Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly and his wife, Jill, lost their luggage Tuesday afternoon on their way to Chattanooga. Scheduled to speak to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet at the Convention Center, they scrambled madly to find coats and ties and dinner attire from local merchants.
Yet through all the confusion the former Buffalo Bills great never misplaced his sense of humor, especially when discussing current Bills general manager Buddy Nix. Nix, a former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach, was inducted into our town’s Sports Hall of Fame on Monday.
“I really like Buddy,” said Kelly. “I need an interpreter to understand [his Southern accent], but I think he’s going to get us turned around.”
The Kellys’ life was turned upside down on Feb. 14, 1997, when their son Hunter was born with Krabbe’s disease, a rare genetic disorder of the nervous system.
Hunter bravely fought Krabbe’s for more than eight years, so much so that Jim led off his Hall of Fame induction speech in 2002 discussing his son.