EXCLUSIVE: How biological mother of Super Bowl star Colin Kaepernick gave him up for adoption after her parents' offered to help raise him... and she never even told them who his father is





Heidi Russo, 44, gave 49ers quarterback up for adoption at the age of six weeks and has made a public appeal for him to contact her again

Her parents Phyllis and James Zabransky reveal that throughout their daughter's pregnancy they believed she would keep Colin but she changed her mind

Cynics have questioned timing of birth mother's approach just as he becomes a big name

Kaepernick views any relationship with his birth mother as a betrayal of couple who raised him

On his real father, parents say: ‘We’ve never met the man. We don’t even know who he is’

Heidi tells MailOnline: ‘It isn’t something I’m prepared to share and he has never acknowledged his son’

The biological mother of Super Bowl star Colin Kaepernick gave him up for adoption even though her own parents offered to support her, MailOnline reveals today.

Speaking for the first time, Phyllis and James Zabransky have revealed that throughout their daughter Heidi’s pregnancy, they believed she would keep her baby and supported that choice.

On the eve of the Super Bowl, in which the emerging star quarterback will play the vital role for the San Fransisco 49ers, they have told of their lingering regret at her last minute change of heart 25 years ago.

Torment: The parents of Heidi, who is pictured left at around the time she fell pregnant with Kaepernick, believed she was going to keep the baby until the last moment

A different life: Heidi's parents said 'it's been difficult for us' but said the Kaepernicks who raised Colin, seen here in 4th grade, left, and at High School, right, did a 'wonderful job'

They admit that they still hope for contact and say that to this day they do not know who the father is.

Mr Zabransky, 68, said: ‘Heidi’s thoughts and feelings at the time were her own of course but we thought she would keep him.’

Standing by her husband in their home in Antigo, Wisconsin, Mrs Zabransky, 61, added: ‘We would have supported Heidi. We didn’t force her to give him up it wasn’t like that.’

'We don’t know why his father has never acknowledged him or why his mother has never said who he is. We don’t even know who he is.'

Mr Zabransky added: ‘We don’t know why his father has never acknowledged him or why his mother has never said who he is.

‘We’ve never met the man. We don’t even know who he is.’

They know no more than Kaepernick – that his father was black and 6ft 2” tall.

Speaking to MailOnline, Heidi stood by her decision not to reveal the identity of Kaepernick’s father. She said: ‘I know who he is. I know where he is. I always have.

‘But that isn’t something I’m prepared to share and he has never acknowledged his son.’

According to Mr Zabransky: ‘We have supported Heidi over the years and it’s a happier story for Colin really. The people who raised him have done such a wonderful job.’

Absent father: Heidi has said she won't share who Colin's real dad is as he 'has never acknowledged him'

In recent weeks Heidi Russo, 44, has spoken publicly about her desire to establish some sort of relationship with Kaepernick.

Cynics have questioned the timing, so close to the biggest game of the football season and with the athlete's star in the ascendant.

Heidi, now a dental nurse living in Colorado and mother to an eight-year-old boy, has denied that she has any interest in somehow cashing in on her first son’s success.

She has tried to make contact over the years but her approaches have always been politely but firmly rebuffed though Kaepernick has expressed interest in knowing who his biological father is.

In lieu of a relationship Heidi has taken to tweeting her support and love of the son she gave up.

Messages like ‘Huge congrats to @kapernick7 getting the start on Sunday! Look forward to it! You’re always in my heart!’ last November.

And “@kaepernick10 Nice article! Keep doing what you’re doing! Stay focused on your dream! The rest will fall into place. Love you!’ in January 2011.

But today Kaepernick views any relationship with his birth mother as a betrayal of the couple who raised him and who Heidi acknowledged as his ‘parents’ the moment she met them.

Honour: Colin believes having any contact with his biological mother may be a betrayal of foster parents Rick and Teresa Kaepernick

Rick and Teresa Kaepernick were High School sweethearts from New London, Wisconsin and already parents to a son, Kyle, and daughter, Devon.

Before Colin their two previous infant sons had died shortly after birth from congenital heart defects.

They were told by doctors that if they continued to have boys the might very well suffer the same fate. So they turned to adoption.

It was a family friend of Heidi’s who worked at the Lutheran Social Services who introduced the couple to her.

Having spent almost her entire pregnancy intending to keep her child, with all the emotional investment that brought from both her and her parents, Heidi changed her mind in the ninth month.

She had already interviewed three prospective couples by the time she met the Kaepernicks.

Her stipulations were simple. The parents of her child had to be financially secure, with siblings and intriguingly, a sporting background.

Another son: Heidi Russo is now a dental nurse in Denver, Colorado, with an eight-year-old by

Contact: For the first seven years of Colin¿s life the Kaepernicks sent letters and pictures of his progress but in 1994 the communications stopped as Heidi struggled to come to terms with the emotional impact of her decision

She has said of that meeting: ‘I knew they were the right people immediately. The first thing Teresa did when she met me was give me a hug.

‘They were such giving, wonderful people from the moment I met them.’

Under Wisconsin Law there is a waiting period of six weeks before a baby can be adopted. Usually the child is placed in foster care but Heidi chose to care for Colin herself – a decision that made giving him up all the more heart wrenching.

At first the Kaepernicks lived in Fond du Lac, 65miles north of Milwaukee and the town where Heidi’s own parents lived at the time.

Ultimately the situation proved too difficult for them all. For the first seven years of Colin’s life the Kaepernicks sent letters and pictures of his progress.When Heidi visited them she would find herself looking for the Kaepernicks, hoping to see Colin.

But in 1994 the communications stopped as Heidi struggled to come to terms with the emotional impact of her decision.

That same year she had a brush with the law. She pleaded guilty to the charge of a criminal misdemeanor resisting or obstructing an officer in Winnebago County Court.

The charge which carries a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment though she escaped with only a fine.

Athletic: Just like her son, Heidi excelled at sports. She was a star of the track and volleyball court but, at 6ft 2¿tall, Heidi¿s real love was basketball. She played for the Varsity team at Brookfield Central High School

Conditions: Heidi's stipulations about Colin's foster parents were that they had to be financially secure, with siblings and intriguingly, a sporting background

Heidi has admitted that there have been ‘many times’ that she wanted to go and get her child back but, she said: ‘I made my call on Colin a long time ago. I have to live with that.’

But it isn’t only Heidi who has had to live with her decision. Her own family does too.

And it is clear, on meeting the Zabranskys, that their desire to know their first grandson has nothing to do with his celebrity and everything to do with those first few weeks of his life.

Tears prick as Mrs Zabransky speaks of ‘the young man’ of whom they are so poignantly proud.

According to her husband: ‘It’s hard to know how to think of him. Biologically he’s part of our family, he’s our grandson but we watch him from a distance.'

‘It’s hard to know how to think of him. Biologically he’s part of our family, he’s our grandson but we watch him from a distance'



It is 25 years since the Zabranskys’s life was turned upside down when their 19-year-old daughter fell pregnant.

It would be easy to assume that her decision to have the child adopted was heavily influenced by her parents. But, they now say, nothing could be further from the truth.

‘We would have supported her,’ said Mrs Zabransky. ‘But she decided somebody else could give him a better life.’

It was, her husband added, ‘the generous thing to do.’

Heidi has said she thinks of the child she gave up all the time. Seeing his name and face in the build up to Sunday’s Super Bowl only adds to the pain that has never really gone away.

The same is true for her parents who are dignified and courteous however difficult speaking of such things may be.

Today they live three hours drive from Milwaukee and the small outlying town of Brookfield where they raised their own family. They run a hair salon from their welcoming home.

Soft with new fallen snow it would be hard to imagine a more different environment than the Californian childhood that Colin’s adoptive parents ultimately provided.

The Kaepernicks moved to California when Colin was four. But, in some key respects he still shares the traits of Wisconsin. It's a place of faith and football – two enduring tenets of the quarterback’s life.

‘Come Huddle with us and pray for the Big Game’ reads a billboard outside one of the many Lutheran churches in Brookfield and its neighbouring towns.

Better chance at life: Heidi's parents said they would have supported her, but that another family could give her a better life... adding it was 'the generous thing to do'

Hope: Heidi's parents say that 'one day we would very much hope that we will meet him but we have to respect that that is the young man¿s decision not ours'

Kaepernick’s pre-game ritual includes watching Disney movies and praying. He has verses of the Bible tattooed on his biceps.

As for his sporting abilities his talents spanned most sports at school before he ultimately chose to focus on football.

His biological mother was also a talented athlete. She was a star of the track and volleyball court but, at 6ft 2”tall, Heidi’s real love was basketball. She played for the Varsity team at Brookfield Central High School.

After her graduation, in 1987, she moved out of the family home she had shared with her parents and sisters, Ann Margaret, 46, and Kathleen, 41.

She moved from Milwaukee to the small town of Neenah on Lake Winnebago and worked in retail sales but her independence was short lived. Within seven months of the move she was pregnant.

She has never told her parents who fathered her child and, it seems, they have stopped asking.

Mr Zabranksy said: ‘We had one picture of him as a very little baby but we passed that on to his mother.

‘One day we would very much hope that we will meet him but we have to respect that that is the young man’s decision not ours.’

Until that day comes, if it ever does, the Zabranskys and Heidi will cheer Kaepernick on from afar.