NFL Hall of Famer traces ancestry to escaped Wilmington slave and a local historic site

A retired NFL star has traced his ancestry back to a 19th century couple who were enslaved in Wilmington.

Tony Gonzalez, who retired in 2013 after playing 17 NFL seasons for the Atlanta Falcons and Kansas City Chiefs and considered one of the best ever at the tight end position, recently appeared on the PBS show "Finding Your Roots," hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

On the show, Gates digs into American history, often while exploring the family roots of well-known people.

The show identified Gonzalez's third great-grandfather as an enslaved man named George Washington Betts. Gates said that Betts was likely born into slavery in Wilmington around 1828.

He then had Gonzalez read a newspaper advertisement offering a $50 reward "for the apprehension and return" of Betts, described as a "tall mulatto about 26 or 27 years of age, well known about town, a carpenter by trade ... He is most probably lurking about town."

When Gates asked Gonzalez what he thought about having a relative who escaped slavery, Gonzalez said, "(Expletive) right he did ... That doesn't surprise me. My family, they don't like authority too much."

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Gates noted Betts had at least three children with a woman named Polly, who was Gonzalez's third great grandmother, and speculated Betts might have escaped to avoid being sold, which would have separated him from his family. He then showed Gonzalez another newspaper ad, from Jan. 11, 1855, placed by William A. Berry, saying Betts had been captured.

Berry was Betts' owner, and four days later he placed another ad, this one saying Betts had been sold to Joshua G. Wright, whose family owned the historic site at Third and Market streets that today is known as the Burgwin-Wright House & Gardens.

Gonzalez said he felt "anger" upon seeing Wright's picture, but also realized slavery "was normal. It just is what it is ... Awful was the norm."

"I'm not gonna get too emotional with anger or sadness because of this ignorant man," he said of Wright.

"Little kids aren't racist. It's learned," Gonzalez said. "Who knows what (Wright) was told?"

The story of George Washington Betts and Polly appears to have had a somewhat happy ending. Gates produced a "cohabitation record" from 1866, one year after the Civil War had ended, with the couple living together.

"I love how they were together for that long, and as soon as they get a chance to make it legal, they do," Gonzalez said.

Hunter Ingram, assistant director of the Burgwin-Wright House & Gardens, said people have been reaching out in the wake of revelations about Gonzalez's ties to the Port City.

“The day after the episode aired, we got calls, emails and notifications on social media about the Wright connection," Ingram said. "We immediately reached out to the research team with ‘Finding Your Roots’ to learn of their research and began doing our own to get a better understanding of Tony’s ancestor, George Washington Betts, and his connection to the Wrights that owned this house."

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Tony Gonzalez traces ancestry to Wilmington on PBS' Finding Your Roots