Tom Brady is celebrating his 45th birthday, and with him playing another NFL season, he will join an exclusive sports club once the 2023 season kicks off. According to ESPN, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback will be part of an exclusive club which is athletes competing at the highest level of their respective sport at 45. Brady joins a club that includes Nolan Ryan (MLB) Chirs Chelios (NHL), Oksana Chusovitina (gymnastics), Gordie Howe (NHL), Randy Johnson (MLB), Jamie Moyer (MLB), Martina Navratilova (tennis), Jack Nicklaus (golf) and Dara Torres (swimming).
Along with being part of the 45 Club, Brady will be the oldest starting quarterback in NFL history once the season begins. He is showing no signs of slowing down after finishing the 2021 season with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdowns. When asked about turning 45, Brady gave the credit to the people who have supported him over the years.
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“This is not about me, it’s about all of the people that have supported me to get to this point and I’m very grateful,” Brady said. “I’m just super grateful to everybody who has played an important role and you can’t take anything for granted.” When it comes to athletes playing at 45 years old, Brady is arguably the most successful as he’s won seven Super Bowls, five Super Bowl MVP awards and three MVP awards. Howe’s career is close to what Brady accomplished as he won four Stanley Cups won the Hart Memorial Trophy six times and was selected to the NHL All-Star game 23 times.
One of the biggest keys to Brady’s longevity is his diet. “I don’t even enjoy eating things that probably aren’t going to give my body what it needs,” Brady told Variety. “I wouldn’t say I’m going to turn into a couch potato. …It’s not even about the diet. You’ve got to see the process of food being grown. Just because it’s in a grocery store doesn’t mean it’s food. My view of food is, like, I need things that are going to give my body what it needs. Does that make sense? I don’t want calories. If I need nutrients, I need that from soil. It’s not going to be from Frosted Flakes. Now, because they sell it in a grocery store, people correlate that to ‘I’m going to get food.’”
