Nick Bosa’s great grandfather was mobster ‘Joey Batters’

Nick Bosa, recently drafted second overall by the San Francisco 49ers, and his brother Joey have a strong familial connection to football. Their father, John, was a first-round draft pick in 1987, and their maternal uncle, Eric Kumerow, was also a first-round pick, in 1988. 

Their maternal grandfather, Palmer Pyle, was an offensive lineman in the 1960s, and his brother, Eric Pyle, was a starting center for the Chicago Bears for most of that decade.

But that is not the only interesting thing from the Bosa family history, as detailed by Jon Wertheim in Sports Illustrated. Their maternal great grandfather, Tony Accardo, was one of the leading mob figures in Chicago. He got the nickname “Joey Batters” from Al Capone, and you can imagine what one must do to get that nickname in the mob context (perhaps involving a baseball bat?).

After Capone was convicted of tax evasion, Accordo moved up the mob leadership in Chicago until he was allegedly the main man. Accardo’s daughter, Marie, married the aforementioned Palmer Pyle, and they had two children, Eric and Cheryl (Nick and Joey’s mom).

The story goes on to detail how the NFL was genuinely concerned when Eric Kumerow was entering the draft because of his famous grandfather’s ties to organized crime.

This all means the Bosas have the second-best grandfather story in the NFL, trailing only Sam Darnold and his grandfather, Dick Hammer.