Getty Al Horford
Al Horford was born to Tito Horford, a basketball star, and Arelis Reynoso, a journalist, on June 3, 1986. The Boston Celtics star is his parents’ only child and they divorced when he was young, although they both remarried and he has five half-siblings. Tito Horford and Arelis Reynoso are both from the Dominican Republic but now live in the U.S.
Here’s what you need to know about Al Horford’s parents:
1. Al Horford’s Father Tito Horford Was Born & Raised in the Dominican Republic & Pursued a Basketball Career in the U.S.
Horford’s father is Alfredo “Tito” William Horford. He was born on January 19, 1966, in the Dominican Republic. His bio with the Miami Hurricanes states that the nickname “Tito” comes from his small size when he was a baby, having been born at just 7 months. Horford’s mother was Ana Graciela Baltazar, and the Washington Post reported that she had seven children.
Tito Horford grew up in San Pedro de Macorís, a town that is known for producing many major league baseball players, and the young boy also loved to play when he was younger. However, as a teenager, Tito Horford realized that he was growing too tall to become a professional basketball player, he told the Post. “And that’s when I met Eduardo Gomez,” he said.
Gomez, a former basketball star in the Dominican Republic, had a sports program in La Romana and he quickly realized that Tito Horford had a real talent. In September 1982, Tito Horford moved to Houston, Texas, to attend high school and hone his basketball skills to eventually play college ball. While the switch to a new country was a major one, Tito Horford knew some English thanks to his father, who was an immigrant from the Bahamas.
Tito Horford’s bio with the Miami Hurricanes states that he was the top center recruit in the U.S. while at Marian Christian High School and was “named to almost every major basketball publication’s first-team All-American roster.” The Celtics star’s father was named the Texas high school player of the year in 1985, his final year in high school.
After his graduation, Tito Horford attended Louisiana State University, then transferred to the University of Miami. Looking back, Tito Horford said he chose Miami because it was closer to the Dominican Republic and had great weather but said, “They were just starting their program back up and it was fine for me. But, looking back, it would have been better in a developed program. If I did it over, I’d pick Florida,” he told The Gainesville Sun.
Tito Horford left Miami for the NBA after his sophomore year, but he told the Sun that he would have stayed in college longer looking back at it now. The publication wrote that Tito Horford’s father had just died and his mother was raising five kids on her own. His coach at Miami recommended that he stay in college but he said he needed the money to support his family. “If I stayed two more years, I’d have been a lottery pick,” he shared.
The Milwaukee Bucks drafted Tito Horford in round 2 of the 1988 NBA Draft, making him the first Dominican player in the NBA, but he only played two seasons with the team before heading overseas to play in the European leagues.
2. After His Basketball Career, Tito Horford Moved to Michigan, Got Remarried & Had 4 More Kids
Horford’s father Tito Horford and his mother, Arelis Reynoso, divorced in 1989 when he was still very young and the future NBA star lived in the Dominican Republic with his mother. His father eventually remarried and settled in Lansing, Michigan. Tito Horford and his wife welcomed four children, two boys named Jon and Josh Horford and two girls named Maria and Anna Horford.
According to the Gainesville Sun, Tito Horford learned Italian and Portuguese, and along with his Spanish and English used his language skills to help new immigrants to the area thanks to his work as a case manager for a Catholic charity.
Tito Horford has continued to stay involved and supportive of his son’s basketball career and is often seen in the crowd at his son’s home games and on the road. He’s also frequently posted on Instagram photos of Horford’s accomplishments and shared how proud of his boy he is. “Congratulations son on your 16 seasons in the NBA God bless you, let’s go Celtics,” Tito Horford wrote on social media in September 2022. “We will prevail against all odds.”
3. Al Horford Grew Up in the Dominican Republic With His Mother But Moved to the U.S. to Live With His Father at Age 14
Horford spent most of his childhood in the Dominican Republic with his mother, Arelis Reynoso, following his parents’ divorce. The family lived in the capital, Santo Domingo, where Reynoso pursued her work as a journalist. However, when Horford was 14 years old, his parents decided that he should go live with his father and his father’s wife and kids in Lansing, Michigan, so that he’d have a better chance of pursuing a basketball career.
“When Al was 10, I began to search for high-level camps in the US for him,” Reynoso wrote in an article for the Boston Globe. “It was all worth the effort. Al learned new skills and techniques, and after returning home to the Dominican Republic, we spoke about how important it would be to attend high school in the US to develop his skills.”
Reynoso wrote that the plan was initially for her to move to Miami with her boy but it didn’t work out. “I spoke with Al’s father, Tito, and his wife about Al moving to Michigan to live with their family,” she added. “We decided that once he finished middle school in the summer of 2000, he would leave to start this new adventure.” The journalist also shared that she felt it would be good for Horford to get closer to his half-brothers and -sisters on his father’s side.
Horford’s English was pretty rudimentary, he told Sports Illustrated, and it was hard for the teen to be away from his mom. “That process,” he said, “was very challenging.” It was hard for Reynoso too, who told the Ocala Star Banner, “For us, it was really so hard. He’d call and say ‘Mommy please, can you please come to [the] United States?'”
Reynoso was eventually able to go to the U.S. as well, moving to Philadelphia where she got a job as a writer and editor of a Spanish-language newspaper.
4. Al Horford’s Mother, Arelis Reynoso, Remarried & Had Another Son & Horford Is His Brother’s Godfather
Horford’s mother, Arelis Reynoso, grew up one of five kids and shared with Deporvida that her mother always put her children first. Reynoso’s father and Horford’s grandfather, José Reynoso, died in May 2022 at the age of 81, ESPN reported.
Like Horford’s father, Reynoso remarried as well and had a second child, a boy, in 2005. Horford was the one who walked his mother down the aisle at her wedding, Ocala Star Banner reported, and the Celtics star is the godfather of her child, Chris Hernandez.
After living in Philadelphia, Reynoso and her youngest son moved to Gainesville, Florida, the publication reported. Reynoso revealed that Horford bought his godson a plastic basketball hoop for his second birthday but it wasn’t long before her youngest broke the rim when imitating Horford’s dunks. According to the Boston Globe, Reynoso now lives in Smyrna, Georgia.
Reynoso has always been very supportive of her son’s career and recalled in an article for the Globe that her son would often call her for advice. “We have always had such great communication, and he knows I’m always his No. 1 critic, too,” she shared. As for Horford, he told Ocala, “She always encouraged me, always had that confidence in me. Sometimes I didn’t even see it, but she saw it. She always envisioned things like this that I didn’t really see.”
He also shared that his mother always pushed him to continue his hard work and not let outside factors phase him. “Whether it was being back in the Dominican and not having electricity in our house – things like that at the time seemed like a really, really big deal, not having the essential things,” he told NBA.com. “Through all that, my mom always told me to not make excuses, to continue to work and continue to move forward and that those things would pass.”
5. Arelis Reynoso Is a Successful, Award-Winning Sports Journalist & Al Horford Often Shadowed Her on Assignments When He Was Younger
#tbt Del juego de Estrellas en Los Ángeles, California. Mi primogénito en ese entonces con dos hijos y Chris mi hijo menor en esta hermosa foto familiar. #NBAFamily
Reynoso is a successful journalist and has been focusing on sports journalism since 1988, the Boston Globe reported. According to her Twitter bio and her LinkedIn profile, Reynoso now works as an editor for Deporvida.
Her bio with the publication states that she began working in communications at a young age, starting in her hometown of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. She then worked as an investigative reporter and columnist for national newspapers in the country before making the leap to the U.S.
Reynoso worked as a writer and editor for Philadelphia’s Spanish-language El Sol Latina, and won awards at the city’s Hispanic Choice Awards in 2005 and 2006. She was also recognized by Mundo Latino as the best Hispanic reporter in 2003. She also graduated from the Instituto de Liderazgo Latino, the Latino Leadership Institute, in 2002, her profile states.
Horford often followed his mother to her work assignments and her job as a journalist had a big impact on his life. “I was exposed to a lot of different sports and environments through her work,” he told the Boston Globe. “It felt like it gave me a wide vision of that area, just being a professional athlete and kind of seeing what it takes. So for me it was very beneficial growing up in those surroundings.”
Horford shared that he was interested in the work of a TV producer and helped his mother carry her equipment around. He shared that he’d sometimes be with Reynoso in the press box at games, attending beach volleyball matches, baseball games and more, and would see reporters writing their stories. “I felt like I was really independent from a really young age over there,” Horford told the New York Times. “It was just very special, that time with my mom.”