Normally, when Aquana Brownlee tells somebody she’s from Houston, they assume she means Houston, Texas.
It’s a fair assumption: the Lone Star State’s Houston, the fourth-largest city in the country, is home to nearly 2.15 million people.
Brownlee’s hometown of Houston, Mississippi, is a fair bit smaller, ranking as the 86th-biggest city in the state. Its population? Just 3,371.
Oh, and one Lombardi Trophy.
That belongs to Kansas City Chiefs star defensive tackle Chris Jones, Brownlee’s cousin, who won Super Bowl LIV last February while Brownlee watched with excitement in her dorm. And on Sunday, the Mississippi State sophomore softball player will be watching as Jones vies to bring home another trophy for their shared hometown.
Houston through and through
Technically, Brownlee and Jones aren’t blood related. But that’s never mattered.
The two forged a connection through Brownlee’s father A.Q., whose first wife was a first cousin of Jones’ mother, Mary Woodhouse. With both families growing up around each other, it was automatically “What’s up, cousin?” between Brownlee and Jones.
“We’ve always claimed each other,” she said.
Houston has always claimed Jones, too, even though his family moved 45 minutes northeast to Nettleton for a few years when he was young. That, Brownlee said, engendered some small-town jealousy when Jones began to succeed in the NFL.
Brownlee recalled Nettletonites’ rejoinder to Houston’s claim to fame: “He’s really from Nettleton. Houston’s just taking all the credit.”
But Jones is Houston through and through, starring in basketball as well as football with the Hilltoppers of the city’s lone high school.
Brownlee remembers those basketball games where Jones’ family section was as large as his legend in the town had become.
“He was putting on a show,” she said. “He was a big man dunking.”
Once, A.Q. gave Jones a ride from football practice to Jones’ and his grandmother’s house on Church Street. As soon as Jones got in, he immediately started cracking jokes, getting Brownlee and her father howling.
“He’s going to laugh,” Brownlee said of Jones. “He doesn’t care what you do.”
Keeping it going
As Jones’ reputation within Houston got bigger and bigger, so did his national recruiting profile. Brownlee said seeing coaches flock to the small city to see her cousin was actually her introduction to the whole operation.
“Before I even knew anything about the recruiting process, I was hearing, ‘Yeah, there’s a coach here to watch Chris today,'” she said.
Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen was one of the coaches who often made the drive up Highway 389. Eventually, Jones — by then a five-star recruit — picked the Bulldogs over in-state rival Ole Miss.
He wasn’t the first person from Brownlee’s hometown to attend MSU, either. Another cousin, Brittany Gates, played softball for the Bulldogs from 2009-12. So many of Brownlee’s family members and schoolmates headed to Starkville that it was almost too much.
“There was a point in time that I didn’t want to go here just because a lot of people from Houston who finally made it came to Mississippi State,” Brownlee said. “I just wanted to go to a different school so they wouldn’t be like, ‘They all go to Mississippi State.”
Denver McQuary, a baseball player who Brownlee remembered as being as boisterous as Jones could be, went from Hilltopper to Bulldog before transferring to West Texas A&M. Current Mississippi State catcher Luke Hancock also calls Houston home.
“He was always the quiet kid,” Brownlee said of Hancock. “I was never the quiet kid.”
In high school, Brownlee was friends with stalwart offensive lineman Calvin McMillian. Together, they took part in small-town staples: hanging out at the car wash, congregating at the Piggly Wiggly.
Now, both are Bulldogs. MSU was one of the first schools to bring Brownlee on campus for a recruiting visit after watching her play travel ball for the Mississippi Bombers and Alabama Sparks. After a bit of maturation, she realized her family had done well at Mississippi State and that she could continue that legacy.
“I want to come here and keep that going,” she told herself.
‘That’s my cousin!’
When the Chiefs selected Jones with the 37th pick of the 2016 NFL draft, Brownlee got emotional as Jones hugged his parents on his way up to the stage.
“I kind of felt how he felt,” Brownlee said. “He finally made it from Houston, Mississippi.”
Brownlee, competing for a starting spot at second base for the Bulldogs, feels like she’s made it, too. While that feels good, she said, it’s almost expected with some people.
So maybe it was no surprise when Jones and the Chiefs finally broke through last season, reaching the Super Bowl in Miami against the San Francisco 49ers.
Brownlee watched the game from the athletic dorm, Deavenport Hall, elated as her cousin represented their hometown.
“I was just so happy that someone from Houston that I was related to was in it,” she said. “In the dorm the whole time, I was like, ‘That’s my cousin! There he go! There he go!”
“Y’all see them talking about him,” she added to her friends, referencing the FOX broadcast. “They talk about him more than the quarterback. That’s Houston for you.”
After the win, Brownlee made a congratulatory Facebook post about Jones’ role in the and shared posts about the game on Instagram. She didn’t reach out to her cousin, though, figuring she’d spare him another message on a day full of them.
“His inbox is probably blowing up,” Brownlee told herself. “He’s not even going to recognize my name.”
Jones has even made Chiefs fans of Houstonians who professed loyalty to another team, including Brownlee. She’s never been to an NFL game but wants to watch Kansas City play — unless Drew Brees is still under center for the Saints, she said.
Her father, A.Q., who played football at Murray State, is a devoted Steelers fan — unless the Chiefs are on.
“Anytime Chris is playing, he’s going for Chris’ team,” Brownlee said.
That includes Sunday, as Jones and Kansas City put Houston, Mississippi, on the map once more.
“It’s great to have a guy like Chris to represent the town,” Brownlee said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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