He plans to write 4 letters on his wrist before Chiefs’ Super Bowl. Here’s the meaning

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill posed for the photo with his wife Jackie, commemorating his team’s recent AFC Championship win over the Buffalo Bills while confetti fell at Arrowhead Stadium.

He also made sure, though, to turn his left arm toward the camera.

Atop a wrap on his wrist, Tranquill had written four letters in Sharpie before the Chiefs’ biggest game of the season.

“LLLR.”

Short for “Live Large Like Ryan.”

“We miss him,” Tranquill said Tuesday. “We need more people like Ryan.”

The meaning, Tranquill says now, was to honor one of his good friends.

He wrote those letters to remember Ryan Fenley, his next-door neighbor in Costa Mesa, California. Shortly after they moved into their first home near the Chargers’ practice facility, the Tranquill family had become quick friends with Ryan and his wife, Pam.

Drue and Ryan came by their friendship naturally. Both were competitive and loved to be outdoors, while also having a yearning to try new things.

Originally from Indiana, Tranquill had no experience surfing, so Ryan went out to teach him. The two loved playing pickleball and battled each other in board games when making day trips down to the coast in the Fenleys’ Volkswagen bus.

“They just built this really neat rapport and relationship,” Pam told The Star. “Ryan and Drue were just buds, so it was really special.”

Pam remembers others joking with her that Ryan would surf in the morning, play pickleball at midday, then golf in the evening.

Some days, though, that wasn’t a stretch.

It was all before the diagnosis. On Oct. 31, 2022, Ryan learned he had pancreatic cancer — something that “was a shock to everybody,” Pam said, considering Ryan’s healthy and lively lifestyle.

Tranquill, however, said what happened next stuck with him. It was hard to watch Ryan battling his illness, but Tranquill still saw him walking around the neighborhood — or begging Pam to let him go outside to play some pickleball.

“You would have never known he was going through rounds of chemo, just the smile he had,” Tranquill said. “He was attacking every day.”

That mentality pushed Pam and her family to create a unique way to support Ryan. They created a slogan — “Live Large Like Ryan” — then made support stickers with their VW bus as the centerpiece.

“That’s just how he lived his life,” Pam said, “and I know it inspired and encouraged a lot of people.”

Ryan died on June 1, 2024, at the age of 56. He is survived by Pam and his sons, Carter and Colby — and also lives on while uplifting an old surfing buddy.

Tranquill, who’s preparing for his second Super Bowl appearance after signing with the Chiefs in 2023, says his routine on Sunday isn’t likely to change. He plans to write “LLLR” again on his arm before the Super Bowl, hoping to once again spread Ryan’s message.

Back in California, Pam says she’ll be rooting hard for the Chiefs while situated in the middle of Chargers country.

There’s potential — through Tranquill — for her husband’s legacy to carry on.

With help from the four letters she continues to live by.

This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 6:30 AM.

Jesse Newell

The Kansas City Star

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Jesse Newell covered the Chiefs for The Star until August 2025. He won an EPPY for best sports blog and previously was named top beat writer in his circulation by AP’s Sports Editors. His interest in sports analytics comes from his math teacher father, who handed out rulers to Trick-or-Treaters each year.