For four weeks every summer, the Kansas City Chiefs take over the Missouri Western football...
For four weeks every summer, the Kansas City Chiefs take over the Missouri Western football facilities to hold training camp.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KCTV) - For four weeks every summer, the Kansas City Chiefs take over the Missouri Western football facilities to hold training camp.
Missouri Western Griffins assistant coach Patrick St. Louis said the arrangement is exciting for him.
“I rooted for the Chiefs. I grew up not far from Arrowhead and always have been a Chiefs fan,” St. Louis said.
St. Louis, the assistant head coach, gives up his office and meeting room to make way for the team.
“They’re real nice, my first couple of years... they let me sit in on meetings, stuff like that, so they’ve all been good to work with,” St. Louis said.
Missouri Western’s indoor facility is large enough to accommodate both the college and professional teams.
“Our paths just cross. They usually practice in the morning and we practice in the afternoon,” St. Louis said.
Sons write note to Kelce
St. Louis’s sons were excited that the Chiefs held camp at their father’s college.
“It’s just crazy that my favorite NFL team in the world came to my dad’s college camp,” Grey St. Louis said.
When Coach St. Louis learned the Chiefs tight ends were using his room for meetings this summer, he and his boys came up with an idea.
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“What if we left some stuff here... what if we put some stuff up and write a note and leave some pictures?” Patrick said.
Eight-year-old Grey wrote a note to Travis Kelce.
“You’re my favorite tight end Kelce, please sign it,” Grey said.
St. Louis put a Kelce jersey, two photos of his kids and Grey’s note on the wall in the tight end meeting room.
“I knew he had to sit here for a month every day and look at it,” St. Louis said.
But Kelce receives tens of thousands of autograph requests every year.
Family waits for a response
The St. Louis family waited to see if Kelce would sign the items.
“Every day, they’re like, ‘Is it going to happen? Are we going to have his signature?’” St. Louis’s wife, Chastity St. Louis, said.
As the weeks went on, a university facilities manager checked the office regularly. Travis had not signed anything.
“Every day I had to just make sure that they were okay, so I’m like, ‘If he doesn’t sign it, it’s okay. We will try again next year,’” Chastity St. Louis said.
On the day the Chiefs broke camp, Patrick St. Louis received a message.
“So they send me a picture of the jersey and the pics of the boys that we’d put up and he had signed it. I was just shocked,” St. Louis said.
“I was just shocked. I could barely talk and I was really happy,” Grey said.
“I would have to scream ‘eee!” St. Louis’s son Aiden said.
“I went around my whole office: ‘He signed it! He signed it,’” Chastity St. Louis said.
Family plans to send bracelets
“It just shows how humble he is. Take the time to sign a few things and make a family’s day,” Patrick St. Louis said.
The kids plan to send something to Kelce in return.
“Remember when Travis Kelce showed Taylor those friendship bracelets? We made them too,” 10-year old Aiden said.
It’s been a summer to remember for the St. louis family of St. joe.