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Super Bowl Softball Tie-In: Did You Know Tom Brady Called His Big Sister Maureen, A College Softball All-American at Fresno State, the “Best Athlete in the Family?”

Maureen Brady with her two daughters, Maya and Hannah, and brother Tom back in his Michigan days.

With his 10th appearance in the Super Bowl, few would argue that Tampa Bay Buccaneer quarterback Tom Brady is the GOAT when it comes to the QB position, having already won six titles and at age 43 could earn another one this Sunday.

As is well-documented, the California born signal-caller wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school at Serra High in San Mateo, California and was a 6th round draft pick out of Michigan when he started his legendary run with the New England Patriots.

What isn’t as well known by many is that when Brady was growing up, he was athletically in the shadow his older sister, Maureen, who set all kinds of records as a pitcher in high school and would go on to an All-American career at Fresno State, twice appearing in the NCAA National Tournament.

Check out this brief video clip where, leading up to the 2019 Super Bowl (a 13-3 Patriots win over the L.A. Rams), Tom himself admits she was “the best athlete in our family.”

 

Maureen pitching at Fresno State. Photo – FSU Softball.

His full quote, as printed in the YourCentralValley newspaper mentioned he how he used to go watch his sister pitch in her younger club days and then with the Bulldogs:

“She was the best athlete in our family. Great competitor. She was an all-American softball player. So much toughness.”

“I remember when I was a kid traveling around and watching them going to their games, their tournaments on the weekends, she’d pitch like six or seven games in a day. And she’d go 7-0 with two no-hitters. It was unbelievable. She’d be exhausted but she was the player that made it happen.”

“And she went on to college at Fresno State, played for a great coach in Margie Wright. And I used to go up and visit her when she was pitching for Fresno State. And watch Trent Dilfer play. They had a great football team,” Brady said.

In addition to Maureen, their sister Nancy played softball at California and youngest sister Julie, who shares the same birthday as Tom though three years older, played college soccer at St. Mary’s in California. She married another professional athlete in 2012, former MLB infielder Kevin Youkilis.

Maureen & Maya Brady from April 2019. Photo – Matt Sayles, Boston Globe

Mark Tennis, the authority on all things California high school related and the producer of CalHiSports.com, has this to say about Maureen’s outstanding prep career:

“From a high school athletics standpoint, it’s also still accurate to say that Tom would not be the greatest from his own family. His older sister, Maureen, was a dominating softball pitcher at Hillsdale High of San Mateo.”

“From 1988 to 1991, Maureen set a state record at the time with a 111-10 career record that is still among the best ever in the state. In her junior season, she went 32-1 with 10 no-hitters and six perfect games.”

Maureen would be named the State’s 1990 Junior of the Year by CalHi and would finish her outstanding career with 29 no-hitters and 14 perfect games.

“For her high school career that ended in 1991, (Maureen) Brady became the first pitcher in state history to reach 100 career wins and her total of 111 wins (10 losses) is still among the all-time best,” Mark says. “She also broke a state record with her 14 career perfect games in which the previous record of 12 was set two years earlier by the legendary Lisa Fernandez of Lakewood St. Joseph.”

Mark Tennis also tabbed Mom Maureen and her daughter Maya Brady, currently a redshirt freshman for the top-ranked UCLA Bruins, as the top mother/daughter combo in California high school history.

“Maureen’s daughter and Tom’s niece, Maya Brady, also was a big-time softball player,” adds the CalHiSports publisher, “graduating in 2019 from Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) as a finalist for Ms. Softball State Player of the Year.”

More on Maya in a minute.

In an unusual twist, Maureen’s Fresno State teams would twice lose in the national championship to UCLA and Bruins teams in 1989 and 1990 that would include Maya’s current head coach, Kelly Inouye-Perez!

All three sisters were inspirations to Tom and the family, led by parents Tom Sr. and Galynn, remain very close today and travel to as many sporting and family events as possible—be it a Super Bowl or one of Maya’s upcoming UCLA games or even a vacation together, such as the one taken in 2018 to Montana.

Check out this hilarious TMZ video which recaps a family dodgeball game where it got a bit competitive! You’ll see Maya’s impressively good arm strength and Tom even go after his mom!

Scroll down to read more about the amazing Brady family, who is as close today as they’ve ever been!

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