Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach is proof positive that you can take the coal cracker out of the coal region. But you can’t take the coal region out of the coal cracker.
Veach is a 1996 graduate of Mount Carmel Area High School and one of the best high school football players of his era. That was almost 25 years ago. And he’s been on quite a ride since then. Now, he is a Super Bowl champion.
Brett Veach … Coal Region Guy
Veach actually got his start in the NFL as an intern with the Andy Reid-led Eagles. He quickly rose through the Birds’ front-office ranks until Big Red’s time was up in Philly. Veach followed Reid to Kansas City and soon became the Chiefs general manager.
A lot of people credit Veach with selling Reid on the idea of drafting Super Bowl LIV MVP Patrick Mahomes and building the team’s championship roster.
You’d think with him being away from the area much of the time for the last 15-20 years or so and rubbing elbows among such exclusive company that it’d change him.
Well, you’re wrong.
Check out the photo in this tweet from the Mount Carmel Area School District Twitter account on Tuesday:
Congrats again to our GM Brett Veach! Super Bowl Champs! pic.twitter.com/VHVk0PTkbj
— Mount Carmel Area School District (@MCAEducation) February 4, 2020
That’s Veach standing next to Big Red wearing a Big Red (Mount Carmel Football) T-shirt.
OK, so that’s pretty good evidence that Veach hasn’t forgotten where he came from. But we found more evidence of that on Sunday night.
“You can put dat on InstagrAm!”
Check out this video on the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami following the game. TV’s Eric Stonestreet, a big Chiefs fan, has his phone rolling to capture an ebullient Veach.
You might be able to pick up on his coal region accent if you listen closely. Actually, you don’t have to listen that closely. When he lets his guard down, Veach’s accent is as thick as we’ve heard in a while.
Hear how he hits the words “chAmpionship” and “InstagrAm”.
Our general manager Kansas City! Brett Veach! @Chiefs #ChiefsKingdom #kissthevinny #letsgo pic.twitter.com/nd0br26INu
— Eric Stonestreet (@ericstonestreet) February 3, 2020
Is That Wintergreen?
Outside of that thick accent, we got another sign on Super Bowl Sunday that Veach was definitely a coal region guy.
Twitter user @liamquigs noticed something very coal region-esque in a postgame locker room photo featuring Veach, Mahomes, and the Lombardi Trophy.
Looks like our lad is a chewer or dipper.
https://twitter.com/liamquigs/status/1224207606316699648
Hey, for all we know, it could be that fine cut beef jerky with the baseball card on the inside.
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