{"id":478724,"date":"2026-02-19T23:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478724\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T23:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T23:03:09","slug":"laila-edwards-family-watches-olympic-debut-thanks-to-kelce-brothers-and-a-gofundme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/478724\/","title":{"rendered":"Laila Edwards’ family watches Olympic debut, thanks to Kelce brothers and a GoFundMe"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 As soon as U.S. hockey defender Laila Edwards<\/a> skated onto the Olympic ice ahead of Thursday\u2019s gold medal<\/a> win against Canada, she scanned the stands for the real MVP: Her 91-year-old grandmother.<\/p>\n

Their shared ritual was on display before Team USA\u2019s<\/a> 2-1 triumph Thursday<\/a> \u2014 only made possible through an outpouring of donations to a GoFundMe drive, with by far the biggest individual contribution coming from NFL brother tandem and hometown allies Travis and Jason Kelce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs she comes in, she\u2019s looking around,\u201d her grandmother, Ernestine Gray, told The Associated Press earlier this week. \u201cThen I say, \u2018I won\u2019t do anything to distract her.\u2019 Then she did see me and I wave to her and then she waved back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards, the first Black female hockey player to represent the U.S. at the Olympics, fielded a team of her own in Milan. The fundraiser enabled 10 family members and four friends to travel from the U.S. to Italy for her Olympic debut<\/a>. Still others paid their own way.<\/p>\n

After the semifinals game earlier this week, Edwards told the AP that her family\u2019s presence in Milan \u201cmeans everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey helped me get here and make this team and achieve my dream, so it means a lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"United<\/p>\n

United States\u2019 Laila Edwards (10) challenges with Sweden\u2019s Felizia Wikner Zienkiewicz (29) during a women\u2019s ice hockey semifinal game between the United States and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hassan Ammar)<\/p>\n

United States\u2019 Laila Edwards (10) challenges with Sweden\u2019s Felizia Wikner Zienkiewicz (29) during a women\u2019s ice hockey semifinal game between the United States and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hassan Ammar)<\/p>\n

Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Edwards had an assist for the first of the two goals that would win the game.<\/p>\n

\u2018Queen of Cleveland\u2019<\/p>\n

The Kelce brothers grew up in the same town as Edwards. They have been fans of hers since 2023, when she became the first Black player to make the U.S. senior women\u2019s national team, and shouted her out on their popular podcast, \u201cNew Heights.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The top donation to the GoFundMe was $10,000, from someone remaining anonymous; Edwards has confirmed that it came from the Kelces.<\/a> By Thursday, the Edwards family had raised more than $61,000. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Travis Kelce reached out to provide advice to the \u201cQueen of Cleveland,\u201d<\/a> a nickname her teammates gave her following a U.S.-Canada game played there in November. And Jason Kelce and his wife, Kylie, were in the stands Monday to cheer on the U.S. team during their 5-0 win over Sweden. Edwards, a forward-turned-defender<\/a>, had an assist then, too.<\/p>\n

Generosity from the Kelces and locals is another example of how the tight-knit town operates, her parents said, even though their daughter moved away at a young age. Edwards, considered the future face of women\u2019s hockey,<\/a> has also inspired the Black community in Ohio and beyond. <\/p>\n

Laila Edwards is set to make history as the first Black female to represent the U.S. in Olympic hockey. Before heading to Milan, Italy, next month, the 21-year-old Edwards enjoyed a memorable homecoming in Cleveland. (AP Video: Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)<\/p>\n

While diversity<\/a> is reflected in many sports such as soccer, it hasn\u2019t made a dent in winter sports and there are very few Black athletes<\/a> in the Milan Cortina Olympic Games. Men\u2019s and women\u2019s hockey globally, including in the U.S.<\/a>, remains predominantly white.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to hear all the people of color talking about, \u2018I\u2019ve never watched hockey before and I\u2019m tuning in,\u2019\u201d Gray-Edwards said. \u201cI would love to know what the ratings are. Because everybody at home, everybody is talking about it. All these people are trying to buy jerseys.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Gray-Edwards, some of the most meaningful moments have been seeing little boys come up to her daughter for an autograph.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means they\u2019re not like, \u2018Oh, this is a girl that plays hockey.\u2019 They\u2019re like, \u2018This a good hockey player.\u2019 So it doesn\u2019t matter if she\u2019s Black, a woman \u2014 she\u2019s a good player,\u201d Gray-Edwards said.<\/p>\n

But Gray-Edwards\u2019 most treasured memories likely won\u2019t be about Thursday\u2019s gold medal win \u2014 they will stem from watching her 91-year-old mother and her 22-year-old daughter together at the rink.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can just see them waving at each other. My mother\u2019s like jumping and, oh, she just loves it,\u201d Gray-Edwards said. <\/p>\n

\u2018How would we afford it\u2019<\/p>\n

Hours before the puck dropped for Monday\u2019s semifinal, the Edwards family was ready. <\/p>\n

Edwards\u2019 mother, Charone Gray-Edwards, has strict rules about travel. She mandated that everyone meet in the hotel lobby 2\u00bd hours before game time, dressed in their Team USA finest. They called a taxi van to fit the large group \u2014 including Edwards\u2019 parents, grandmother, aunt, cousin and older brother \u2014 and loaded up.<\/p>\n

Her parents weren\u2019t sure the entire family would be able to make the journey when she called them a month before the Olympics to say she\u2019d been chosen for the team. They could cover the costs for two people, but the full family roster \u2014 all of whom have supported her over the years \u2014 would have been far too expensive. And they hadn\u2019t booked early flights or locked in cheaper hotel rates for fear of jinxing her. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to start talking about how to get money,\u201d Gray-Edwards said. \u201cWho would go? How would we afford it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The family is accustomed to watching her from afar. When Edwards was 13, she left home to attend the Bishop Kearney Selects Academy in Rochester, New York, before moving on to University of Wisconsin, where she is playing her senior season for the top-ranked Badgers.<\/a><\/p>\n

The general consensus is that Edwards will be selected in the top three of the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League draft in June, along with Wisconsin teammate Caroline Harvey and Minnesota\u2019s Abbey Murphy.<\/p>\n

Still, Edwards\u2019 Olympic debut was something everyone wanted to see.<\/p>\n

Her father, Robert Edwards, started the GoFundMe drive, entitled: \u201cSend Laila\u2019s Family to the Olympics to Cheer Her On!\u201d He set an ambitious goal of $50,000 so they wouldn\u2019t have to choose between a ticket to one of her games and paying the electric bill back in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of ups and downs in playing hockey at this high level and so she\u2019s going to need somebody there,\u201d her father said. \u201cSo I was like, \u2019Well, pride be damned: we\u2019re going to do a fundraiser.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Edwards, center, the father of United States\u2019 Laila Edwards cheers during a women\u2019s ice hockey semifinal game between the United States and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hassan Ammar)<\/p>\n

Robert Edwards, center, the father of United States\u2019 Laila Edwards cheers during a women\u2019s ice hockey semifinal game between the United States and Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (AP Photo\/Hassan Ammar)<\/p>\n

Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

John Wawrow in Milan contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 As soon as U.S. hockey defender Laila Edwards skated onto the Olympic ice ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[190960,113110,219660,221218,852,221219,793,6755,4143,219662,658,12303,6454,45567,216129,131021,99,4144,795,215087,6662,1745,7561,82958,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-478724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","9":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","10":"tag-abbey-murphy","11":"tag-caroline-harvey","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-ernestine-gray","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-jason-kelce","17":"tag-laila-edwards","18":"tag-milan","19":"tag-oh-state-wire","20":"tag-ohio","21":"tag-olympic-games","22":"tag-olympic-hockey","23":"tag-robert-edwards","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-travis-kelce","26":"tag-u-s-news","27":"tag-united-states-olympic-team","28":"tag-wi-state-wire","29":"tag-wisconsin","30":"tag-wisconsin-badgers","31":"tag-womens-hockey","32":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}