Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was born at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood and spent his first six months living in Havertown before his family moved to Pasadena, Calif.
The connection runs deeper than a birth certificate. As first reported by Alex Coffey in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Young's parents, Craig and Julie, kept the family's Delaware County ties alive for years through annual visits east.
On those trips, the couple would drive past their old home on Hillcrest Avenue in Havertown. They'd stop at Paddock Park, where Craig once lifted his toddler son to shoot a basketball at the court. Julie would scan the neighborhood to see what had changed.
Craig Young grew up in Mount Airy and still has family in northwest Philadelphia. His late father, Harold Frye, lived in Glenside. Until middle school, Bryce traveled to Philadelphia with his parents every year.
The visits built their own traditions. The family would go Christmas Eve caroling at Frye's Glenside home, then grab cheesesteaks from Dalessandro's. Young wouldn't leave without stuffing his suitcase with Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets.
"Even when family members came out to California, it was like, 'Hey, bring us some Tastykakes,'" Julie recalled, according to the Inquirer. "And they do, to this day."
The family's Philadelphia sports history started before Young was born. When Julie was eight months pregnant in 2001, she and Craig attended Game 3 of the Lakers-Sixers NBA Finals. Dressed in bright yellow Kobe Bryant jerseys, they walked into what was then the First Union Center and were greeted with boos. One fan spilled beer down Craig's neck on the escalator.
After the Lakers won 96-91, the couple waited for the crowd to leave, removed their jerseys and walked to the car in their undershirts.
Young went on to star at Alabama and was selected first overall by the Panthers in the 2023 NFL Draft. When Carolina visited the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Dec. 8, 2024, more than a dozen of Young's aunts, uncles and cousins showed up. Most wore Kelly green.
In the Panthers' friends and family section afterward, the relatives stood out in a sea of Carolina blue. Craig told the Inquirer one family member wore customized socks with Bryce's picture as a compromise.
"He has fond memories of the city," Craig said. "This is a city that's kind of like a second home to him."
Ahead of Young's return to Philadelphia in October, Craig told the Inquirer the family set new ground rules. Eagles-fan relatives could still come to the game, he said, but anyone rooting against the Panthers wouldn't be welcome in the family section afterward.
