As Kansas City Chiefs fans cheer for their team when they take the field for the Super Bowl this Sunday, there’s one person who may be cheering louder than anyone else at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas – quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ mom, Randi Mahomes, aka “Mama Mahomie.”
Randi Mahomes, who is an event planner, has a strong spiritual side – her Instagram tagline says, “Led by faith.” Her positive attitude has been an inspiration to Patrick going all the way back to his days playing for the Whitehouse High School Wildcats in East Texas.
“I knew when it came to sports he was going to be able to reach whatever level he wanted,” Randi told Woman’s World in an exclusive interview. But football wasn’t his first choice, he also played baseball and basketball. And before Patrick’s junior year in high school he told her he wanted to quit football, but she told him he would regret it if he did.
Patrick went on to play at Texas Tech and got drafted by the Chiefs in 2017. In 2022, he married his high school sweetheart, Brittany. Today they have two children, Sterling and Bronze, who Randi loves to dote on. “They call me Grandi,” she says with a laugh. Here, Woman’s World sat down to learn more about Randi Mahomes, her faith, family and football in this exclusive and inspirational Q&A.
Woman’s World (WW): Do you get nervous watching Patrick take the field?
Randi Mahomes: Watching the game is so hard for me. You think it’s going to get easier. We’re seven years in [of Patrick playing in the NFL], but it’s still very hard for me. I found watching it at home might be a little bit harder because they rewind the plays and they show him bending backwards and that’s really hard for me to watch. But at the same time, I know football and I know he’s living his dream and getting to get out there every week because that’s what he wants to do. But it’s still hard for a mom to watch your son being pounded by 300-pound guys whose job is to do that.
There are times when I joke with people and say can I just go to sleep and wake up and y’all tell me how this game turned out? I’m proud of him when he gets out there, but I think I’m just more nervous every time. I’m just holding my breath. I tell him he’s giving me a lot of gray hair, and it’s not because he was out doing anything crazy.
WW: Do you have any rituals when you watch Patrick play?
Randi: I pray for everyone. I pray for every team that’s playing. I just pray that God protects them.
WW: What is it like cheering on the Chiefs next to their newest biggest fan, Taylor Swift?
Randi: She is just very down to earth and fits right in. She’s just there watching the game, rooting for the team. She takes the time for anyone that’s around her, anyone that comes along, she takes the time for them. It’s been fun and it’s exciting.
WW: What was Patrick like as a little kid?
Randi: I don’t remember a time that Patrick didn’t have a ball of some sort in his hand or something that he wanted me to catch, whether it was at Easter and we’re hunting eggs. Instead of putting them in his basket he would yell for me to catch them. We’d go to the store and there’d be gumballs and I’d get him one. But then he would be like, “Catch.” I told him no, you eat it. And he’d say, no, “Catch it.” To me he’s always been super great since he was little. He was three when he played T-ball. Three-year-olds don’t know how the game works, and he did.
WW: What is your website “QB Producer” about?
Randi: Maybe seven years ago we were joking around and I said “I did produce him (Patrick)” so that’s how the name got created. I have Kansas City Chiefs bags you can bring into the stadium and other customizable Chiefs accessories. I share what inspires me. And there are videos of Patrick as a kid playing sports.
WW: How does your faith inspire Patrick’s?
Randi: I grew up going to church with my neighbors. I went every Sunday and every Wednesday. I knew when I had kids I wanted them to grow up in church. I felt like if I couldn’t teach them something being a mom, maybe they would hear it in church.
No matter what, if I worked till two in the morning the night before at an event, the next day we were going to church. The kids went to Bible school. [Patrick has a brother, Jackson and a sister, Mia.] Patrick was baptized at a Methodist church. I remember thinking, okay, if I do nothing else in his life, I’ve got him to where he needs to be. And I remember thinking that at church, and then it was just something that I’ve always done.
Whenever I see that the world’s being ugly. I just pray. I love seeing Patrick still do that. And Jackson and my daughter. That’s something that’s my proudest accomplishment as a mom because that’s what really matters in the end.
WW: Did Patrick have a favorite meal you cooked for him growing up?
Randi: Funny story. When he was in college he called me up at work and left a message saying, “Hey, Mom, you’re going to be upset.” I remember thinking, oh kids in college — Did he get in trouble? Did he fail a class?
I’m thinking every worst thing, and I’m trying to call him but he doesn’t answer. I then found out they do fun things on the stadium screens during the football games. They’ll ask the team questions and one was what’s your favorite thing your mom cooks? Patrick said to me, “Mom, I didn’t know what to say and I just said that you don’t really cook. Are you going to be mad?”
I said, “Well, you could have told them I make a mean Chick-fil-A sandwich. It got you to where you’re at.” I laugh about this. I’m not the best cook. I just don’t enjoy it. That’s always my number one New Year’s resolution — to start cooking more. We laugh about that. I do make a mean Chick-fil-A sandwich. I used to pick you up two or three on the way home, I told Patrick. It’s always been something we laugh about.
WW: What do you like most about being a grandmother?
Randi: My grandkids are my pride and joy. When I go to Kansas City my priority is seeing them as every grandmother probably thinks. There are times I’ll stay home there on gameday and watch it on TV with the kids. I’ll tell Patrick, “I’m sorry. I really didn’t watch the game today. I was playing with the kids.” If they lose, I’ll say, “But I had a great day.” And Patrick will just kind of laugh with me.
The name Grandi came about because I wanted my name for them to be a little different. My name is Randi and someone said what about Grandi. So I’ve been super excited to use Grandi. I always think they’re not going to know me because I’m far away, but Brittany and Patrick are really good about pictures and saying there’s Grandi.
Randi with one of her grandchildren, 2023
WW: Patrick is only 28 and already nominated for the prestigious NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award for achievement in community service. How does that make you feel?
Randi: I’m so proud and I remind him just like I remind my other children, God has blessed us with so much. It’s good to give back and to remember where you came from. Remember when we did have hard times and what little things mattered. I love that children are a focus of his.
When he does Make-A-Wish or he does anything for kids through his 15 and the Mahomies Foundation, I see him truly happy. I’ve been there when he connects with kids and have seen he’s just as happy as the kid meeting him. He’s just as excited to give his headband away at the game to a kid as the kid is probably to get it. So I see he still sees that and understands what gifts God has given him.
WW: Patrick wears several bracelets on the field. What do they symbolize?
Randi: They’re very important to him, whether it’s from a person battling cancer who he met and they gave it to him, or a little kid that got hurt at the college he went to who he had met as well. If you see Patrick’s wrist, even when he does photo covers for magazines, he has on those bracelets. They’re reminders of the people he is praying for and thinking about.
He wears a yellow rubber bracelet from one little girl he met, Sophia, who has been battling cancer for years. He’s been wearing that one, it says Sophia Strong, for about six years. Her mom told me the story of how they were introduced. I cried because I felt for her being a mom too with a daughter. I took a cut-out of a photo of Sophia to games with me and took pictures of the photo in different places. I tell her, “I got you here with me.” We’ve kept in contact. Every time she sees Patrick wearing her bracelet I hope it gives her hope to keep on fighting.
WW: Your mom was a huge fan of Patrick’s. It must be bittersweet not having her in the stands for this championship season.
Randi: If I could say anyone was Patrick’s loudest fan it was my mom. And anyone that knows her knows that. I always say she was his loudest, his biggest number one fan. There were days that Patrick said I heard Nanny. I said, “You heard her over all the Chiefs?”
She might wait until it gets a little quieter, but she’d yell, “Go Patrick!” You wouldn’t think she was a very loud woman, but she was. And everyone who knew her knew that. She wanted everyone to know that that was her grandson.
And if she went to Mia’s game, she’d want people to know that’s my granddaughter. It wasn’t just Patrick. She was all of our biggest fans. And so this year is for her – Debbie Martin. The other day at the game, I told Tony Romo’s mom about one time my mom met Tony and was very loud, and it was not an appropriate time.
And she’s like, “Oh, we talked and I talked to Tony during the game, and they actually mentioned it at the end of the game about my mom being loud.” That was the best gift they could have given me. I know no one but my family heard it, and I know my mom knew that it was said about her.