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The Kansas City Chiefs coach shares his resilient story of tragedy-turned-triumph alongside his wife Carlie, as they hope to inspire others to overcome challenges of their own. Meet Porter Ellett, assistant running back coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, who’s won three Super Bowl titles with the team since joining the staff as Andy Reid’s assistant eight seasons ago.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Ellett reflected on the triumphant trajectory his life has taken since losing the use of his right arm at age 4 to becoming a valuable member of the franchise that’s currently in pursuit of clinching its third consecutive NFL championship victory.
Ellett vividly remembers the conversation he had with Reid upon being offered the assistant position at age 27. “He was like, ‘Hey, you’ll be my right hand man,’ ” he recalls Reid saying — to which Ellett replied, “‘As long as you’re okay with your right-hand man not having a right hand!’ ”
To this day, Ellett believes, in part, that’s what solidified Reid’s decision to hire him. “I think he loved that,” he says of his quip. “I always joke. I’m like, ‘My life wouldn’t make a good movie or book because it’s too far fetched. No one would believe it.’ ”
Ellett, now based in Kansas City and married to his wife Carlie with three kids, is a Utah native who grew up on a farm. He developed a hard working ethic by helping his father with various tasks on the range at a very young age.
“I would go with my dad to help him move sheep out on the mountain,” he explains, a chore that ultimately changed his life forever when he was 4 years old.
“One day we were going out there… I wanted to be in the back of the truck,” says Ellett, who then proceeded to sit atop of a four wheeler upon his dad’s approval since there were other kids in the rear. “Then we hit a bump and I fell out of the back of the truck.”
“I hit my head super hard and fractured my skull, scalped me and partially severed an artery. All these things. Bad stuff,” he explains. “My dad picked me up from the injury… He had to take my scalp and put it back on my head.”
