10 of the greatest father-son combos in professional sports history

Focus on Sport // Getty Images It’s not always easy when Dad is a legendary athlete. Nobody knows this better than Bronny James, the eldest child of LeBron James, a man widely considered one of–if not the–greatest basketball players of all time. The basketball phenom started college at the University of Southern California in 2023 and is projected to be a late pick in the 2024 NBA draft. But the spotlight has proved challenging. “It’s tough,” Bronny said in a May 2024 interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio. “A lot of criticism gets thrown my way, but I’ve got to deal with it.” It would be notable if Bronny lived up to his father’s soaring reputation, especially since LeBron surpassed expectations after he was touted as the next Michael Jordan. But Bronny is far from the only athlete who has excelled despite the pressures of having a sports superstar for a dad. From the gridiron and the diamond to the rink and the race track, there are a handful of special cases in which the son of a prolific athlete matched–or exceeded–their old man’s greatness. Stephen Curry, Ken Griffey Jr., and the Manning brothers are just a few who have achieved the latter distinction. To highlight generational athletic prowess, Stacker compiled a list of 10 of the best father-son duos in professional sports history–scouring such sources as ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Rotowire. There’s even a trio and quartet on the list. Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. Focus on Sport // Getty Images It’s one thing to play on the same MLB team as your dad. It’s another to hit back-to-back home runs with him, a feat only Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Sr. have accomplished in baseball history. The elder Griffey played for 19 seasons, including 12 with the Cincinnati Reds, and won the World Series with the Big Red Machine in 1975 and 1976 on his road to being inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. The Griffeys’ professional paths overlapped in 1990-1991 with the Seattle Mariners, for whom Junior began and ended his 22-year career. With one of the sweetest left-handed swings in baseball, “The Kid,” as he was nicknamed, clubbed his way to seventh on the all-time home run list with 630, ensuring his induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016. Together, their careers made big impressions, but their consecutive bombs as teammates remain a feat that no other father-son duo will likely ever meet. Archie Manning, Peyton Manning, and Eli Manning