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- Joe Burrow dad: Jim Burrow
- Joe Burrow mom: Robin Burrow
- Joe Burrow brother: Jamie Burrow
- Joe Burrow brother: Dan Burrow
- Joe Burrow grandfather: James Burrow
- Joe Burrow uncle: Johnny Burrow
- Where is Joe Burrow from?
Joe Burrow is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He briefly held the title of the highest-paid player in NFL history when the Bengals signed him to a five-year, $275 million deal, but he has since been surpassed.
Burrow seemingly emerged from nowhere in college for many fans. He spent the first two years of his career as a backup at Ohio State. Burrow transferred to LSU ahead of the 2018 season. In his second season with the Tigers, he put forth one of the best collegiate seasons in history, accumulating 5,671 passing yards and 60 touchdowns to win the Heisman Trophy.
Burrow has struggled at times with injuries in the NFL, but he has also shown off the rocket for an arm that he debuted at LSU. While it felt like he was an unknown player who had exploded out of nowhere, the writing was on the wall that he was going to make something of his life in sports. When you take a look at his family, nearly every member for three generations was involved in sports in some way, and it all trickled down to Burrow.
Here is more on Burrow's athletic family.
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Joe Burrow dad: Jim Burrow
Jim played his college ball as a defensive back at Nebraska. He was selected in the eighth round of the 1976 NFL Draft by the Packers. Jim spent only one year in the NFL playing for Green Bay and then turned to the CFL where he played from 1977-1981. Upon leaving the CFL, he turned to coaching.
Jim started out as the tight ends coach for Washington State in 1981 and remained in that position for a year. He stayed in coaching until 2018, when he decided to take a step back and focus on following Joe's football career. Jim primarily stayed in a position coach role, never assuming the mantle of a head football coach, except for a brief stint at Ames High School in 1999 and 2000. He ended his coaching career as the defensive coordinator at the University of Ohio, a job that he took in 2005 and held until 2018.
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Joe Burrow mom: Robin Burrow
Robin and Jim still live in Athens, Ohio. She is a school principal working at Eastern Elementary School. Robin implemented a "Joe Burrow Cool Cat Day" at the school, and the students get to wear sunglasses. She is also a board member of the Appalachian Children's Coalition, an advocacy group serving local kids.
Robin didn't always use to work in the school system. Her background is in the fashion industry where she worked for 12 years. She left it because of how much it kept her away from home and chose to focus on her family. "I was traveling a lot, my husband was traveling a lot with coaching and so, I ended up getting out of that field because we had Joe and it just was not conducive to our family life."
Robin and Jim both play big roles in Joe Burrow's Foundation. Robin serves as the secretary and treasurer, while Jim is the vice president. The foundation launched in October 2022 and "aims to reduce food insecurity and support children's mental and behavioral health in Ohio and Baton Rouge, Louisiana." Talking about the importance of the foundation Robin said, "There are skyrocketing levels of anxiety, depression, and since the pandemic, children are not able to focus or deal with conflict as well. We're trying to build back this self-efficacy piece."
Joe Burrow brother: Jamie Burrow
Joe has two older brothers. When the Bengals QB was born in 1996, his older brothers were in high school. Jamie was the eldest and was a senior in high school. He played his college ball at Nebraska from 1997-2001 and was given second-team all-Big 12 honors in his final season.
Jamie is married, and he and his wife Codie have two kids. They have a son named James after Jamie's father and a daughter named Bowen. The family lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and while his background post-football was in medical sales, Jamie is an investor in one of the top restaurants in the area.
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Joe Burrow brother: Dan Burrow
Dan is the middle Burrow brother. When Joe was born in 1996, Dan was a high school freshman. He also played college football at Nebraska, where he was a member of the Cornhuskers from 2000-2004.
Dan is married to his wife Jama. He spoke out in 2000 about how great it was for Joe to win the Heisman. While he was happy for his brother, he was even happier that it was an excuse for his family to get together.
Jamie and Dan Burrow are so proud of their brother, #LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, who is leading the Tigers to a hot start in 2019. pic.twitter.com/AzxwQT5p3w
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) September 21, 2019
Dan, Jamie and their father all played for Nebraska, but Joe didn't. He wanted to, and the Cornhuskers just said that he wasn't good enough. This prompted Joe to go to Ohio State and then LSU.
Dan spoke about his younger brother's recruitment, saying, "Joe is a man of few words, so there wasn’t a ton of conversation with Joe about it. He didn’t say a whole lot. My older brother and I were a bit more vocal because that’s all we wanted him to do. And for a long time, that’s what he wanted to do. But pretty quickly it wasn’t really in the plans, it didn’t seem like. We thought we had another chance at it a few years later after he decided to leave Ohio State. That unfortunately didn’t work out."
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Joe Burrow grandfather: James Burrow
Joe's athletic ability can be traced back two generations. His grandfather played guard for Mississippi State. Joe's paternal grandmother dropped an insane 82 points in a high school basketball game, setting the Mississippi state record for most points in a game.
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Joe Burrow uncle: Johnny Burrow
While Joe's father and brothers played college football at Nebraska, his uncle Johnny didn't follow suit. He took a page out of his parents' books and stayed local to Mississippi. Instead of following in his father's footsteps and being an athlete at Mississippi State, he played defensive back for four seasons at Ole Miss.
Johnny is a lecturer at the University of Mary Washington's College of Business. Johnny was interviewed in the past about what makes Joe so good and said, "Joe is a good young man; he works hard, cares about his teammates and has fun on the football field. What makes Joe such a special talent is his empathy, emotional intelligence, competence and his desire to win." Ironically, Johnny worked with a historic preservation associate professor named Daniel Hubbard. He is the cousin of Joe's former teammate Sam Hubbard.
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Where is Joe Burrow from?
Burrow was born in Ames, Iowa on Dec. 10, 1996. His dad was coaching at Iowa State at the time. Burrow got used to moving around as a kid as the family would follow wherever Jim would accept a new coaching position. Stops along the way included Nebraska and North Dakota before settling in Ohio.
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