For the first time ever, it will be Harvard vs. Harvard at Super Bowl LVIII
BOSTON -- Whichever team wins Super Bowl LVIII, Harvard University is going to be happy with the outcome. For the first time ever, a pair of Harvard alumni will go head-to-head in the big game.
They are Kyle Juszczyk, an 11-year veteran with the San Francisco 49ers, and Truman Jones, a rookie on the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad.
"When you hear the name Harvard, a lot of people -- rightfully so -- think of the academics. But we really do have a great football program," said Juszczyk, who was a tight end and halfback for the Crimson from 2009-12 while also earning a degree in economics.
That academic background often garners looks -- and plenty of questions -- from teammates once a Harvard alum hits the NFL.
"It never gets old," said Jones, a defensive lineman for the Crimson from 2018-22. "They're all like, 'Harvard, really?' And the next question is what did you study, and I tell them Bio Engineering. That leads to a whole other conversation where they ask what I'm doing in the NFL?"
Both are living out a dream, and both are grateful for longtime Crimson head coach Tim Murphy, who announced his retirement last month after 30 years on the job. Murphy steps away the all-time winningest coach in Ivy League history, and touched the lives of anyone who played under him at Harvard.
"Coach Murphy, he was just a monumental figure in getting me there, and then also then keeping me there," said Jones, who was Harvard's team captain last season. "You see how high-class he is in how he runs his program and interacts with people on a daily basis."
"He instilled a toughness in us, and a discipline," said Juszczyk. "Coach's personality was instilled on us."
Juszczyk has one more thing to be proud of these days: His wife, Kristen, is a self-taught fashion designer who created a puffer jacker worn by Taylor Swift at Chiefs games. It has, obviously, taken the world by storm.
"She really has taken off and I'm so proud. Something so simple as a puffer coat and you throw it on Taylor Swift -- the most famous person in the world -- and boom, everybody sees it and everybody wants it," he said.
Juszczyk already has Super Bowl experience, playing in Super Bowl LIV in 2020. Jones will be the ninth Harvard alum to be part of the big game come Sunday.
Either Juszczyk or Jones will become the fifth Harvard alumni to become a Super Bowl champ. The most recent former Crimson player to win a Super Bowl was tight end Cameron Brate, who won a ring with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.
