It has been very easy to rag on Jed York and the York family amidst the San Francisco 49ers struggles, but they have proven in different instances that they do care about more than just football. We saw it with the organization’s decision to match Colin Kaepernick’s $1 million donation, and now we’ve seen it with head coach Chip Kelly’s recent loss.
Kelly’s father passed away last week. He went to New Hampshire to be with his family, and after his mom told him to coach Sunday’s game, he went back to Chicago, and then to Maine for his father’s funeral. On Thursday, Kelly thanked the York family for their help through the week, saying, “I would like to take this moment to thank the York family for how much they helped me over the last five to six days. They were unbelievable.”
Matt Maiocco followed up, asking what the York family did for him.
In terms of me being able to get back and forth. They had a plane ready for me when we landed in Chicago on Friday night, and I got an opportunity to fly to New Hampshire to be with my mom. And then to be able to fly back for the game. And then to be able to fly back for the funeral. And then to be able to fly all the way back here. And then to be able to fly Jill from here to Chicago to meet me so that we could go together. So, they were god sends, to be honest with you.
Maiocco followed up asking if it was all private planes, and Kelly confirmed that. Money is obviously not an issue for this kind of situation, but nonetheless, the organization deserves a pat on the back for taking care of their own. I don’t know if any organization would not have been supportive of their coach, but taking care of all the flight arrangements is a cool thing for them to do. We’ll all be here to continue ragging on them for destroying the football product, but sometimes we can step back and say, “Well done.”