Jason Holmes (born October 28, 1989) is an American-born former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fr ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the first born and raised American to ever play AFL.

Early life

Holmes was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

to an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

father and

White American White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...

mother. He played basketball, soccer, baseball, American football and golf throughout his youth. His father, Kevin, played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

professionally in Europe and South America. His brother, Andre, played

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

professionally in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

College basketball

Holmes played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for Mississippi Valley State and Morehead State from 2009 to 2013. He gained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in universal studies upon graduation. While in his senior year, Holmes was invited to participate in the Australian Football League's 2013 US Draft Combine. He was subsequently signed as an international rookie by the St Kilda Football Club in October 2013.

Australian football career

Holmes first played Australian rules football for St Kilda's developmental team, Sandringham, in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

(VFL). On August 22, 2015, he became the first born and raised American to debut in the AFL. Holmes lined up at the position of ruck and his debut included a game-high 34 hit outs in St Kilda's 97-all draw with

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

. He played the final three games of the home and away season. While Holmes was dominant in ruck amassing an average of more than 25 hitouts a game, and had a relatively high tackle count, he took just one mark and had just 6 kicks in his 5 matches over two seasons with the Saints, having limited effectiveness around the ground. He was delisted at the conclusion of the 2017 season.

Personal life

Holmes is one of five children. He has two brothers; his older brother,

Andre Holmes Andre Holmes (born June 16, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver. Originally signed by the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2011, Holmes also played for the Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, and Denver Broncos. Holmes pl ...

, was a wide receiver in the National Football League His younger brother, Mark, plays European basketball for BC Winterthur. He also has two younger sisters.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Jason 1989 births Living people VFL/AFL players born outside Australia St Kilda Football Club players Sandringham Football Club players American players of Australian rules football Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils basketball players Basketball players from Illinois Morehead State Eagles men's basketball players American men's basketball players