One promise he hasn’t kept? Grabbing dinner with one of his most famous fans: Henry Winkler.
The unlikely duo first met in 2022 before the start of an L.A. Chargers-Chiefs game at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium. At the game, the two-time Super Bowl champion presented Winkler with a signed personalized jersey.
“I appreciate you coming,” Mahomes told Winkler during the interaction, which was captured on social media. The 78-year-old actor enthusiastically said “I’m so happy to be here” as the quarterback presented him with the jersey.
Mahomes later noted that he would be taking up Winkler on his offer to have dinner (which the Emmy nominee made in June 2022). “Absolutely, there is always a seat at my table for you,” Winkler told the 28-year-old NFL star.
More than a year later, Winkler said he still hasn’t had the chance to have that meal with Mahomes.
“I think he fibbed to me,” he told TMZ. But the “Happy Days” actor clarified that the invitation is still open and boasted that Mahomes “will have a great chicken” if he takes Winkler up on the dinner plans.
Earlier this year, Winkler spoke of the great amount of respect he has for reigning NFL MVP and the fact that he had yet to break bread with Mahomes.
“To meet that young man and then to watch him play and then to watch him hurt,” he said on “The Rich Eisen Show” in May. “And then to watch him run six or seven miles with a hurt foot, a hurt ankle, in order to take his team … to the promised land, I thought was touching, amazing, inspiring and [he] never calls for dinner!”
Winkler added, “He plays with joy, he plays with this improvisation, he plays to win. He just is completely zeroed in on the task at hand.”