Jason Kelce honors Eagles athletic trainer battling cancer with ankle tape for retirement speech
Its OK to admit it. We all got a little teary-eyed when Jason Kelce gave an emotional speech this week to announce his retirement from the Eagles and the NFL.
Kelce intentionally dressed to look like he was ready for a workout as he gave his 40-minute retirement speech. He wore a sleeveless dark gray T-shirt with multiple holes for the big occasion. That’s because it was his favorite to wear for lifting weights throughout his career with the Eagles. Kelce said it was a comfortable reminder of his NFL journey.
There also were the sweat pants and the flip flops. And he also had his ankles taped for the big speech. That story will inspire you. It was a nod to Eagles athletics trainer Joe O’Pella, who is undergoing cancer treatment.
O’Pella and Kelce became friends, bonding over all those days of talking and sharing during otherwise pedestrian tapings and treatments. But as it turned out, O’Pella missed Kelce’s last NFL game, when the Eagles traveled to Tampa to play the Bucs in the wildcard round of the playoffs. The trainer stayed back in Philly for a chemotherapy infusion.
O’Pella revealed that Kelce asked him to tape his feet one final time. It is a near guarantee it won’t be the final act of friendship between the two.
“You all know about the on-field accomplishments, and many of the off-field ones, too,“ O’Pella wrote on Instagram. “But what this man has meant to me and now my family over the past decade plus is nearly indescribable.”
Jason Kelce helped O’Pella behind the scenes, doing the simple acts that good friends do for each other. He sent meals to his home. He loaned O’Pella his beach house on the Jersey Shore as a getaway to heal his body and soul from the treatments.
Then there were just the acts of being a friend, when normal conversations can mean so much.
O’Pella wrote “and he called me randomly when I had been home, too sick to come in because of chemo, just to check on me and chat about random things. That’s who he is as a person. I taped this guy’s ankles and thumbs everyday for 13 seasons, and when he played his last game in Tampa, again I couldn’t be there due to cancer.
“And when he told me he would be retiring and I expressed my regret of not being the last person to ever tape him, he offered to have me tape him for his retirement press conference. That’s who he is. And I hope theses stories can add to an already unbelievable legacy.”
Jason Kelce and kid brother, Travis Kelce, talked about the retirement during their podcast Wednesday. Jason held it together, saying he had no tears left to shed after the emotional speech and ceremony. But Travis couldn’t hold back the sobs as he talked about his brother.