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After playing his college ball for the University of Texas at Austin, Xavier Worthy was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft. The very first time he touched the ball in the team’s home opener, he scored a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens.
In his rookie season, Worthy helped the Chiefs on the journey back to the Super Bowl and now that he’s playing under the bright lights for one of the most successful franchises in the league, fans want to know more about his life away from the gridiron.
Here’s more on Worthy’s fiancée, Tia Jones.
She’s a professional athlete as well
Like Worthy, Jones is a professional athlete as well.
Jones, who was born on Sept. 8, 2000, is a track and field star. She specializes in hurdling and sprinting. Before turning pro, Jones won the 100-meter and 200-meter hurdles setting national and Junior Olympic records in both events at the USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships in 2013. Three years later, she won the 100-meter hurdles at the 2016 USA Junior Championships in a time of 12.84 seconds, which was the best time ever set by a 15-year-old athlete.
In 2021, while training Jones suffered what could have been a career-ending Achilles injury in which her tendon was “hanging by a thread.”
She spoke to Track and Field News about how difficult that time was recalling: “Every step of the way it was so painful. I actually had a doctor tell me, ‘You might not want to run again’ … I slept most of the day because it was so painful.
“The prescription medication that the doctor prescribed wasn’t working, so I had to take more than he was telling me to. The doctor told me, literally, the medication was going in my system and just leaving within an hour. It was horrible, the pain was so bad.”
After missing out on the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Jones was able to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympic Trials and made it to the semifinals.
How Worthy and Jones met
During an appearance on The Pregame Podcast With Tokyo and Sydnee, Jones shared that Worthy reached out to her via social media but she initially ignored the football player when he slid into her DMs.
“He DMed me before, but I didn’t respond,” Jones admitted, adding, “’Cause, you know, it’s Instagram. Swipe in, swipe out.”
But when she moved to Texas, they eventually into each other outside a restaurant.
She explained, “I moved to Texas to train with my coach. He was going to UT [University of Texas] at the time … I saw him at a restaurant.”
Jones recounted that one night she was headed out to dinner with a friend and running “so late.” While she was en route to the steakhouse, two cars “cut in front of her.” She then pulled up to the restaurant’s valet area where the other vehicles were too and one of the drivers happened to be Worthy. He immediately recognized Jones and ended up asking her out on a date.
When Jones and Worthy got engaged
In July 2024, Jones and Worthy shared the happy news that they were engaged.
The proposal took place on a beach where the receiver led his lady to a pathway of roses before getting down on one knee in front of a heart-shaped flower archway with a backdrop of giant letters spelling out the words: “Marry Me.”
The pair captioned the video “The Worthy’s” with a diamond ring and rose emojis.
The two received congratulatory messages from some of Worthy’s friends and teammates including Travis Kelce and current Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning.
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