Bus rides, leadership meetings and proudly repping Iowa State: Tyrese Haliburton is backing 49ers, QB Brock Purdy in Super Bowl
"Just two guys who have beat the odds and excelled in both their careers," Tyrese Haliburton said of fellow Iowa State Cyclone Brock Purdy.
When the Super Bowl kicks off on Sunday after 6:30 p.m. ET, Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton plans to be in his Charlotte hotel room locked into the game. He’s a basketball junkie, a big sports and entertainment fan so he’d be watching closely anyway.
This year, with the NFL’s biggest game in Las Vegas for the first time, Haliburton has a rooting interesting. He was born in Wisconsin so he’s a Packers fan, but this one is personal. Haliburton will likely be watching the game alone, away from all the trash talk from teammates, and be wearing a No. 13 49ers jersey to support his former classmate.
Haliburton and 49ers’ quarterback Brock Purdy arrived at Iowa State University together in 2018. It’s primarily athletes on campus in the summer, so that’s when they first got to know each other. They didn’t necessarily hang out in their free time, but their paths crossed frequently due to being the same age, in the same classes, and how they were taking on bigger responsibilities on their teams.
“That's somebody I can really call a friend,” Haliburton said. “To see what he's doing and succeeding the way he is, that's really cool to see, especially being from Iowa State where it's not a school that's expected to have this much success at the professional level in any sport.
“It's cool to see my brother do well. From the moment that he started out, I was showing him nothing but love.”
While in Ames, Iowa, they would talk on bus rides around campus to and from their stop at the athletic facilities. And they had many classes together. They still text “pretty regularly” and had plans to have dinner in San Francisco last season, but the Pacers were on a back-to-back and Haliburton missed that game due to injury. So maybe this year, in late March.