Anyone who has followed the Kansas City Chiefs for decades remembers fullback Tony Richardson and kicker Nick Lowery. Both are in the Chiefs Hall of Honor, etched into a ring surrounding Arrowhead Stadium. Richardson, a 17-year NFL veteran, played 11 years in Kansas City, and Lowery played 14 of his 18 NFL seasons with the Chiefs. Lowery is currently tenth on the NFL’s list of all-time scoring leaders and is the Chiefs’ all-time leading scorer, with 1,466 points in his 14 seasons with the club.
As professional athletes, both men focused on preparations for the situation they found themselves in on the gridiron. However, nothing quite prepared Lowery and Richardson for what they encountered on a whirlwind five-day trip to Israel in late December. The trip’s purpose was to give these athletes an up-close and personal view of Israel and show their support for the country still reeling from the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, the ensuing conflict and the ongoing struggle to get its hostages returned.
Both men have good friends who are Jewish and have spent time in Jewish social circles; this trip gave them a deeper understanding of the centrality of Israel to the Jewish people.
Richardson and Lowery traveled to Israel at the invitation of two organizations: Athletes for Israel and Project Max. Athletes for Israel is dedicated to combating antisemitism and racism while promoting a positive narrative about Israel. It brings athletes to Israel, allowing them to experience the Holy Land firsthand and fostering an authentic connection with its history, culture, innovation and people. Project Max aims to tackle racism, antisemitism and intolerance through sports. Both Lowery and Richardson are affiliated with Project Max.
“It was an important and moving experience,” said Eric Rubin, an advisory board member for Athletes for Israel, who traveled with Richardson and Lowery. “They met with members of hostage families, including the parents of children murdered by Hezbollah in Majdal Shams and survivors; visited Kfar Aza and the Nova Music Festival site; and spoke with Israeli leaders such as President [Isaac] Herzog, Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana and MK Benny Gantz.”
Pictured at the Knesset are (from left) human rights attorney Arsen Ostrovsky, former Chiefs kicker Nick Lowery, Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana, former Chiefs fullback Tony Richardson and Athletes for Israel board member Eric Rubin.
Lowery invited Richardson to make this quick trip with him. Lowery met Eric Rubin and traveled with him in 2023 to Israel, escorting Ukrainian Jews to their new homeland.
“We maintained a strong friendship,” Lowery said of Rubin. “We visited Yad Vashem and kept discussing what we could do. When Oct. 7 came, I was asked to track several of the hostages, including Noam Levy and another individual. I suggested to Eric that we act in Israel, and that’s when I asked Tony if he would be interested. He told me he celebrates Shabbat with friends, which makes him the perfect choice.”
After seeing news reports about the ongoing war with Hamas, Richardson felt uneasy about traveling to Israel. A man of faith who was raised in the Christian church, Richardson took the next step.
“I prayed about it,” Richardson said. “I didn’t tell my parents until two weeks before.”
Once there and surrounded by the people of Israel, Richardson’s reluctance melted away. He admitted there were some tense moments.
“When you check into a hotel, they tell you, ‘here is the room key, and here is where the bomb shelter is,’ and I remember being in the hotel at night at 11:30 [when] the sirens went off,” Richardson said. “I was nervous, but I opened the door and paraded down the hallway. We were in the shelter for about 20 minutes, and that was it.”
Both Richardson and Lowery were deeply moved by a visit to the Druze town of Majdal Shams, where 12 children were killed on a soccer field in July. Conversations with their parents were difficult but important.
“It was about humanizing everybody as a child of God and that everyone deserves respect and dignity,” Lowery said.
A visit to the site of the Nova Music Festival was tough for Richardson.
“You see it on TV, but when you stand there and in the area where it happened, it was very real,” Richardson said. “Your heart is still hurting. These kids were at a peace rally. It was brutal… I walked through it with gratitude to share the space.”
The meeting with Na’ama Levy’s family was another poignant moment. The two athletes hope to go back to Israel to see her now that she is out of captivity.
There were some more lighthearted aspects of the trip. Richardson and Lowery, who both also played for the New York Jets, hosted a watch party for the Dec. 29 Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game. The pair signed autographs, fielded football questions and took part in Hanukkah festivities.
“Every single place we went, people were so appreciative,” Richardson said. “Everyone was saying, ‘Thank you for coming.’”
“Sports are a warm light that tends to transcend the noise and politics,” Lowery said.
Rubin was able to take Richardson and Lowery to several Christian sites; a special moment took place at the Sea of Galilee, where they were baptized on site.
“Being able to walk in some of the places where Jesus was amazing,” Richardson said. “Nick and I were holding hands, and we were weeping,” Richardson said. “Having read the bible many times, everything came to life.”
At the trip’s end, a common thread for both men was how appreciative people were for them making the journey at such a tense time in Israel.
“While we were in the security line getting ready to board our flight back to the United States, I was wearing a ‘Bring Them Home Now’ baseball shirt, and [a] lady in security came over to hug us and thank us,” Lowery said. “It was so beautiful and so unrehearsed.”
“The people of Israel were deeply appreciative of their visit, and the trip had a profound impact on both Nick and Tony,” Rubin said. “Tony and Nick have been speaking out regularly about the horrors of what they saw, the need to return all the hostages and the truth about the situation in Israel. They are committed to combating antisemitism and will visit college campuses to try and educate students.”
Although Richardson has received hate mail and a few death threats for making the Israel trip, he’s not deterred from sharing his story and his commitment to combating antisemitism. Since returning from Israel, Richardson has kept photos of the Bibas children on a rotating digital picture frame in his home “to keep them in my prayers.”
“I want people to use their voice to shed light on the human toll,” he said. “…I wear a dog chain that says, ‘Bring them home now,’ and I still communicate with the IDF soldiers I met… I was so struck by the resilience of the community and its way of life.”
“I love the fact that we have married anti-racism, antisemitism together — It helps people see the connection,” Lowery said. “Sports has entered a new era where we have stages that are better followed because of social media, and we can tell our own stories about these experiences.”
Richardson and Lowery plan to return to Israel; Lowery hopes to make the journey this May, inviting other former Chiefs to travel with him.
“You can’t understand Israel completely if you haven’t been there,” Lowery said. “You see the vibrancy and the resilience when the sirens go off at night and then the next day people are out there surfing.”
Lowery hopes to make this athlete experience an annual trip to Israel, “not just a one-time PR — something that lasts. I plan on doing this for the rest of my life… We don’t have to be Jewish to care about Jews,” Lowery said.