‘He's a legend’: Riley Kugel, Gators react to his father going viral
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With under two minutes left in the Florida-Missouri game Saturday, ESPNU began showing the Mizzou Arena crowd during a timeout. Cameras found a fan in a Gators basketball jersey with bulging biceps.
The shot stopped ESPN analyst Daymeon Fishback mid-sentence.
“Wow, you see the arms on that guy?” Fishback said on the broadcast. “He took us from bracketologly to flexology.”
Barstool’s Dan Katz, who has 1.6 million followers on X, immediately shared a picture of the fan (no caption needed) and his post received over a million views.
Florida center Micah Handlogten said multiple people sent him the photo and asked if he knew who it was. Turns out, the fan was wearing No. 2 for a reason.
“They were like, ‘Who is it?’ I said Riley’s dad and they were like, ‘Dude, what did he eat?’ He’s huge,” Handlogten said.
The viral sensation is Sam Estelle, the father of UF guard Riley Kugel. His dad let him know what happened following Florida’s 79-67 win at Mizzou, but he didn’t realize it blew up.
“He told me about it after the game, but I didn’t think he went viral. The next morning when I woke up, everybody was posting it,” Kugel told Gators Online.
“He’s a legend. Ain’t much to it. He’s always been ripped, but he kind of just got big like that these past couple of years.”
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Estelle has spent time around the team, including this past Thanksgiving in New York for the NIT Season Tip-Off. What was Handlogten’s reaction when he first saw Kugel’s father?
“I mean, he’s a scary looking dude,” he said. “His arms are bigger than my entire torso. It’s like, wow.”
Since breaking the internet, Estelle has shared photos of his workouts on social media and said he’s all natural. He also joked about the moment with Florida coach Todd Golden.
“He’s a strong man,” Golden said of Kugel’s father. “It was kind of an interesting/cool situation. And it’s funny, I’ve actually talked to Riley’s dad since then. We had a good laugh about it, you know, the picture that was going around.
“He said, ‘Man, all I was just trying to do is watch my son play some ball.’ But I think everybody recognizes where Riley gets some of his physicality and his body from, and the I just thought that was kind of neat.”
Has Golden checked on Estelle’s eligibility?
“I think he’s done. He played football at Mizzou,” Golden said. “I don’t know if his physicality on the basketball court would help as much as on the football field. I don’t know if he’s got the skill that Riley has, but now we know what Riley’s capable to look like body-wise as he continues to get older and mature.”
Does Kugel think he can get swole like his pops?
“Hopefully not,” Kugel said. “I’m gonna be strong, but not that strong.”
