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Miami football alum Jim Kelly to receive Jim Valvano ESPY Award

By Alan Rubenstein

ORCHARD PARK, NY - DECEMBER 24: Hall of fame quarterback Dan Marino (L) and Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly talk before the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins at New Era Stadium on December 24, 2016 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NY - DECEMBER 24: Hall of fame quarterback Dan Marino (L) and Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly talk before the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins at New Era Stadium on December 24, 2016 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Rich Barnes/Getty Images) /
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Pro Football Hall of Famer quarterback Jim Kelly who is also a Miami football legend will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the ESPYs in July it was announced earlier today.

The award is named after former North Carolina State Basketball Coach Jim Valvano who died from cancer in 1993. The former Miami football star quarterback Kelly is currently battling cancer for the third time in the past five years.

Valvano gave the most famous speech in ESPY’s history that year. Among the things he discussed were about not giving up and enjoying your life every day. Valvano’s speech at the ESPYs came when he accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Kelly’s cancer is in his jaw. He has had to have his upper jaw reconstructed. ESPN staff writer Mike Rodak said that Kelly “had surgery to remove squamous-cell carcinoma found in his jaw in 2013 and later underwent chemotherapy in 2014 when the cancer returned in his maxillary sinus.”

Kelly has a good grasp on his mortality. He discussed his hope to attend the awards ceremony in July at his charity golf outing that was held June 4.

"“God willing, I’ll be there…As people out there now, when you have cancer, you never know what tomorrow holds. When I was diagnosed for the first time, it scares you. Second time, even more. Third time, I don’t even worry anymore. It is what it is. If it comes back, it comes back.”"

Jim Valvano 1993 ESPY Speech: “Don’t Give up, Don’t ever give up”

According to Rodak, Kelly will have to follow up surgery on June 21. Kelly said on Monday that he will not be able to eat solid foods until September. He will be screened at the end of June. That’s a three-month follow up to surgery he had March 29.

The Kelly family has been through a lot. His son Hunter passed away at the age of eight in 2005. Hunter had Krabbe Disease which Rodak described as a “degenerative nervous system disorder.” 

The man who started the Miami football tradition of great quarterbacks and the school being dubbed quarterback U discussed the moniker of his family being labeled as Kelly Tough.

"People talk about this ‘Kelly tough’ part,…Yeah, it is. But after a while, even when you’re strong like that, you sometimes look and wonder why all this continues to happen.And then, to be honest with you. I know why. I’ve been through a lot. Faith is my No. 1. I know why I’m still here. I know why I’m going through (it). It’s to be able to go and tell other people going through similar things never to give up.”"

Next: Two Miami football alums and Coach Dennis Erickson CFB Hof Finalists

Kelly becomes the second Miami football alum to receive the Jimmy V Award. Former Miami and coincidentally Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett received the Award in 2008. After being paralyzed from the neck down during a game with Buffalo, Everett eventually regained his ability to walk through rehabilitation.

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