KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Historically, Sept. 17 sure has made for plenty to commemorate.

Like the 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia. And the 1920 meeting in Canton, Ohio, to form what would become known as the National Football League. From a more local perspective, The Beatles played at Municipal Stadium here in 1964 — opening with the Little Richard medley of “Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey.”

Then there was the coming of a phenomenon. Such a now-consequential figure that his birth is one of three celebrated on the date by History.com, the website that chronicles “all the major chapters in the American story, from Indigenous beginnings to the present day.”

Right there with country singer Hank Williams and actress Danielle Brooks is Patrick Lavon Mahomes II — who turned 30 on Wednesday.

Not that he suddenly feels any different.

“Nah, I feel the same,” he said, smiling. “I’ve got kids, man. I’ve been 30 forever.”

Speaking of forever, that’s the sort of enduring impact he’s made on Kansas City, the NFL and to an increasingly international audience as the face of a team that’s played in Brazil, Germany and Mexico over the last few seasons.

So set aside for a moment the exasperation of the 0-2 start as the Chiefs prepared to take on the New York Giants on Sunday night at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Here’s what to know and appreciate about what distinguishes Mahomes, whom Kansas Citian and former Saturday Night Live cast member Heidi Gardner aptly called “a gift to us all” in a tribute video the Chiefs released Wednesday.

Call it a 30 for 30 on No. 15:

30 special moments and traits from Patrick Mahomes

— First and foremost, the advent of Mahomes transformed everything about what it means to be a Chiefs fan. And, to some degree, even the self-image of the city he’s become the winsome face of as the catalyst for a franchise that has won three Super Bowls since his arrival after a tortured 50-year drought.

— Consider any number of records he’s set, but here’s what jumps out the most to me: Only three men (Tom Brady with seven, and Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana with four each) have quarterbacked more Super Bowl wins than Mahomes’ three. Just Brady had won as many as Mahomes has by age 29. And only Brady has won more playoff games overall (35-17) or more Super Bowl MVPs — five to Mahomes’ three.

— With two jarring exceptions in the form of blowout Super Bowl losses against Tampa Bay and Philadelphia, not to mention this at least semi-concerning 2025 start, Mahomes’ has rewired the very experience of watching the Chiefs. Remember how conditioned you were for the inevitable cave-in or the late critical mistake vs. how suddenly nothing seemed impossible as the Chiefs became the first NFL team to overcome double-digit deficits in three straight playoff games on the way to winning Super Bowl LIV? Among numerous other great escapes largely attributable to Mahomes Magic.

— Jet Chip Wasp.

— It’s not just fans who benefit from how Mahomes plays. How many times have we seen the contagious impact of a big Mahomes moment? “Very encouraging, very uplifting …” former Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said in 2021, adding, “He lifts everyone around him. He can make people believe that they’re a superstar.”

— There’s another reason teammates rally around Mahomes. For all the fame and money he makes, for all the ways he stands out, coach Andy Reid will tell you he stands among teammates in key ways that matter: work ethic, locker room demeanor, radiating confidence without cockiness and embrace of playing through pain.

— Unforgettable case in point: that 26-yard run on a mangled ankle to help set up the game-winning field goal against the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.

— Mahomes remains mesmerizing to watch. Not just through his arm, because it’s never been just about the arm, but because of all that animates his play. That includes obvious elements of baseball, his first love primed by the professional career of his father, and basketball — which he elaborated on when I asked him last year about its impact: “People talk about baseball because of the arm angles and the accuracy throwing and stuff like that. But … (basketball has) probably been the most deciding factor, rather than actually playing football, of how to make space and find the open guy.”

— Also riveting and fundamental to his game: the sheer spirit of improv — the “yes, and …” mindset that extends a good comedy bit. The same mentality is evident in Mahomes’ ability to be nimble-minded and poised amid the mayhem when things go off-script.

— “Nine seconds of chaos” — as The Kansas City Star headline read on Mahomes’ stupefying 4-yard touchdown pass to Chris Conley in 2018 against the 49ers. Per Next Gen Stats, Mahomes scrambled more than 35 yards before throwing the ball.

— The preposterous left-handed pass to Tyreek Hill against Denver in 2018.

— His ferocious will to win, to do anything and everything it might take, is remarkably rare. You see it every … single … game. Again and still. Particularly in terms of how often it’s successful.

— All the flabbergasting so-called “no-look” passes, a misnomer because the term doesn’t account for his sixth sense of spatial awareness.

— The apparent ESP and symbiotic relationship between Mahomes and Reid will go down as one of the most meaningful in NFL history, especially since it simultaneously was the active ingredient in the rise of Mahomes and elevated Reid to another tier. He now has the fourth-most wins in NFL history. Simply put, they were born for this collaboration — like a composer and performer whose synergy creates something beyond what each might have otherwise realized.

— Whatever happens from here with Travis Kelce soon to turn 36 and in the final year of his current contract, their relationship and chemistry also is an indelible aspect of the Mahomes era. It’s been an uncanny mind-meld more times than you could count.

— That quirky finger-wiggle to get plays in faster.

— Whenever someone asks me about Mahomes, I tell them this: A few of us in the local media have been around him for interviews 200-plus times by now, and I’ve still yet to see him roll his eyes at a question or be snarky in any way. Most of the time, he’s looking at you like he’s studying a defense and wants to really understand the question and give you a substantial answer. Maybe once in a while he goes on autopilot, but I can’t think of many superstars as consistently engaged in interviews as he is.

— He is accountable to a fault. Few people, athletes or otherwise, love to bring up and address their own mistakes more than Mahomes does.

— While that all seems to have come naturally for Mahomes, whether by instinct or upbringing, no doubt it at least in part reflects the influence of Alex Smith — whose mentorship of Mahomes his rookie season was an essential building block for which Mahomes often has expressed gratitude. That will always be part of his story.

— The ridiculous fourth-and-9 cross-body-on-the-dead-run completion to Hill in traffic for 48 yards against the Ravens in 2018, a play Mahomes has called his favorite.

— The way the Texas native has embraced Kansas City, from building a home here to lobbying behind the scenes to lure his beloved “Whataburger” franchise here to investing in the Royals, Sporting KC and KC Current — joining his wife, Brittany, as a co-owner. He plans to be here for “a long, long time,” he said last year, and wants to “showcase” the culture.

— His joke about fatherhood aging him aside, Mahomes exudes being a family man with Brittany and their three children. That’s evident in the first edition of the Netflix “Quarterback” documentary and in the reverence for them he routinely expresses. For instance, when asked last year about why women’s sports were important to him, Mahomes noted that Brittany hadn’t benefitted from the same sorts of resources he’d had growing up and that he wanted daughter Sterling to keep loving sports the way she has: “I want to show her that she can follow her dreams and make an impact in this world in whatever that dream is.”

— One of the most revealing things about Mahomes is how close he remains to childhood friends — including, of course, Brittany, who was once his high school girlfriend. When he spoke Wednesday of how he’d celebrate his birthday this year, he said he’d done that over the summer by going to hang out with them and their spouses. “Their wives are pregnant (and) they’re finally getting their jobs that they’re going to have for the rest of their lives and stuff like that,” he said. “So it’s cool to see everybody moving on in life and building their own families and see how we’ve come from little league baseball to where we are now.”

— When people back home think of Mahomes, his empathy comes to mind. He was the guy who always told the coach whose birthday it was and looked out for the last kid picked. And from his first coaches to his high school coaches to his seventh-grade English teacher, they’ll all tell you that never changed. Perhaps that also helps account for his generosity, including through his foundation, that has earned him the Chiefs’ nomination for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.

— Mahomes’ gravelly twang is one of the most distinct things about him, to be sure. As Kelce added to a couple weeks ago by imitating Mahomes as payback for Mahomes insinuating Kelce couldn’t find Brazil on the map. But there’s a compelling story behind what Reid has referred to as his “froggish” voice. When it was a source of teasing when Mahomes was in seventh grade, here’s how he decided to handle it: “It’s something that I’ve kind of embraced,” he said in 2018, later adding that the key was “just being comfortable with yourself. I mean, it’s me, it’s who I am. So I’m never going to be insecure about it. I just kind of embrace it and keep going.”

— Then there’s Mahomes’ raspy rat-a-tat laugh, which also has its own infectious appeal. Particularly since he so often uses it to laugh at himself about something. Like the “dad bod” stuff, which he referenced on Wednesday with a line about how Taco Bell helps gird him for contact as a runner.

— The Run against Tennessee in the 2019-2020 AFC championship game, breaking some five tackles to run 27 yards for a touchdown.

— He seems incapable of complacency. That’s evident every offseason in his workouts with longtime personal trainer Bobby Stroupe and, the last few years, with his hosting of what might be called Camp Mahomes for Chiefs receivers. The more he’s succeeded, the more driven he’s become. Or as offensive coordinator Matt Nagy put it a couple weeks ago, “It’s not normal.”

— Also not normal: Mahomes’ longtime superpower, Stroupe once told me, is … sleep. “I want the headline to be that he is the most prolific sleeper in the world,” he said. “Undisputed.” Challenged as that surely has been by fatherhood, no doubt it’s remained a priority because Stroupe viewed it as his top performance enhancer because of the regeneration, mental health, alertness and stability it helps provide.

— Notwithstanding some episodes with the Raiders’ badgering Maxx Crosby, particularly the one chronicled in “Quarterback,” and the silly insinuation he’s out of bounds to work the sidelines, Mahomes is the consummate sportsman. He always credits teammates and opponents, and when you hear him mic’d up he’s constantly complimenting opponents with terms such as “good hit.” When I asked him about that in 2021, here’s what he said: “I mean, trust me, I want to win. But I respect everybody’s grind of getting out there. So I’m going to do what I can to show that I appreciate them as much as I appreciate the guys on my team.”

There’s plenty more and else, of course. And your list of 30 things that distinguish him might be different than mine.

Whatever the case, it’s a moment to pause and appreciate how momentous this birthday is — both in terms of what it’s meant so far and how fleeting it all feels even as we ponder what’s left to come.

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