Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills famously went to four consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s and lost them all. But he’s also had four bouts with cancer and “kicked its ass,” the NFL Hall of Fame quarterback told the 2022 NAPA 401(k) Summit audience during a general session in Tampa on Monday morning.
His session, “A Journey of Perseverance,” focused on inspiring people to never give up during the tough times and be a difference maker for people in need—and he stressed that you don’t need to be a star football player to do so.
Everyone knows people that are going through a hard time, be it a family member, friend or colleague. You can be there for them, Kelly said.
“I know why I’m here now. To be a difference maker for people to keep them from giving up. I’m living proof that you can fight through it.”
Jim Kelly
“I know why I’m here now. To be a difference maker for people to keep them from giving up,” he said. “I’m living proof that you can fight through it.”
Kelly shared his personal story during the keynote session, including those four separate bouts of cancer along with several other surgeries and the loss of a son at the far-too-young age of 8. And then there was surviving a small plane crash in Alaska.
He knows plenty about facing adversity, and said his four pillars of faith, family, friends and fans have always helped him overcome it.
Interspersed were great stories from his college and pro football days, culminating with those four consecutive Super Bowl losses that also brought lessons of perseverance. In the season leading up to that fourth appearance, the team adopted a mottos of, “Let’s piss everybody off and go back again,” Kelly said. “And we did. Kept fighting and fighting. Even though we didn;’t win one, we learned to persevere through tough times.”
Kelly admitted to not being the best husband for a time, something which came to a head when he was confronted by his mother-in-law after the death of his son. “You need to come clean. You need to change your life,” she told him—and he did.
“I changed my life. I manned up to all my mistakes. From that day on things were changing,” he said.
He had those pillars of faith, family, friends and fans to lean on, and said he began to understand God’s plan for him.
“God put me in a position where I can be a difference maker for so many people,” he said. “You don’t have to be a football player to be a difference maker for someone.”
He noted how much a little word of encouragement can help other people. “Make a difference today for someone fighting for their tomorrow.”
Kelly closed his session with some football trivia questions for the audience, throwing autographed footballs to the winners. He went 3-for-3 plus a couple of handoffs.
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