Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are the latest, but here’s our Top 10 celebrity-athlete relationships

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.

It’s possible there’s not one aspect of sports or pop culture that this duo hasn’t weaved its way into. They have turned people who couldn’t name five NFL franchises into diehard Kansas City fans — especially if Kelce’s No. 87 jersey is on the field.

Recently, the hysteria infiltrated an Inquirer Sports editors meeting. The discussion centered on the Kelce-Swift relationship turning into big business and shining a whole new spotlight on the NFL, courtesy of the casual fan.

» READ MORE: Will Taylor Swift be at the Eagles-Chiefs game? An expert Swiftie predicts.

It also led this roundtable of sports editors to go down a rabbit hole of past athlete-celebrity relationships of note over the years, and the intrigue, excitement, and controversy that came along with them. After roughly 20 minutes, we narrowed a list (with a few honorable mentions) of The Inquirer’s Top 10 most notable celebrity-athlete couples of all time.

Think we might’ve missed some better ones? Tell us in the comments.

It was the height of both of their careers. Parker was the star point guard for the San Antonio Spurs, while Longoria was gaining fame as the sultry Gabrielle Solis on ABC’s then-hit show, Desperate Housewives. Theirs was a relationship that lasted seven years, until Longoria, who once had tattoos of Parker’s name on her neck and their wedding date on her wrist, filed divorce papers after his alleged infidelity.

For us millennials, the relationship between Rison, then a star receiver for the Atlanta Falcons and Lopes, the “L” of the 1990s girls group TLC, is infamously remembered for the time she threw Rison’s possessions into a bathtub in his Atlanta mansion and set them on fire. The fire spread, burning Rison’s $1.3 million mansion to the ground.

She was the “it girl” of a generation. He was the former hard-hitting New York Yankees slugger with his own mega fame. The two were the Kelce-Swift of the 1950s, and the relationship has been the subject of countless recollections over the years. It was included in the 2022 Netflix biopic Blonde, which featured a sizable reflection on their rocky one-year marriage and eventual friendship.

Remember when these two were oh-so-close to getting married in 2021? Well, it was A-Rod who broke off the arrangement, telling Martha Stewart via her podcast that he had “no regrets.” But while together, the couple was in every tabloid.

» READ MORE: Did you know there's a mural of Taylor Swift on South Street?

Justin Verlander is arguably one of the greatest major league pitchers of the last 30 years, but the number of people who remember him for being the beau of Victoria’s Secret model Kate Upton might equal the number who recognize him for his baseball prowess. The two were wed in 2017 and are still going strong.

Wilt Chamberlain is known for allegedly scoring off the court as well as on, like the 100 points he netted in his memorable NBA game in Hershey — still a record. However, the one woman who stands out was actress Pam Grier, whose Foxy Brown character remains a symbol of power. The duo dated in 1973, which also happened to be the final year of Chamberlain’s basketball career.

There was a period when the Atlanta Braves were the team to beat in the National League and their success largely hinged on how good David Justice was at the plate (in addition to the pitching prowess of Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, of course). But whatever Justice did to impress A-list actress Halle Berry not only caught her attention but that of the pop culture universe, which clung to the duo’s every move until their split in 1997.

Dennis Rodman’s alleged fling with Madonna made the papers, but it was his engagement and subsequent marriage to Carmen Electra that caused hysteria in the 1990s. Rodman was a part of the Chicago Bulls teams that won multiple titles under head coach Phil Jackson and was fueled by Michael Jordan. Electra was an MTV sensation who led the list of leading women in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The NFL’s all-time best quarterback meets the most popular Victoria’s Secret model of a generation. The two met and married when they were both at their peak, and while they’re no longer together, their power couple relationship was continually on display, usually with a shot of Bundchen’s going nuts for a Brady play in the suite level of some NFL stadium.

» READ MORE: Check out our page dedicated to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce

Topping out our list is David and Victoria Beckham, or for the soccer folks, “Becks and Posh.” The two met in the 1990s, when David was making a name for himself at Manchester United and Victoria was touring around the world as a member of the Spice Girls. They got married under an immense amount of scrutiny but are still together. David is the owner of Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami franchise, while Victoria continues to hold it down in the fashion world with her signature lines of clothing and makeup.

Honorable sports mention: (5) Jose Canseco and Madonna. (4) Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe. (3) Kim Kardashian and [insert athlete here]. (2) Aaron Rodgers and Olivia Munn (and now Shailene Woodley). (1) Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union

All-Philly honorable sports mention: (7) Nnamdi Asomugha and Kerry Washington. (6) Kobe Bryant and Brandy. (5) Rodney Peete and Holly Robinson. (4) Cole Hamels and Heidi Strobel. (3) Ben Simmons and Kendall Jenner. (2) Heather Mitts and A.J. Feeley. (1) Zach and Julie Ertz.