Travis Kelce Celebrated on His 36th Birthday with Throwback Photo Tributes from Mom Donna and the Chiefs

NEED TO KNOW

• Travis Kelce was celebrated by loved ones on his 36th birthday on Oct. 5

• His mother, Donna Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs shared throwback photos of the tight end in their birthday tributes

• Travis’ fiancée, Taylor Swift, just released her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which features multiple references to her relationship with the NFL star

Travis Kelce is celebrating his 36th birthday — and his loved ones are marking the occasion with trips down memory lane.

On Sunday, Oct. 5, the NFL star’s mother, Donna Kelce, reposted a sweet throwback photo from a fan page tribute to Travis on her Instagram Stories. The image shows a baby Travis being pushed in a swing on a playground, seemingly by his older brother, Jason Kelce.

Donna, 72, wrote over the photo, “Happy Birthday, Travis!!! 🎉.”

Travis’ team, the Kansas City Chiefs, also leaned into the nostalgia with their birthday tribute. The Chiefs shared an Instagram post featuring a slideshow titled “TK Through the Years.” The photo series shows Travis and Jason posing for a portrait as toddlers, a young Travis wearing a helmet and a Cleveland Browns jersey, and the tight end sitting on Santa Claus’ lap at Christmastime.

Other photos capture Travis’ time at the University of Cincinnati, where he played football for the Bearcats. The slideshow capped off with pictures of Travis in his Chiefs years, including one shot of the athlete kissing a Super Bowl trophy.

The Chiefs captioned their birthday tribute, “36 years of @killatrav ❤️.”

While Travis’ fiancée, Taylor Swift, did not share a public birthday tribute to him on social media, she showed him plenty of love on her newly released album, The Life of a Showgirl, which features multiple references to her relationship with the NFL star.

Travis proposed to Swift in August after two years of dating. The pair announced their engagement with a collection of stunning photos in a joint Instagram post — including one of Travis down on one knee.

Swift, 35, later spoke on The Graham Norton Show about the sweet proposal, and Travis’ “10 out of 10” effort in making the moment perfect.

“He really crushed it when it came to surprising me,” the Grammy winner said. “We filmed the podcast for about three or four hours … and meanwhile behind his house, he was having the whole back garden turned into this.”

Two days before Travis’ birthday, on Oct. 3, Swift released The Life of a Showgirl, her 12th studio album. It contains several references, tributes and spicy lyrics about Travis. Her tracks “The Fate of Ophelia,” “Opalite,” “Eldest Daughter,” “Wi$h Li$t,” “Wood” and “Honey” all include apparent references to the couple’s relationship.

After Travis attended Swift’s Eras Tour in July 2023 and she, in turn, attended one of the athlete’s Chiefs games months later, fans began speculating about a possible romance between the two. At the time, a source told PEOPLE that Swift and Travis were simply “hanging out” and “having fun” together.

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The pair continued supporting each other in their professional endeavors in the following months, and their connection appeared to grow more serious. As she did in The Life of a Showgirl, Swift included references to her relationship with Travis on her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department, which dropped in April 2024.

For more on Taylor Swift, pick up PEOPLE’s newly updated special edition Taylor Swift A to Z: A Showgirl’s Life, out now.

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