Kansas City Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid endeared himself to Tuskegee, HBCUs, and appreciators of Black history across the country in a recent interview. Reid spoke to Sam McDowell, a columnist from the Kansas City Star newspaper, about the upcoming AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. McDowell noticed the jacket Reid was sporting and inquired about it, according to HBCU Gameday. 

“Yea, well my office is freezing, so this is a good jacket to have on,” Reid said. “Second, I’m a big fan of the Tuskegee Airmen. I’ve always liked that crew, man, and the stuff that they did. Thanks for asking.”

Chief’s assistant coach Terry Bradden seemingly caught wind of Reid’s admiration of the Tuskegee Airmen. He contacted Aaron James, the Golden Tigers’ head football coach, for the jacket, and the rest is history.

Bradden is more than familiar with Tuskegee University. Though he originally went to Howard, he transferred and played football for the Golden Tigers for three season. He graduated with Bachelor of Science, yet went on to become a special teams quality control coach at Florida Atlantic University. At 24 years old, he became the youngest head football coach and athletic director in all of Florida.

Bradden also spent time as a quarterback graduate assistant in 2016 while at Bethune-Cookman University. He immediately went to Kansas City in 2017 as a defensive assistant. He spent three seasons as the defensive quality control coach before becoming the defensive line coach in 2021.