The 2026 Winter Olympics have kicked off in Italy with Team USA’s women’s hockey team winning their first game against the Czech Republic. On the team was Laila Edwards, who in 2023 became the first Black woman to play for the United States women’s national hockey team.
NFL star Travis Kelce gave her a shoutout on his “New Heights” podcast at the time – and now it has been revealed that Travis and his brother Jason contributed $10,000 to help her family travel to Italy to watch her in action.
Laila and her family are from the Kelces’ hometown Cleveland Heights, OH., and launched a GoFundMe to help her family “support her in her Olympic dream”.
“This just isn’t something that we can afford to do on our own. So many communities have supported Laila throughout her years of hockey. We are asking for your help now so that we can be there to cheer Laila, to surround her with the love and support of family,” it read, and after it emerged the Kelce’s had donated, Travis called Laila to tell her that “everyone’s got my back”.
“He’s rooting for me,” Laila told the Associated Press. “They didn’t have to do that, but they did. And I’m really grateful.”
© Getty Images“Obviously, my name’s on the roster, but I feel like my whole family made it to the Olympics,” she added. “All the sacrifices they’ve made, the things they’ve done to get me here, my parents, my siblings, I’m so grateful. And for them to get to come and share the experience is going to be really special.”
“Oh my goodness,” Laila’s mother Charone Gray-Edwards said. “I was going to find words to describe the gratitude and appreciation. But I haven’t yet.”
© NurPhoto via Getty ImagesLaila made her Olympic debut on February 5, and AP reported that 14 members of her family – including her 91-year-old grandmother, Ernestine Gray – were in the stands cheering her on and watching as Team USA won 5-1.
“Two years ago, when Kelce first gave a shout-out to Laila, I thought it was huge and cool for him to acknowledge her,” Charone added. “And then when she said ‘thank you’ to him, he responded. He’s been kind. So this is exciting that his kindness even went further.”
The GoFundMe has now raised over $60,000, and any additional funds after the trip will be given back to the Cleveland Heights community through hockey equipment or free ice time at local rinks. “We really want to honor the money that’s been given to us,” said Laila.
© Getty ImagesDonations have also come in from friends and fans of the Wisconsin Badgers, the University of Wisconsin’s hockey team, where Laila is in her senior year.Ice Hockey in Harlem donated $1,500 to the GoFundMe.
“We don’t have much, but what we do have, we’re willing to provide because she’s not only representing Cleveland Heights, she’s not only representing her family,” said JJ Velez, president of IHIH’s board of directors. “She’s representing every Black and brown young lady who’s ever put on some skates and a helmet to defy the odds.”
It’s not the first time Travis has made donations to change the local community.
In 2015, he established the Eighty-Seven and Running organization, a charitable foundation that “empowers disadvantaged youth to achieve success by providing resources and support to their communities and broadening their exposure to areas like STEM, entrepreneurship, and the arts”.
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