One name rules supreme in football. The greatest player in NFL history, by a long shot, is Tom Brady. Most football fans know of all of the accolades and records that come with Brady's name. He is a seven-time Super Bowl champion, 15-time Pro Bowler, and three-time MVP. Furthermore, Brady led the league in passing yards five times, has the record for passing touchdowns (649), and has more wins than anybody else (251). There are loads of other Brady descriptors that are as much a part of football lore as what exactly a pigskin is. However, there is a lot about the greatest quarterback ever that many fans don't know. Here are 15 of the most interesting things about Brady.
15. Relative was the first POW in WW2
A World War 2 veteran named Michael Buckley Jr. has been given the label of being the first American prisoner of war in that fight. Buckley just so happens to be the great-uncle of the greatest quarterback ever. Buckley would survive the American triumph and go on to live until he was 106 years old in 2006, well into Brady's playing career.
14. Brady sold his house to a famous rapper
California is more than just Brady's childhood home. It is also a hub of rap music and lavish living. This was illustrated when the quarterback sold his house to Dr. Dre, a pioneer in the rap game who was a founding father of NWA and still influences music to this day.
13. More Super Bowl wins than any NFL franchise
Brady won six championships with the New England Patriots, establishing himself as the G.O.A.T. in the process. He then left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There, he won another championship and proved to the world that he wan not a product of Bill Belichick. The Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers have six Super Bowls apiece, but no single team has as many Super Bowls as the quarterback does alone.
12. Never mathematically eliminated
Everyone knows Brady was incredible in the Super Bowl, but there is a case that he was even better in the regular season. Brady never took a snap while mathematically eliminated from the postseason. That is because during his 23-season career, he only twice missed the playoffs. A victory in the final game of the regular season in 2002 would have got him in the postseason, and Brady's Patriots missed the playoffs in 2008 only after he got hurt during Week 1.
11. No team is above . 500 against Brady
Going up against Brady was almost guaranteed to lead to a loss. Not a single team is above. 500 against the signal-caller. The Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, and Arizona Cardinals are the only teams to win as many games as they lost.
10. He was a Merill Lynch intern
If he wasn't such a stud on the gridiron, perhaps Brady would've had a successful career in finance. Back in his college days in Michigan University, the 21-year-old Brady took a summer internship program with Merill Lynch in Ann Arbor. The quarterback has been known to push his teammates on the field, and apparently, this was true even on his short stint in the firm.
“One day, I remember him kind of throwing up his arms and saying, ‘Doesn’t anyone do any work around here?!’” recalls one of Brady's former bosses in the firm, Oliver Owens (per CNBC.com).
No one's slacking off on Tom's watch. Of course, Brady had to have a backup plan, because it wasn't a guarantee that the football things was going to work out for him.
9. He hates strawberries
This might be a little surprising given that Brady was born and raised in California, one of the largest producers of strawberries in the entire US, but strikingly, the 15-time Pro Bowler absolutely despises the fruit, and the aversion to it actually started when he was young.
“I’ve never eaten a strawberry in my life. I have no desire to do that.” Brady told The Cut in 2016.
He even put out a bet over Twitter 2019 that he'll eat a strawberry live on Instagram if a Jeopardy contestant loses. Fortunately for Tom, James Holzhauer continued his winning streak that night.
If James loses on Jeopardy tonight I’ll eat a strawberry on IG live tomorrow.
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 20, 2019
8. Tom Brady's never tasted coffee
With a ton of stuff on his plate on a daily basis – balancing daddy duties and football among the millions of things that a multiple Super Bowl winner does, it's hard to think that Brady goes through a day without a sip of coffee in his bloodstream. Tom is not a fan of coffee.
“I never had any coffee or anything like that. I just never tried it,” Brady said on a radio interview in 2016 (per Boston Magazine).
Add this to the list of things off of Brady's very complex diet. Tom feels that he doesn't need caffeine in his life and it's hard to challenge that given the amount of silverware he has in his trophy cabinet. Plus, Brady looks better at 49 years old than he did in his mid-20s.
7. He's an early sleeper
Okay so maybe this is the reason why he doesn't need some espresso to jump-start his day. Tom Brady has zeroed in on the importance of complete rest and recovery to help him sustain the physicality of the sport he loves. The signal-caller is all about creating habits and being consistent, and he feels that creating a sleep schedule has helped him a lot.
“Well, sleep is all about recovering. ” Brady told GQ. “And if you’re going to break your body down a lot, you better find ways to build it back up. And the only way to do that is get a lot of sleep. So for me, I go to bed at like 8:30, 9:00. As soon as I put my kids to bed. Because I’m up at 5:30 the next day. “
Brady takes sleeping so seriously that he even invested in mattress start-up called Molecule in 2018.
6. He was crying the entire 1981 NFC Championship game
Brady's undying devotion to the sport started in his early days as a young San Francisco 49ers fan. As a Northern California native aspiring to be an NFL player someday, Brady idolized quarterback great Joe Montana. A four-year old Brady was one of the thousands in attendance in the 1981 NFC Championship Game where Montana threw “The Catch”.
Though it ended up as a jubilant day with the 49ers winning the match, it started out pretty intense for the young Tom. Brady cried throughout the entire first half because he wanted a foam finger. Good thing his father, Tom Sr., bought him one in the second half which eventually stopped Brady's sobs.
5. He shares the same birthday as one of his older sisters
As we all might've already known, Tom is the youngest of four children in the Brady household. He has three older sisters – one of which was born exactly three years before he was brought in to this world. Julie, Tom's second oldest sister was born on August 3, 1974 while Tom was born also on August 3 but in 1977.
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4. Tom Brady and his sisters all had athletic scholarships
It's also no surprise that Tom Brady had an athletic scholarship as a young quarterback prospect at Michigan. he was actually not the first one from their household to be granted one. His eldest sister Maureen had her own softball scholarship in Fresno State while her older sister Nancy was recruited by Cal-Berkeley for a softball scholarship. Julie, on the other hand was also granted a soccer scholarship in St. Mary's College in California. That's four out of four athletic scholarships, proving that this Brady Bunch is one extremely gifted group.
3. His brother-in-law was an MLB star
Julie ended up ended up marrying retired MLB player, Kevin Youkilis in 2012. Youkilis was a first and third baseman for the Boston Red Sox for the majority part of his MLB career. The 47-year old has also made quite a name for himself in Beantown, winning two Major League Titles with the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. Youkilis was inducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame, adding yet another Boston legend to the Brady family. He is known for one of the most unorthodox batting stances in MLB history.
2. He almost had an MLB career
If things went a little differently, he would've probably played against (or even with) Youkilis in the MLB. Brady was an exceptional baseball player in High School back in Junipero Serra, which caught the eye of numerous professional scouts. The left-handed-batting catcher was actually drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft. The franchise projected him as a potential All-Star in the league and even offered the young Brady a decent contract. But to the delight of New England Patriots fans everywhere, Brady's heart was in football. He chose to not sign with the Expos and continued playing football in college.
1. Tom Brady met Giselle on a blind date
Brady's and ex-wife Giselle Bundchen were once the talk of every tabloid. The former couple got married in 2009, raised a family, and then separated in 2022. Their story started unlike most; with a blind date in 2006
“You know, when I saw those kind eyes, I literally fell in love, like, right away,” Bundchen said (per glamour.com). “I was like, ‘What?’ He was just so—you know how sweet he is.”