Khyiris Tonga’s path to Kansas City has wound through faith, family and a mission trip that made his current stop with the Chiefs feel anything but ordinary.
In a recent Chiefs social media video from the team’s “Under the Helmet” series, the defensive tackle opened up about the people and experiences that shaped him. Tonga said his connection to faith began with his family after he was adopted in high school, and that introduction changed the course of his life.
“My journey on faith started with my family,” he said. “So I’m adopted, and I got adopted in high school.
And the family that adopted me introduced me to faith and God and that became basically who I was. And since then, that’s been something that I’ve always leaned on.”
Tonga grew up in West Valley City, Utah. After he and his mom were evicted, he stayed with friends, according to The Purple Insider, a Minnesota Vikings publication. One of those friends was his best friend, whose parents, George and Siu Tonga, adopted him during his senior year of high school.
That experience clearly stuck with him.
“The fact that they took me in the way they did at the age I was in high school and they never made me feel any different than any of their kids, (is) probably like the most important part to me, and (I) love them like they’re my own parents,” he said in the Chiefs video.
Tonga also reflected on a missionary service that brought him to Kansas years before he ever put on a Chiefs uniform. He served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wichita from 2015 to 2017, and now finds himself playing in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I try to be a light to everyone around me,” he said. “It’s crazy, it’s full-circle. I served here in Kansas from 2015 to 2017 and haven’t been back since so the fact that I’m here, around here, is such a surreal feeling for me.”
He told The Purple Insider that he initially wasn’t thrilled about being sent to Kansas, but the feeling changed over time. By the end, he said, he “loved every second there.”
“Spiritually and mentally it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because I was away from family,” he said.
Tonga joined the Chiefs in the offseason on a three-year deal, and his new team has already seen the kind of resolve that carried him through those earlier chapters. When he signed, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones called him “a dawg.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid echoed that hard-nosed reputation earlier this season after using Tonga on offense in Kansas City’s 31-10 win over the Denver Broncos.
“The fourth quarter he had a lot of reps,” Reid said. “He probably got a little tired there, but he’s not going to say anything. He just kind of keeps going, but I looked at the look on his face and he was pretty tired.”
That same idea came through when Tonga was asked what advice he’d give his younger self.
“If I could tell myself one thing and give myself advice, I’d probably just say, ‘Continue to move forward. It’s a marathon. Just keep going.’”
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