Colin Kaepernick Biography, Net Worth, Girlfriend Or Wife, Parents And Salary

Quick Facts

On one side of the coin, Colin Kaepernick is a story of resistance and fight for justice while on the other, he is a story of disrespect to the American flag and the sacrifice of the military. Either way, he is a story that will always be told.

The man who has now become a massive source of inspiration to many is a football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) for San Francisco 49ers before he became a free agent in 2016 with no team wanting to sign him after he began kneeling down during the national anthem in protest to police brutality against black people.

Colin Kaepernick’s Biography

Colin Rand Kaepernick was born to on November 3, 1987, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time, his birth mother was only 19 years old and as soon as his father got to know Heidi was pregnant, he dropped a picture of himself and left. Because she wanted to ensure that he gets a good life, Russo gave him up for adoption when he was only six weeks old, even after her parents were ready to support her with the child. He was then adopted by the Kaepernicks.

He was brought up alongside two older siblings, Kyle and Devon Kaepernick in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin before he moved to California. As the only bi-racial child in a white family growing up in a white-dominated area, there was the curious look and questions asked, but his family has always loved and given him all the support he needed.

For his education, Collin went to John H. Pitman High School and after he graduated, he gained a scholarship to the University of Nevada, Reno.

While growing up, Colin Kaepernick was an athletic kid who had football as his first love. Nonetheless, he played and excelled in sports such as basketball and baseball. In fact, he represented his high school in all three sports and got to continue playing football and baseball when he moved to college.

Professional Career And Controversial Protest

Interestingly, even before he made it to NFL, Colin Kaepernick was selected at the Major League Baseball Draft of 2009 by the Chicago Cubs. However, because he wanted to play football, he decided against joining the MLB and continued playing football in school. With a very successful college career that saw him being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, he graduated in 2010 and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2011 NFL Draft. The quarterback played for San Francisco 49ers until 2016 when he became a free agent.

With many cases of police brutality springing up and what he described as the oppression of blacks and minorities, Colin Kaepernick decided he was not going to stand for the national anthem, stating that he was not going to pride in the flag of a country that oppressed minorities and that he was not going to look the other way.

Soon, other players in the NFL joined him in kneeling during the national anthem including Eric Reid, giving rise to what has come to arguably be one of the biggest debates cutting across sports and politics in the United States, drawing the criticism of President .

While there were many that criticized Kaepernick, there were also a lot of people who stood with him across racial lines. Unfortunately for him and Eric Reid, no team in the NFL was ready to sign them as a result of the protest that was seen as highly polarizing. For people who would not back down against injustice, Kaepernick and Eric Reid dragged the NFL to court, alleging a collusion against them from being employed in the league.

Even as NFL tried to distance itself from Colin, Nike would add a whole new chapter to the story by using the former 49ers quarterback in a commercial campaign for its 30th anniversary which was first released with a picture of Colin with the caption “Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything”.

Parents, Does He Have A Wife Or Girlfriend?

Among the most important people in the life of Colin is his mother, Teresa Kaepernick, as well as his father Rick Kaepernick. Although his birth mother, Heidi Russo did not play any role in his upbringing, she has always kept tabs on him since he was a child, but the two do not have any relationship and have not met. There is, however, nothing that is known about his biological father.

While he is yet to get married, Colin has a girlfriend, Nessa Diab. It gets interesting to know that just as he is an activist, so also is his girlfriend. Seven years older than the football player, Nessa was born in the United States by immigrant parents from Egypt.

She spent some of her early years in Saudi Arabia alongside her two brothers. She graduated from Berkeley with a BA in Mass Communication and works as a presenter at Hot97.

The significant thing about Kaepernick and Nessa Diab is that while the footballer is a Christian, his lover is a Muslim. This was what led to the rumour in 2016 that he had converted to Islam but he came out to deny the claim.

Net Worth And Salary

Before his involvement in the Nike campaign, Colin Kaepernick had a net worth that is estimated at around $20 million. Prior to leaving NFL, he had a record deal of $126 million that was supposed to see him play for the 49ers until after 2021. His salary based on the contract he signed in 2014 was $645 thousand.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.