Pete Rose’s 5 Children: All About the Late Baseball Legend’s Sons and Daughters

Mar. 15, 2025

Pete Rose and daughter Cara at the 3rd Annual Super Concert Series at the Grove ; Pete Rose is pictured with his grandson Pete Rose III and his sons, Tyler and Pete Rose Jr.Photo:Polk Imaging/FilmMagic/Getty Images: AP Photo/Al Behrman

Polk Imaging/FilmMagic/Getty Images: AP Photo/Al Behrman

Pete Rose’s baseball career spanned more than two decades, and in that time, he also welcomed five children: Fawn, Pete, Morgan, Tyler and Cara.

The late baseball legenddied on Sept. 30, 2024, at 83 years old. Before his death, Rose was a father of five, starting with his daughter Fawn Rose whom he welcomed in 1964 with his wife at the time, Karolyn Englehardt. The two later welcomed their son, Pete Rose Jr., in 1969.

In 1996, Rose settled a 1978 paternity suit, acknowledging Morgan Erin Rubio as his daughter.

Rose had a storied career in baseball before he received a lifetime ban from the sport in 1989 for betting on games while he was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds between 1986 and 1989. Throughout that time, he toldCincinnati.comin 2019, he tried to be the best father to his children.

“I always tried to be there for my kids, especially my younger kids,” Rose said. “The two oldest kids understood that I had to be away a lot because I was a professional baseball player.”

From their own baseball careers to how they were raised, here’s everything to know about Pete Rose’s kids.

Fawn Rose, 61

Pete Rose, his first wife Karolyn Englehardt, and his two children, Pete Jr. and Fawn, in their home in Cininnati in 1979.Ira Berger / Alamy

Ira Berger / Alamy

Fawn was born in 1964, the same year that Rose and his first wife, Englehardt, got married. While Fawn has lived primarily out of the public eye, Rose has spoken about worrying he wasn’t a present enough father to his eldest daughter as she was born at the peak of his baseball career.

“The only person I felt got cheated was my oldest daughter,” he told Cincinnati.com of what he felt he missed out on during his career. “When I was home playing for the Reds, my son Pete would go to the ballpark with me.”

He continued, “But because she was a girl, my daughter couldn’t come into the clubhouse with me [because of clubhouse rules of the time]. So she never got that experience that I had with Pete.”

In a 1985 interview withThe New York Times, Rose shared that his daughter, who was 20 at the time, was majoring in pre-med at Franklin University and had plans to become a doctor.

Pete Rose Jr., 56

Pete Rose Jr. coaches third base during the South Atlantic League game.Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images/AP Images

Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images/AP Images

Five years after the couple welcomed Fawn, Rose and Englehardt had a son together, Pete Rose Jr., in 1969. When he was a child, Pete was supportive of his father’s career, serving as his batboy and appearing with his father on a 1982 Fleer baseball card titled “Pete & Re-Pete; Pete Rose & son” when he was 12.

However, Rose toldThe New York Timesthat he didn’t “care” if his sons also became baseball pros, as long as they were doing well at the careers they chose.

‘‘I don’t care if Petey or Tyler become ballplayers,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s according to what they want. I wouldn’t disapprove if they didn’t make professional ball. I know this, though, Petey can hit. But all I expect is a good effort. At whatever they do."

Pete ultimately followed in his father’s footsteps with a career in baseball, primarily playing for the minor leagues until a brief 1997 stint for the Cincinnati Reds. He eventuallybecame a manager, joining the Chicago White Sox coaching staff in 2011 for their rookie league team in Montana.

Rose wrote in his 2019 memoir,Play Hungry: The Making Of A Baseball Player, that he felt his son didn’t get a fighting chance in the sport because of his own tarnished legacy.

“My son was being punished for the sins of the father,” Rose said.

Morgan Erin Rubio

Tyler Rose, 41

Tyler Rose attended a news conference on December 15, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Tyler was born to Rose and his second wife, Carol Woliung, in 1984. Rose had initially wanted to name him Tyrus after baseball player Tyrus Cobb, but Woliung didn’t approve.

‘‘And I don’t think Pete did, either,’’ she toldThe New York Timesin 1985. ‘‘I thought Tyler was nice, and that was fine with Pete.’’

According to theLas Vegas Review Journal, as of 2008, Tyler lived in the city and was attempting a career as a DJ under the moniker “TRose.”

Cara Rose, 36

J. Merritt/FilmMagic

Rose’s youngest child, Cara, was born in 1989 and grew up to have a career as an actress, working under the name Chea Courtney. Her career mainly spanned the 1990s and early 2000s as she appeared in episodes ofMelrose PlaceandPassions.

She’s made a handful of appearances alongside her father, including at the 3rd Annual Super Concert Series at the Grove in 2005.

source: people.com