October 26, 2022
After the final Friday in October, the No. 65 will never be worn again by a Kingwood Mustang.
Travis Swanson, a 2009 graduate of Kingwood High School, is set to have his high school jersey retired by his alma mater in a pregame ceremony prior to the Mustangs facing Humble at Turner Stadium on Friday, October 28.
“I don’t take it lightly,” Swanson said of the honor. “It means the absolute world to me and my family. Because this is something that moving forward my kids and all my family will be able to go back and see. It means the world.”
Swanson becomes the first-ever Kingwood Mustang football player to have his jersey number retired.
“It means a lot for this program to retire Travis Swanson's jersey number,” Kingwood football coach Cale Melton said. “Travis was an outstanding football player at all levels and is being recognized for those extraordinary accomplishments. Travis lived out and still does live out the Kingwood Mustang Football vision (Which is: Being a Champion in the classroom, on the field, in the community, and in life).
“Travis bleeds blue and has represented Kingwood High School and the community at the highest level and has done it very well.”
Swanson becomes the third athlete in Humble ISD history to have a jersey retired. He joins Rodney Odom (Kingwood High School Basketball) and Carsen Edwards (Atascocita Basketball).
It was Swanson’s offensive line coach Joe Ogden who gave him the initial news that he would be honored by his alma mater. The two had been texting back and forth and then one night Ogden gave him the call.
“He dropped the news on me and I just remember freezing,” Swanson said. “It was the last thing I truly expected.”
Swanson was born in Concord, California and when he was just a few months old his father got a job in Houston, Texas and the family moved. Swanson grew up in Kingwood, just 30 minutes north of downtown, and started his football playing career in the Kingwood Football League (KFL).
Coming up through Little League football and middle school, Swanson never wavered from his offensive line position.
“It was always O-Line,” Swanson said in a 2020 interview on The Hog Pod with Bo Mattingly. “I didn’t know any better. I was taller and so I thought they just put me here.”
That dedication to the position paid off in high school as he became an All-State lineman his senior season. That same year, Swanson was a finalist for the 2008 Greater Houston Area Offensive Player of the Year award. Swanson also lettered in lacrosse in high school.
Going into Swanson’s senior year, his lone offer was from Kansas.
“I wasn’t one of those kinds of kids that could just sit by the phone and things were just rolling in,” Swanson said.
During the summer, Swanson and his family mapped out one-day recruiting camps he could attend. At the end of the open period, Swanson had to choose between Baylor or Arkansas to visit.
“I knew nothing about Arkansas,” Swanson said. “I knew it was in the SEC and that was about it.”
Following a standout high school career at Kingwood under Coach Dougald McDougald, Swanson went on to play at the University of Arkansas. He played his entire collegiate career for the Razorbacks. Swanson at Arkansas was named a two-time team captain, and he is only one of 11 Razorbacks to ever accomplish that feat.
He started in the Liberty Bowl, Sugar Bowl and the Cotton Bowl as well. From 2011-2013, Swanson was up for the Remington Award, which is awarded yearly to the country’s best offensive lineman. He started 50 consecutive games on the line for the Razorbacks, which is more than any other player in program history.
Swanson went on to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks, earning first-team, All-American honors from USA Today in his junior campaign.
Photo credit: University of Arkansas Athletics
In 2014, Swanson was drafted by the Detroit Lions with the 76th overall pick. He went on to play for the Lions for four seasons before closing out his career with the Miami Dolphins. Swanson played in a total of 65 NFL games, while starting 53 of those.
On May 19, 2019, just months after the birth of his first daughter Kendyl, who is now four, the lineman called it a career retiring from the NFL. Since then, he and his wife Emily have settled down in the northwest Arkansas area and since have had their daughter Sloane, who is one.
Emily runs her own business, while Travis is a financial advisor and life after football couldn’t be better for the Swanson’s.
“It’s been amazing,” Swanson said. “We really didn’t know how things were going to shake out retiring so abruptly. I would not change a single thing about it … If you would have told me this was going to be the version of our lives that we were going to get even five years ago, I would have said you’re crazy.
“I think this is the best version of what could have happened to us. We’re just in a really good spot right now.”
Swanson was drafted in the 2014 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. He retired from the NFL in 2019.
Photo credit: Detroit Lions and Gavin Smith/AP