Chris Chelios - Personal Life

Personal Life

Chelios grew up in Chicago, Illinois where his father, Constantine "Gus" Chelios owned a chain of Greek restaurants. The family moved to Poway, California, in 1977 when his father left his struggling business in Chicago to open a restaurant in the San Diego area. He was a Chicago Blackhawks fan during his childhood but was more focused on football, idolizing Bears linebacker Dick Butkus. Chelios attended Mira Mesa Senior High School in San Diego up until 1978.

Chelios has been married to his wife, Tracee, for twenty years. They met while students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They have four children, Dean, 21, Jake, 19, Caley, 17, and Tara, 14. Dean Chelios, a forward, scored a pair of power play goals to help his high school team, Cranbrook-Kingswood, win the division 3 Michigan state high school hockey championship in 2006. Dean formerly played for the Chicago Steel of the USHL in Bensenville, Illinois and is currently a sophomore on the Michigan State University Spartan hockey team. Jake was drafted by the Chicago Steel, 49th overall, in May 2009, and has now joined his brother at Michigan State. Caley has committed to Northwestern University.

He was very active in charitable causes during his playing days in Chicago, founding Cheli's Children."

He is the older brother of former minor-leaguer Steve Chelios, cousin of former NHL player Nikos Tselios, whose father was one of Gus Chelios' brothers. The family name was originally Tselios, but Gus Chelios changed his family's spelling. His cousin, also named Chris Chelios (Little Chris), is a former minor league player and current coach of the Robert Morris College women's hockey team in Chicago. He is also founder of the CCH Xtreme hockey school.

In his career, Chelios has befriended many non-hockey athletes and entertainers. In 2004, Chris and surfer Laird Hamilton trained with the U.S. bobsled team and hoped to form the first Greek bobsled team at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

On Scrubs, Dr. Perry Cox, played by Chelios' friend John C. McGinley, often wears a Red Wings jersey with Chelios' name and number. During the fourth season of the show, which was concurrent with the 2004–05 lockout, Cox was seen on at least one occasion wearing a number 24 Motor City Mechanics jersey. Chelios is also close friends with actors John Cusack and D. B. Sweeney, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, and musician Kid Rock. In fact Chelios was sitting courtside with Kid Rock during the brawl at Auburn Hills on November 19, 2004. Chelios and Sweeney are quite close, with the two having appeared together in The Cutting Edge (1992) and Two Tickets to Paradise (2007) in addition to Chelios being the godfather to Sweeney's son, Cade.

Chelios and his family, along with Hamilton, can be seen Stand up paddle surfing. Chelios credits the activity with helping him maintain his long career. He is regular at Michigan State University hockey games, cheering on his sons Jake and Dean.