Jim Kelly talks beating cancer four times, changing the Hall of Fame forever, running the K-Gun

NFL: Good Morning Football

iHeartPodcasts and NFL

Sports, Football

4.4 • 634 Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this inspiring episode of NFL Players: Second Acts, Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly sits down with hosts Peanut Tillman and Roman Harper and shares how enduring four straight Super Bowl losses shaped his perspective on the game and on life. Jim reflects on the leadership lessons from the Bills’ golden era, the bond with teammates that still runs deep decades later, and how his faith and family guided him through the most difficult chapters of his journey. He also talks about his commitment to honoring the legacy of his late son Hunter through his charitable foundation, and the purpose that drives his second act.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:04.1	I was born in Pittsburgh.
0:06.4	There are six Hall of Fame quarterbacks that are all within a 30, 40-40-mile radius to Pittsburgh that were born in Pittsburgh.
0:15.0	Six Hall-Fame quarterback.
0:16.9	Give me four of the six.
0:18.7	Joe Namath.
0:19.5	That's one.
0:20.3	Let's go.
0:54.3	Come on, man. Pick it up. There's some easy ones. Yeah. Joe Namath. Dan Marino. Two. Let's go. Where are you at? I'm thinking. Oh, um, Jim Kelly. Hey, we got three. Number 16. Joe Montana. Joe Montana. Dang it. That's four. Two more. You guys, well, I wasn't even bored when they played. Oh, the Bears, George Blanda. Blanda. Very good. George Blanda. No, you're right. Yeah. And one more. Probably they considered one of the great. He won all these... Indianapolis, Johnny United's got... Very, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're cheating. No. You are, too. Yeah, you doodle that. He did. He did. I don't Google it. He called him. He went from none to all spitting them out. I'm like, hey, hey. Shout out to my guy Thomas over there.
1:13.0	I had you going for a minute.
1:20.7	What's up, everybody?
1:21.7	I'm Peanut Toman, and this is the NFL players second acts podcast.
1:26.5	And with me, as always, as my trusty co-host
1:28.7	Roman I am cold Harper I am cold I'm not lying I am cold I love it it's like I'm freezing
1:36.5	but get straight to I guess we got a great one here man a great legend I grew up watching
1:41.9	this man him lead his team not in college, but also in the NFL
1:46.4	for many, many years.
1:47.7	He led his team to four Super Bowls.
1:50.0	He's a cancer survivor.
1:51.1	He's a Hall of Fame quarterback.
1:52.4	He's raised millions of dollars in cancer research.
1:55.6	Ladies and gentlemen, he's also the pride of East Brady, Pennsylvania.
	...

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