UM, Bills great Kelly to be honored in July
Former Miami Hurricanes great and Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2018 ESPY Awards in July.
Kelly, who has been battling cancer since 2013, made the announcement Monday while attending his charitable foundation’s 32nd golf tournament outside of Buffalo.
The award is named after late North Carolina State University men’s basketball coach Jimmy Valvano, who gave an inspirational speech at the 1993 ESPYs less than two months before he died of cancer. During his emotional acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, Valvano used used the now-famous words, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
Earlier that year, he announced the creation of The V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Kelly, 58, had surgery to have cancer removed from his upper jaw in March after tests revealed a recurrence. Kelly is still unable to eat solid foods. He is scheduled to have an operation on June 21, when doctors plan to add tissue to the upper portion of his mouth. He is then scheduled to have permanent dentures inserted during another procedure in September.
Kelly says he’s honored to receive the award, before joking that “the only bad thing about it is you have to go through a lot to get it.”
Difficult as it has been for him, Kelly leans on his faith and says he continues to battle to help inspire others who have cancer.
“The good Lord has put me in this situation to help not only the people out there who are suffering from cancer, but little kids, too, who are going through tough times to never give up, to keep fighting because you never know,” Kelly said.
He had been cancer-free since September 2014.
He initially was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, which led to him having surgery to have a portion of his upper jaw removed in June 2013. Follow-up tests nine months later showed the cancer spread to his sinus, which led to radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
During his 11-year career with the Bills, he threw for 35,467 yards and 237 touchdowns. He led the Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances — all losses — in the early 1990s.
Shortly after his retirement in 1997, Kelly’s son Hunter was born with Krabbe disease, a degenerative nervous system disorder. Hunter Kelly died in 2005 at the age of eight.
Kelly played quarterback at UM from 1979 to 1982 and was part of a group largely credited for setting the stage for the Hurricanes to win their first national championship in 1983. At Miami, Kelly played in 33 games, throwing for 5,228 yards and 33 touchdowns.
The award show will on ESPN on July 18.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
dfurones@ sunsentinel.com / @DavidFurones_ air