Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, wife Paqui, provide $50,000 to launch Hosford Family Scholarship

BELMONT, MI – There wasn’t much of a meeting, Brian Kelly said, when it came to donating to a fledgling scholarship foundation in the name of late Grand Valley State Hall of Famer Jamie Hosford.

“I don’t think we even had a board meeting on this one,” said the Notre Dame coach and former coach at Grand Valley State. “This was a phone call and an email and we had this passed before we even had a vote.”

Kelly and his wife, Paqui, on Monday presented a $50,000 check on behalf of their Kelly Care Foundation to the Hosford family for funding of the Hosford Family Scholarship Foundation.

MORE: Jamie Hosford's family moved by tribute from Grand Valley State

The presentation at Blythefield Country Club was made to Gloria Hosford, Jamie’s widow, sons Dan and Tom Hosford, and daughters Kellie Shupe and Katie Bibler.

Jamie Hosford

The money allows creation of an endowment for an annual scholarship to a graduating Rockford High School student who plans to attend Grand Valley State.

“Their generosity of this gift is beyond words; it is just overwhelming,” Gloria Hosford said.

Hosford, who died of cancer in March at age 58, was a five-sport athlete at Grand Valley State and then served 25 years as an administrator with Rockford Public Schools.

In 1987, he was the first football player inducted into the Grand Valley Sports Hall of Fame. The Creston High School graduate was elected into the Grand Rapids Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Dan and Tom Hosford, who played for the Lakers under Kelly and remain active with the Grand Valley Alumni Association, were stunned by the amount of the donation, which came during a presentation that followed the Irish Eyes Golf Classic.

“We were just told there was going to be a special presentation from Kelly Cares, and to see that check up there …,” Tom Hosford said. “That essentially makes it (the scholarship) fully funded its first year. Words can’t describe how excited we are about that. We thought we’d be raising money for a couple years.”

The amount of the scholarship is to be determined, Tom Hosford said.

“I think we’re going to have to have a family meeting tonight and figure that out,” he said.

Kelly, who was head coach at Grand Valley from 1991 to 2003, said he got to know Hosford after he first joined the Lakers staff in 1987 and Hosford was already active in the development of the athletic department’s alumni association.

“He was a mentor to me,” Kelly said. “I was 27 years old when I got the coaching job, so Jamie kind of helped me along the way in learning about being a young head coach, about learning about Grand Valley, who was influential … but more than anything, Jamie was just revered at Grand Valley State.”

Paqui Kelly said it was important that the scholarship be endowed and could begin the first year.

“This is something that just called to us right away,” she said. “Once they decided what they wanted to do (and create a scholarship fund), it just made so much sense. He was in education all his life, not just his involvement at Grand Valley, but in Rockford. It was just the right fit.”

The Kelly Cares Foundation, in its fifth year, supports organizations, initiatives and programs that closely align with the goals and values of the Kelly family in the “three pillars” of Health, Education, and Community.

Since 2008, the foundation has donated more than $1.6 million locally, nationally and globally.

Pete Wallner covers sports for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at pwallner@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

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