Barry Sanders' 4 Kids: All About Barry J., Nigel, Nicholas and Noah — And How They've Taken After Their Football Legend Father

Hall of Famer Barry Sanders' sons have followed in his athletic footsteps

Barry Sanders was an NFL great, and his sons, Barry J., Nigel, Nicholas and Noah Sanders, have followed in his athletic footsteps.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame running back is very close with his four children. He shares his oldest son, Barry James Sanders, with his ex-girlfriend, Aletha House, and his three youngest sons, Nigel, Nicholas and Noah Sanders, with his ex-wife, Detroit area news anchor Lauren Campbell-Sanders. Sanders and Campbell-Sanders wed in 2000 and filed for divorce in 2012.

Sanders is one of the greatest NFL stars. He played 10 seasons with the Detroit Lions, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003 and then the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

In his 2023 Amazon Prime documentary Bye Bye Barry, Sanders told his sons about his surprise exit from the NFL in 1999, when he was still in his prime. Rather than make an announcement, Sanders faxed notice of his retirement to his hometown paper in Wichita, Kan., refused interviews and took a two-week solo trip to London. In the documentary, Sanders and his sons visit London together and have a sit-down conversation about why Sanders retired when he did.

“It was a little strange, because I felt like I had to answer the question instead of just brushing them off — giving a parent answer, like, ‘Leave me alone, I'm busy right now,’ or ‘Go to your room,’ ” Sanders told GQ in 2023 of the trip.

On his website, Sanders writes that in his post-football years, he’s “been very lucky to get to spend a lot of his time with his four sons.” As such, he proudly posts about his kids’ achievements on social media.

Here’s everything to know about Barry Sanders’s children, sons Barry J., Nigel, Nick and Noah.

Barry J. Sanders, 30

Sanders welcomed his son, Barry James Sanders, with his ex-girlfriend Aletha House on April 10, 1994, in Oklahoma City, Okla. His middle name is in honor of House’s father, James. Sanders and House split up when Barry was 2.

When he was little, Barry would watch replays of his father’s Lions games and began playing football himself in seventh grade. A running back like his dad, Barry played high school football at Heritage Hall in Oklahoma City, where he earned four varsity letters, was named the 2011 PrepStar and SuperPrep All-America and 2011 U.S. Army All-America, was a four-star recruit and helped lead his team to two state titles and four district championships. He also lettered in baseball.

“I try to emulate him,” Barry told The New York Times of his father in 2012, later adding, “I’ve always had my own aspirations, but I’ve used his name to my advantage.”

Barry went on to play football at Stanford University, where he was a part of three Pac-12 champion teams and majored in communications. After graduating in 2016, he joined his father’s alma mater, Oklahoma State University, as a graduate transfer. (Sanders broke 13 NCAA records at OSU and was a Heisman Trophy winner.) Barry pursued his master’s degree in leisure studies.

During a visit to OSU in 2016, Sanders was asked by a young fan if he was worried that Barry might break his single-season rushing record at the school. Sanders laughed and replied, “Go ahead, son, knock yourself out. That’d be great if he was able to do that.”

Barry frequently posts photos with his dad and siblings, with football and the Lions prominent on his Instagram, and he attended the 2023 premiere of Bye Bye Barry with his father in Detroit. When he was younger, he was also spotted with his dad at the 2005 NBA Finals, when the Detroit Pistons took on the San Antonio Spurs in Michigan.

The eldest Sanders son now works on Madden products at EA Sports. In addition to his three younger brothers on his dad’s side, he has a younger brother, Terrance Johnson, who also plays football.

Nigel Sanders, 22

Sanders welcomed his son, Nigel, on Aug. 23, 2002, with his ex-wife Lauren Campbell-Sanders.

Nigel was raised in Franklin, Mich., and attended Detroit Country Day School. In 2024, he graduated from Howard University with a bachelor's degree in African American Studies, African Studies and also studied music production and design.

"Help me congratulate my son Nigel on graduating from Howard University, Class of 2024 - Proud of you," Sanders wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Nigel is a music producer and performs under the stage name Sanjai. He interned at Universal Music Group and the Motown Museum, according to his LinkedIn profile, and was a beat-making instructor at The Yunion’s Keys 2 Life Performing Arts Camp in Detroit. He also hosted a podcast, The Sanjai Show, which he last posted about on Facebook in 2022.

He posts about his interests on Instagram, including music and weightlifting, as well as photos with his family. Nigel and his brothers play a prominent role near the end of their father’s documentary, Bye Bye Barry.

“I really don’t know why we’re here. My dad doesn’t talk about football a whole lot or retirement, really,” Nigel says in the documentary after touching down in London, where he will later get answers from Sanders.

When Nigel was a toddler, he hammed it up for the cameras at ESPN The Magazine's NEXT Party in New York City in 2003. He was also spotted with his dad at the 2004 NBA Finals, when the Detroit Pistons took on the Los Angeles Lakers in Michigan, and with his family at Oklahoma State University in 2021, when the school unveiled a statue in Sanders’ honor.

Nigel has a couple of tattoos, including an upper back tattoo of the Egyptian goddess Maat, inspired by stories his grandmother used to tell him and his Hieroglyphics class at Howard.

Nicholas Sanders, 20

Sanders and Campbell-Sanders welcomed their son Nicholas “Nick" Born on Feb. 9, 2004, in Royal Oak, Michigan. He grew up in Franklin and attended Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Mich., where he played football, baseball and ran track. He graduated in 2022.

“I love you and am very proud of you,” Sanders wrote on Instagram in honor of Noah’s birthday in 2022.

Nick stayed in his home state for college — he was a walk-on freshman for Michigan State University’s basketball team and wears No. 20, the same jersey number his dad wore on the Lions. According to his MSU bio, he plans on majoring in business and his favorite NBA team is the Golden State Warriors. In his free time, he likes playing the piano, and his favorite movie is Star Wars.

In the Bye Bye Barry documentary, Nick directly asks his father why he retired, to which Sanders explains that it was complicated but he knew in his last season that he was done.

Though he’s the most private of the Sanders brothers on social media, Nick has shared glimpses of his life on Instagram, including photos with family, peeks at his basketball world and a snap with two Detroit legends at a Lions game: his dad and Eminem.

“Hanging with Dad has some perks,” Sanders commented on Nick’s May 2024 Instagram slideshow that featured the Eminem photo.

Sanders also shared an Instagram photo on his page of Nick and Barry joining him for the Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament in Detroit in 2024.

Noah Sanders, 17

The youngest of Sanders and Campbell-Sanders’ children, Noah Sanders, was born on April 7, 2007, and raised in the Detroit suburbs.

Like his dad and brothers, Noah is also an athlete. He runs track and field and is a running back on the varsity football team at Birmingham Groves High School in Beverly Hills. He will graduate in 2025, and he and his girlfriend, Ava, a soccer player at Groves, were members of their high school’s 2024 homecoming court.

Noah is a three-star recruit. He received his first college offer from Toledo University in Ohio shortly after a breakout game in September 2023 and had an official visit with them. He’s also had offers from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, the University of Buffalo in New York and Michigan State University.

"It was a surreal moment to find out that I had just received my first offer," Noah told 247sports.com at the time. "I had been thinking about that day for years and for it to finally come was a dream come true."

Groves head coach Brendan Flaherty told WXYZ’s Brad Galli in 2023 that Noah is “a humble competitor” and Sanders is a supportive father. Noah seconded the latter, saying Sanders either stays back or “incognito in the stands” during games. Like his dad, Noah wears No. 20, and he admits that the pressure of living up to his last name can be “a lot to handle.”

“A lot of deep breaths, a lot of sleep, music and meditation. But the how to handle it comes with the pressure, so that’s how I’ve been managing it,” Noah told the outlet, adding his love of football came “a little bit from my dad” but mostly from playing flag football as a kid.

Noah has made public appearances with his dad and brothers. He was photographed with Nigel and his parents at the premiere of Bye Bye Barry in 2023 and joined his brothers at the 2024-25 Lions season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers, where they met Taylor Lautner and his wife Taylor Dome Lautner.

On his Instagram, Noah shares photos from his football season and of his favorite activities, like fishing and hanging out with his friends and girlfriend.

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