Cooper Flagg’s parents are more than familiar with basketball — in fact, they were college stars themselves
“It’s going to be incredible,” he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews in June 2025. “This is the moment I’ve dreamed about my entire life. To be able to go through it with them and have them along for this experience is truly surreal.”
Kelly and Ralph have been married since the early 2000s and welcomed their son Hunter in August 2004. (His twin, Ryder, died two days after being born.) Two years later in December 2006, Cooper and his twin brother, Ace, arrived.
The couple raised their family in Newport, Maine, and their sons spent most of their free time shooting hoops at the gym or in the driveway at home.
“We couldn’t play a game in our driveway without someone bleeding,” Ace told New Center Maine in April 2025. “The game would end when someone ran in yelling for mom, but it was always fun.
In 2021, the team was inducted into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame. “It was a special time! So proud and honored!” Kelly wrote on X ahead of the ceremony.
As for Ralph, he played basketball for Eastern Maine Community College.
The couple met shortly after college and bonded over their love of basketball. When they played one-on-one, Ralph told ESPN that he couldn’t stop her up-and-under move.
“She was pretty deadly with that,” he told the outlet in November 2024. “And a fierce competitor.”
Ralph and Kelly wed in the early 2000s.
Kelly and Ralph welcomed four kids, including Cooper
Cooper is the product of two college basketball players.
Kelly played for the University of Maine in the late ’90s. She and her 1998–99 season teammates made UMaine women’s basketball history when they won the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament game, upsetting Stanford University.Kelly and Ralph played college basketball,Kelly and Ralph are superstitious
Kelly and Ralph are their sons’ biggest fans — and they take their basketball superstitions seriously.
In March 2025, Kelly told PEOPLE that she has to sit in the same seat for every game and Ralph “can’t wear spirit gear on game days.”
“I like to sit by the same person or in the same seating order,” she explained, adding, “[Ralph], on game days, he wears anything but Duke gear.”
But win or lose, they are always proud parents.
“[Cooper is] the best kid. That’s all I can say, he’s just a good person and a good boy. I am very, very proud of him,” Kelly added
