff
Gary Pettis – Dante Pettis
Ken Williams – Kyle Williams
Lee Riley – Lee Riley
Yogi Berra – Tim Berra
Max Venable – Winston Venable
Nelson Simmons – Josh Simmons
Charles Johnson – Brandon Johnson
Mike Harkey – Cory Harkey
Deion Sanders – Shedeur Sanders
Dale Murphy – Shawn Murphy
Lou Brock – Lou Brock Jr.
Leon McFadden – Leon McFadden
Ray Mack – Tom Mack
Ernie Koy – Ernie Koy Jr. & Ted Koy
Skinny Graham – Art Graham (AFL only)
Mickey Heath – Stan Heath
Steve Buechele – Shane Buechele
Mark Schlereth – Daniel Schlereth
Manu Tuiasosopo – Matt Tuiasosopo
Jack Snow – J.T. Snow
Andre Jones – Jahmai Jones
John Mangum – Jake Mangum
Tracy Rocker – Kumar Rocker
James McDonald – James McDonald
Don Patterson – Corey Patterson & Eric Patterson
Derwin Williams – Mason Williams
Garth Jax – Griffin Jax
Bill Stobbs – Chuck Stobbs
Ben Reed – Michael Reed
Alvin Toles – Andrew Toles
Lee Gross – Gabe Gross
Jerry Aldridge – Cory Aldridge
Jim Beirne – Kevin Beirne
Charlie Berry (pre-1900, Union Association) – Charlie Berry
NFL/NBA
Calvin Hill – Grant Hill
Jonathan Hayes – Jaxson Hayes
Vernon Carey – Vernon Carey Jr.
Jacque Robinson – Nate Robinson
Javin Hunter – Jaden Ivey
Hasson Arbubakrr – Hassan Whiteside
Paul LaVine – Zach LaVine
Kevin Knox – Kevin Knox II
Aaron Bailey – Amari Bailey
Sid Blanks – Lance Blanks
Dennis Harrison – David Harrison
Amp Lee – Saben Lee
Greg LaFleur – Robert Sacre
Frank Tripucka – Kelly Tripucka
John Yonakor – Rich Yonakor
Lonnie Shelton – L.J. Shelton
Karl Malone – Demetress Bell
Vince Boryla – Mike Boryla
Cory Carr – Tristin McCollum & Zyon McCollum
Bulbs Ehlers – Tom Ehlers
Alvin Robertson – Tyrell Johnson
Reggie Slater – Rashawn Slater
Don Dee (ABA) – Donnie Dee
Elnard Webster (ABA) – Elnardo Webster Jr.
NBA/NHL
Popeye Jones – Seth Jones & Caleb Jones
NFL/NHL
Ted Brown – J.T. Brown
Pat Richter – Barry Richter
Willard Reaves – Ryan Reaves
Tommy O'Connell – Mike O'Connell
John Alt – Mark Alt
K.D. Williams – Keegan Kolesar
Hal Ledyard – Grant Ledyard
Carlton Bailey – Justin Bailey
MLB/NHL
Brad Wellman – Casey Wellman
Dan Petry – Jeff Petry
Jimmy Ward – Pete Ward
Hartland Monahan – Shane Monahan
Ted McCaskill – Kirk McCaskill
If anyone else knows of any other examples, please add them to the thread!