In 2020, Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has won a Super Bowl, signed quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a record-breaking contract extension and last week picked up an honor in his hometown.
Veach, who is in his third year as the Chiefs’ GM, had a two-block stretch of street leading to the high school stadium in Mount Carmel Township, Pennsylvania, named for him. Part of North Birch Street is now Brett Veach Way.
“People say there’s nothing to do in a rundown coal mining town of 5,000 people, but all we needed to be happy was football and family,” said Veach. “To have my name attached to the street where my love for football first started is really an honor I can’t put into words.
“I love Mount Carmel and am thankful to have been raised there.”
Veach was a star running back at Mount Carmel Area High School in the 1990s. He moved on to play in college at Delaware, where one of his teammates was Matt Nagy, now the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Veach later joined the Philadelphia Eagles as an assistant coach to Andy Reid and came with Reid to the Chiefs in a scouting capacity in 2013.
Veach was promoted to general manager in 2017. But he hasn’t forgotten his hometown. He donated $20,000 to help the high school refurbish its weight room.
“We come from a community where kids are always looking up to role models and he’s the best example I’ve seen of someone who’s made it as a small-town success story out of our area,” said Aaron Domanski, a Mount Carmel Township supervisor who was instrumental in getting the street’s name changed. “For our kids to be able to look up to him as a role model as the general manager of the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl. … When you’re from Mount Carmel you dream of two things: making it to the NFL and winning the Super Bowl. He made both of those a reality.
“He’s the ultimate small-town success story, at least for us here. He’s probably our most famous alumnus of all time from the Mount Carmel Area.”
Mount Carmel held a small ceremony last week to change the street name. Veach was there and brought the Lombardi Trophy.
“For him to come back like that and actually bring the Lombardi Trophy to Mount Carmel, it was a surreal experience,” Domanski said. “For that to be sitting there in our high school stadium last week, it was unbelievable to see that there. He was the reason that was there.”