Getty Stefon Diggs
Stefon Diggs was born on November 29, 1993, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, to Aron and Stephanie Diggs. The Buffalo Bills’ wide receiver was one of five children in the family and he became a father figure to his younger brothers after his father’s death in 2008.
Here’s what you need to know about Stefon Diggs’ parents:
1. Stefon Diggs’ Mother Stephanie Diggs Worked for Amtrak for 3 Decades & Worked Hard to Support Her Children
Diggs, whose first name Stefon comes from a combination of his parents’ first names, the Duluth News Tribune reported, was born to Stephanie and Aron Diggs.
His mother worked for Amtrak until her retirement as an attendant, and her hard work and support of her sons prompted Diggs to refer to her as “our Superwoman” in a piece for The Players’ Tribune. At the time of her retirement, Stephanie Diggs had worked for three decades at Amtrak and also worked other jobs on the side at Target and Toys R Us, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Diggs’ mother was also helpful in helping her son with the recruitment process, as he wrote she “had a straightforward way of thinking through things.” Education was important to her as well as athletics, and she said she wanted to make sure he’d be at a school where someone would be making sure he’d be attending class and doing his homework. “She genuinely wanted what was best for me, and she wasn’t trying to steer me to one school or the other,” he shared.
“She weighed the good and the bad for each college, and then helped me make the decision I wanted to make,” he added, explaining that she didn’t push him in any particular direction. “She loves me and wanted me to make the decision that I’d be happiest with.”
The NFL star’s mother made a lot of sacrifices and worked hard when he was growing up, especially after Aron Diggs’ death in 2008. “It was kind of rooted in me to give back when I can give back, just as she did everything she could,” he told Andscape of his own charity efforts. “So, to help other people is huge.”
Now, Stephanie Diggs spends a lot of time traveling to see both of her sons play in the NFL as Diggs’ younger brother Trevon is a cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys. “My mom worked for a very long time,” Diggs told Sports Illustrated. “So this is the fun stuff that she likes – bouncing around city to city, to see new places and travel. So I think this is a nice life.”
It appears that Stephanie Diggs agrees with that assessment, as she told the Dallas Morning News in 2020, “I’m in a good space. I’m happy. My kids are happy. They’re all doing well. I think I did something right.”
2. Stefon Diggs’ Father Aron Diggs Was the One Who Got His Sons Into Football & Trained Them When They Were Kids
Diggs’ father, Aron Diggs, was instrumental in getting his sons into the NFL. He got them both in football at the age of 5 and made sure Diggs always did his homework, prayers and 200 pushups and situps each evening. He’d also bring his sons to the park after school and got them to run bleachers and suicides.”My husband really pushed them to have a good work ethic,” Stephanie Diggs told Sports Illustrated.
Aron Diggs was a big Dallas Cowboys fan and passed that on to both Stefon and Trevon Diggs. “My dad was a Cowboys fan before he passed,” Trevon Diggs told reporters after he was drafted by the Cowboys, the Dallas Morning News reported.
“He always been a Cowboys fan, ever since we was little,” he continued. “Every time the Cowboys come on, sometimes we cheer, sometimes he was angry but that was our team regardless. I’ve always been a Cowboys fan and I’m thankful, just happy this happened. With my father passing and him being a Cowboys fan, I’m kinda like living out his dream so I’m thankful.”
Diggs’s father never saw him play in high school and didn’t see his career take off, but the Bills star said his father always believed in him. “When I was in the third grade, he bet me, he said, ‘I guarantee you’ll have 10 shoeboxes full of college letters,'” he recalled to USA Today. “I had even more than he said. I guess he lost the bet — it was funny to me.”
Basketball was Aron Diggs’ sport growing up, not football, and he played Amateur Athletic Union basketball, according to The Baltimore Sun. He tried to start a few businesses for work but mostly stayed at home as his health deteriorated in the years before he died of congestive heart failure.
He also coached his son in youth football, eventually having to watch the games from a chair on the sidelines due to his heart condition. Even when he was in the hospital, he’d ask his wife to fill him in on his sons’ games, the Baltimore Sun wrote. As for Diggs, he cut and styled his father’s hair and put on his watch for him, wanting his father to be able to maintain his orderly appearance and sense of dignity until the end.
3. Aron Diggs Died in 2008 of Congestive Heart Failure & Stefon Diggs Became a Father Figure to His Younger Brothers
Aron Diggs died of congestive heart failure on January 16, 2008, at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, his obituary states. He was 39 years old and had been on the waiting list for a heart transplant.
Diggs, who was 14 years old, said, “That s*** was f***** up,” in a Sports Illustrated interview. “We was hurt. We was sad. Because he was not only like a dad, he was like a cool friend, the type to teach you a lot.”
After his father’s funeral, Diggs was told by his mother that he needed to become the man of the house and look after his younger brother Trevon, who was 9 years old then. The future NFL star started “being more of a father figure and setting good examples,” his mother shared with the publication.
Not only that, but Diggs said his father’s death motivated him to push himself harder. “To this day, he’s on my mind every snap I take,” he wrote for The Players’ Tribune. “Hopefully, he’s looking down and he’s happy,” Diggs added in an interview with Twin Cities Pioneer Press. “My dad was a tough guy. But hopefully he can really smile.”
Aron Diggs’ death was hard on his widow Stephanie, however, and she recalled one occasion six months afterward when she broke down on her commute to Union Station in Washington, D.C. “I just started crying,” she recalled to the Dallas Morning News. “It was like, ‘Wow, who would have ever thought I would be a widow at my age?’ I was 39.”
“It hit me: ‘Oh my God. Who are these kids? I haven’t even been home with them,'” she continued. “It was overwhelming. They were dependent on me and only me. I’ve got to keep it together.” She said after her husband died, the burden of making sure Diggs’ career was on the right track fell to her, but she didn’t know much about it. “I just basically showed up for games,” she shared with the Washington Post. “I had to really get involved in the process and read up.”
4. Stefon Diggs Has Thanked His Mother for Her Support & Called Her ‘Superwoman’
It’s clear that Diggs’ mother is a very important person in his life, and he said when he signed a five-year contract extension with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018, his mother was the first person he wanted to share the news with. “I called her (Monday),” he told Pioneer Press. “I was like, ‘I need you to go get on a plane right now. I need you to come out here. I need you to be a part of this.’ She’s been with me every step of the way, so it was going to be a key part for her to be here.”
The Bills star has said that he’s always happy when his mother is able to make it to his games and that he’s “always happy” to see her, he told the Duluth News Tribune. “I’m very close to my mother,” he shared. “That’s Superwoman. She did a great job in raising me. My mom taught me so much. She taught me so much along the way as far as how to handle my business.”
Diggs showed his mother his appreciation on December 25, 2018, when he bought her an SUV for Christmas. He posted a video of the moment he surprised her with the car on Twitter, writing in the caption, “You get 1 mom… here’s something for the lady that put up with all my craziness. Merry Christmas everyone.”
5. Stefon Diggs Credited His Father for His Accomplishments as Well
While his love for his mother is clear, Diggs and his mother have both shared that Aron Diggs deserves all the credit as well for his son’s career. “He would be so proud,” Stephanie Diggs said of her sons making the NFL. “I know he’s watching and looking down on them, being like, ‘wow, I put all this together.’ Just to see it coming to full fruition is just truly a blessing,” she told DC News Now.
As for Diggs, he credited his father for making him the man he is today, writing for the Players’ Tribune that his competitiveness and his love of football both came from his father. “He was our first coach,” he wrote. “His health started declining, though, and it was hard to watch. He was always on that sideline coaching, no matter what.”
Stephanie Diggs said her husband is the one that put their careers together and made sure they had a good work ethic and were always on the right path, she told the Baltimore Sun. She added that he was always with Stefon and Trevon Diggs when they were young and that’s why it was important for both of them to “make sure their father gets credit.”
