Rob Gronkowski’s dad built a custom, double-width house for his giant sons and said they slept wherever they ‘crashed’

• Rob Gronkowski grew up in a custom-built house with double-wide hallways, extra-tall door frames, and “huge” rooms that fit multiple king-sized beds.
• Gronkowski’s father, Gordy Gronkowski, told Esquire in 2014 that his five sons slept wherever they “crashed.”
• Gronkowski and three of his brothers played in the NFL, while his other brother played minor league baseball.
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Few houses in the world look like Rob Gronkowski’s childhood home.

As Esquire’s Chris Jones reported in 2014 in a profile of Gronkowski’s father, Gordy, the Gronkowski childhood home was built for five future athletes of considerable size.

According to Jones, Gordy had the house custom-built, with double-width hallways, extra tall doors, and “huge” rooms. Gordy told Jones that movers “loved it” because they could easily move the furniture through the open spaces.

Each of the Gronkowski children had a king-sized bed when the house was built in 2002. One room alone held three beds. According to Gordy, however, the bedrooms weren’t designated – the Gronkowski children simply slept where they “crashed.”

“They slept in any of ‘em,” Gordy told Jones. “Wherever they crashed that night, they crashed.”

Jones tweeted on Sunday that it was as if the boys were raised like cats.

—Chris Jones (@EnswellJones) February 8, 2021

The backyard included a full baseball field, tennis court, basketball court, pool, and hot tub. The basement had a professional-grade gym with about $80,000 worth of equipment - fitting, as Gordy ran and operated a chain of gyms.

As Jones wrote, the Gronkowski family tree is built solely of "trunks." Gordy is 6-foot-3, 235 lb. Rob is listed at 6-foot-6, 265 lb. At the time of the profile, each of the Gronkowski children weighed between 230 lb and 270 lb.

Rob's brothers Dan, Chris, and Glenn all went on to play in the NFL. His older brother Gordie Jr. played baseball and was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels, but never played in MLB.

Gronkowski reminded the sports world of his athletic prowess during the Super Bowl on Sunday, going for 67 yards and 2 touchdowns on 6 catches. At 31 years old, coming off a brief "retirement," he remains one of the most dynamic offensive forces in football.

Gronkowski's move to Tampa with Tom Brady paid off for his mother, Diane, who moved to Fort Meyers, Florida, years ago. She told The Tampa Bay Times ahead of the Super Bowl that she saw more of Rob this year than she had during all of his years in New England.

Diane was asked about raising five huge sons and revealed she had two full-sized refrigerators and freezers and planned out meals at least a day in advance. She used to go through two gallons of milk a day.

"It was a lot of work raising them," she said. "But I wasn't raising them in any specific way. They love sports. They all did hockey, football, basketball, baseball. They went snow skiing. They went waterskiing. They played tennis, they swam. They played golf. So pretty much whatever anybody wanted to do, it's like, 'okay, we'll go do it.'"

She added: "The five of them were always all together. They were a group. They did everything together."