It wasn’t easy for Laila Edwards’ parents, missing much of their daughter’s formative years developing into a women’s hockey Olympian away from her roots in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Thanks to an outpouring of donations, including a major push from the hometown NFL brother tandem of Travis and Jason Kelce, they will be making the trip to join Edwards making her Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, next week.
A GoFundMe drive launched shortly after Edwards was named to the U.S. roster this month had generated more than $59,000 through Wednesday. The amount surpassed the goal of $50,000, and has the Edwardses making plans to bring up to 14 members of their immediate family, from maternal grandmother Ernestine Gray to Laila’s nephew Shiloh.
“Oh my goodness,” mother Charone Gray-Edwards said this week. “I was going to find words to describe the gratitude and appreciation — but I haven’t yet.”
Said father Robert Edwards: “We’re humbled by it.”
The significance isn’t lost on Laila Edwards, who left home at 13 to attend the Bishop Kearney Selects Academy in Rochester, New York, before moving on to Wisconsin, where she is completing her senior season for the top-ranked Badgers.
“Obviously, my name’s on the roster, but I feel like my whole family made it to the Olympics,” Edwards told The Associated Press during a Zoom call promoting Downy Rinse. “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.”
Edwards, who celebrated her 22nd birthday on Sunday, is considered the future face of women’s hockey and will become the first Black female hockey player to represent the U.S. at the Olympics. She’s a forward-turned-defender, and at 6-foot-1 (185 centimeters) and 195 pounds (88 kilograms) has speed and play-making ability galore.
Though she’s spent much of her life away from home, Edwards cherished growing up in Cleveland and rooting for LeBron James and the Kelces, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis and retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason.
She also got to know Blake Bolden, who is from Euclid, Ohio. Bolden is now a scout for the NHL‘s Los Angeles Kings and was the first Black player to compete in the National Women’s Hockey League.
“Cleveland is my home, and it means everything to me,” said Edwards, who was dubbed by her U.S. teammates as the “Queen of Cleveland” following a U.S.-Canada game played there in November.
Though thankful for all the support the GoFundMe drive received, Edwards was wowed by the Kelce brothers. They not only contributed $10,000, but Travis Kelce reached out to provide advice.
“He was just saying, everyone’s got my back. He’s rooting for me,” she said. “They didn’t have to do that, but they did. And I’m really grateful.”
Gray-Edwards was awed by the support from people she didn’t know.
“I was in Wisconsin this weekend and people are coming up to me saying, ‘I didn’t have much, but I donated,’” she said. “And I’m like, ‘You don’t understand, every dollar counted. Every dollar.’”
The preliminary plan is to use whatever money is left over in giving back to the community, whether it’s providing hockey equipment or free ice time.
“We really want to honor the money that’s been given to us,” Edwards said.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
