Lion Twins Have Always Stuck Together

When the Lions take the field this fall, the interior of their offensive line will be tight. They will have a lot in common. They will be in tune with each other, sharing thoughts, finishing each other’s sentences, at least from the center and left guard position.

The two young men that line up next to each other in those positions share a lot—ambition, determination, classes in school, the same house, the same mother and father; heck, they shared the same embryo.

The Dunbar Twins, as they are affectionately called, make up a huge piece of the spearhead of the King Lions running game. Romario is the oldest by a whopping two minutes, and he plays left guard, a position right on his younger brother and center Mario’s hip.

“It’s nice to know when you’re out there, no matter what happens, your other linemen have your back,” said Romario. “When it’s your brother, that’s even better.”

It must be pretty re-assuring having not just your brother but your twin right next to you.

“It makes us want it more,” said Romario. “Sometimes we’ll get a call that we have to double team a guy—we love that.”

When they are together, talking to one of them is like talking to both of them. Neither one says the word, “I,” and oftentimes, one recalls something in a story the other one is telling. They finish each other’s sentences so casually and constantly that you forget they’re doing it. Indeed, it is rare to see one finish a thought without the other one having something to clarify or add.

The twins have plenty of experience playing together.

They started out with the Oak Park Panthers, a youth football league much like the TBYFL. Mario remembers a certain game as a turning point in his career.

“It was a long game, we weren’t running the ball very well, the coaches were yelling at us,” Mario said. “I came off and I was upset, but the coach talked to me, calmed me down and I got back in there. That’s when I knew I could play this game.”

He doesn’t come out of the game anymore.

The Dunbar twins also played together at Young Middle School. This was just flag football, but it was the twins, together, on the same team again. There’s not much they don’t do together, and they’re always doing something.

“We don’t sit around at home, we’re always active,” said Romario.

“We’ll practice squats, go out in the driveway and play basketball,” said Mario.

“If there’s nothing else to do we’ll take grandma for a walk,” said both of them.

Mario and Romario enter their junior years, starting out with the Varsity team. They were called up last year as sophomores and played in one game against Bloomingdale. Their real history in the King High School Varsity football program will start this year.

Mario will line up at center. He will call the blocking assignments, he will call the blitzes he sees, and if he ever misses anything, his twin brother will be right there to have his back.