Kelly an inspiration Richt discusses how former teammate handles adversity
BOCA RATON — They were once, as Hurricanes coach Mark Richt said, teammates and friendly rivals.
Today, the coach and UM legend Jim Kelly remain close, which is why Richt was disappointed to hear Kelly was once again battling cancer.
Yet, as much as it hurt him to hear of Kelly’s newest health issue, Richt stressed Wednesday he believes the NFL Hall of Famer will handle his treatment with strength and courage, thanks mostly to Kelly’s own faith. Richt was speaking at the YMCA of South Palm Beach County Inspiration Breakfast.
“We’re all praying for Jim and Jill and his daughters,” said Richt, who noted he and Kelly had exchanged messages recently. “In my story, he’s ‘Lucky Jim,’ but he hasn’t had a lot of luck when it comes to what’s happening with his cancer and the things that happened with his young child, Hunter. But part of my talk was about faith and Jim’s faith is very strong. Jill’s faith is very strong and they Mark Richt, on Jim cancer fight
truly trust thing.
“They know that no one’s going to be on this earth forever. We’re all going to die one day and when you know where you’re going and you know who you belong to, you can have peace in some of the toughest times. I don’t think Jim would mind me mentioning that. He’s been an inspiration to me in how he’s handled everything. He doesn’t ask for pity, but he does ask for prayers, because he knows that’s what’s most important right now.”
During his speech Wednesday, Richt jokingly recalled how it was Kelly that derailed his dream of starting as a freshman quarterback at Miami.
The two competed for the job nearly four decades ago, with then-coach Howard Schnellenberger tabbing
God Kelly’s
with this Kelly to lead the offense. Kelly eventually, went on to rewrite the Miami record book, lead the Buffalo Bills to four Super Bowls and became an NFL Hall of Famer.
Richt took path.
“My whole life, my whole identity was football. But what happened was, Jim Kelly started living my life,” Richt laughed Wednesday. “He’s the one that started as a freshman. He’s the one that became an All-American … We really knew why Jim had so much different success. It’s really because he was lucky. We called him ‘Lucky Jim’ our whole career. … The only reason he beat us out was because he was so lucky. Jim’s living my life, I’m really becoming a trainwreck. I started doing all the nighttime things I dreamed I would never, ever do. I was feeling sorry for myself because Jim was living my life and the thing I identified the most with, was kind of falling by the wayside. When football went in the tank, I went in the tank in a bad way.”
Richt worked his way out of that tank, staying at Miami as a backup and eventually moving into a coaching career. And he’s had Kelly’s support in that endeavor, especially with Richt now coaching at the two quarterbacks’ alma mater.
“I think the impact, number one, is not so much always about football,” Kelly said in February 2016, shortly after Richt was hired at Miami. “You want quality, character people and Mark Richt is going to be that. He’s all about that. You have to have guys that can play too. I think it’s going to take a little bit of time. It’s not going to happen overnight, but once he has his influence on this program, and people start to realize the U is going to be back, I can’t wait. I’m excited for him.”
ccabrera@ sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @ChristyChirinos.