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There’s little doubt Jason Kelce will be punching his ticket to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in the wake of his illustrious career with the Philadelphia Eagles. However, his time in the NFL was almost cut tragically short thanks to a scary incident that unfolded on a lake during the offseason.
There aren’t many people who’ve played center in the NFL who’ve managed to become a household name, but I’d argue Jason Kelce managed to do exactly that over the course of the 13 seasons he spent in the league (although he obviously got a little bit of help from his brother Travis).
The seven-time Pro Bowler drew plenty of praise for his play on the field, but that was far from the only way he contributed to the cause.
Kelce was a widely respected presence in the locker room who set the tone for his teammates and was never shy about keeping them in line when the situation called for it. Most people who played with him would tell you he led by example, but there was at least one occasion where he failed to make the wisest decision.
Jason Kelce almost drowned after tying himself to the back of a houseboat on the Fourth of July
The story in question was shared by longtime Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson, who recounted the tale Kelce relayed to him and some of his teammates when he arrived at training camp at some point toward the middle of the 2010s.
Former Eagles wide receiver Chad Hill hails from Georgia and hosted an annual Fourth of July party on Lake Lanier, which was held on the houseboat where his guests got the chance to let loose.
Kelce was aboard the vessel when nature called, and he decided to forgo the restroom in favor of the water it was floating on. He tied a rope around his waist to make sure he wouldn’t get stranded if the boat started moving while he was doing his business—a tactic that backfired in a big way:
“I guess he figured if it started moving, it wouldn’t be moving too fast, so he could pull himself up.
“Well, in the middle of him peeing in the water, the boat took off. Yanked his swimming suit off. Underwear off. Everything. He was butt naked. And started pulling him, but he was being pulled underwater.
He couldn’t get up to the surface. He started screaming. He finally was able to get up to the surface, and he’s screaming, ‘Help! Help! Help!’ And all the girls — they’re drunk, too — they’re looking at him, laughing. And he keeps screaming, ‘Help me, you stupid f—ers!’
So finally the girls catch on, the boat stops, he gets on the boat. Still no trunks on. The captain says to him, ‘Boy, what the f— are you doing? You’re never on this boat again!’ And he kicked him off.”
Kelce described that incident as the “dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” but it thankfully ended up being a tiny footnote in his career as opposed to the onus for a “Death” section on his Wikipedia page.