When Laila Edwards became the first Black person to win Olympic hockey gold with Team USA, she had her closest family and friends in the stands cheering her on, all thanks to GoFundMe and the Kelce brothers.
On Thursday, Feb. 19, after already making history as the first Black person to score a goal for Team USA in Olympic women’s hockey, the 22-year-old star helped secure a 2-1 victory over Canada in the gold medal game, officially clinching the title. In the stands, her parents, along with eight other family members and friends, were there to witness it all, including her 91-year-old grandmother.
After becoming the first Black woman to make the U.S. women’s national hockey team in 2023, Edwards continued breaking barriers this year on the Olympic stage. But that historic run also created a financial quandary for her family.
Like many Olympic families working with limited notice and limited resources to pull together the funds needed to travel internationally and support their loved ones, the Edwards family had little time to make it happen. Her mother, Cherone Gray-Edwards, told AP News she began calling relatives about a month before the Games to see who would be interested in traveling to Milan to watch Laila play. They quickly realized they only had the funds to send two people.
“We had to start talking about how to get money,” Gray-Edwards told the outlet. “Who would go? How would we afford it?”
That’s when her father, Robert Edwards, launched a GoFundMe titled “Send Laila’s Family to the Olympics to Cheer Her On!” He set a $50,000 goal so they wouldn’t have to choose between buying a ticket to one of her games and paying the electric bill back home in Cleveland Heights.
By Thursday, the family had surpassed that goal, raising more than $61,000.
Edwards’ father said they had to put their pride aside and start the fundraiser because being there for their daughter during such a high-stakes competition — and witnessing her make history — meant far too much to miss.
“There’s a lot of ups and downs in playing hockey at this high level and so she’s going to need somebody there,” her father said. “So I was like, ’Well, pride be damned: we’re going to do a fundraiser.’ ”
The top donation, $10,000, was initially submitted anonymously but has since been confirmed to have come from fellow Cleveland Heights sports heroes, Jason and Travis Kelce. The support tracks: both brothers have been vocal in championing Edwards since she first made the national team.
After the semifinal game earlier that week, the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native told the Associated Press that having her family in Milan “means everything to me.”
“They helped me get here and make this team and achieve my dream, so it means a lot,” she added.
