The Bills, as the song goes, make fans want to shout.
After Tuesday, the rags-to-riches story of one of the team’s owners might make fans want to sob.
A Showtime “60 Minutes Sports” feature on Terry and Kim Pegula was shown on the pay-cable network for the first time Tuesday. The piece, reported by Kenmore native Jeff Glor, included an unexpectedly poignant moment about Kim Pegula in the form of a letter from her father, Ralph Kerr, about the day he first met his daughter nearly 41 years ago.
Glor’s reading of the letter was the emotional highlight of a beautifully written and filmed story about the Pegulas, his “Horatio Alger” story, her “Cinderella” story, their love of Western New York and dreams for the area.
As Glor recounts in the piece that will be repeated several times throughout the month, Kim Pegula was abandoned on a street corner in Seoul, South Korea, at the age of 4, adopted by the Kerrs, and educated in Western New York. At the time of her adoption, Ralph and Marilyn Kerr were living in the Rochester suburb of Fairport with their two sons.
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When Glor said he wanted to ask her about her background, she handed him a sealed envelope that her father had recently written about her adoption. Kim Pegula said she had not yet read it. Glor asked if he could read it for her and she agreed.
“The date’s Dec. 30, 1974. The place is John F. Kennedy Airport, New York City. After a few minutes, a group of children and their child care workers arrive at the gate from the airplane. We looked at the children and wondered which one was our daughter. The child care worker announced, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Kerr, here’s your daughter.’ I bent down, reached out my arms, and welcomed Kim … into our family. Only in America could a little girl, found on a street corner in Seoul, South Korea, with nothing but the clothes on her back have the opportunity, good fortune, and blessing of God to become mother to five children, and (among other things) co-owner of the Buffalo Bills, and the Buffalo Sabres.”
Kim Pegula was in tears as Glor read the letter. Glor, who seems to be following in the footsteps of the late Tim Russert as a national broadcast media figure who wears his love for his hometown on his sleeve, also appeared moved as his voice briefly cracked as he read the letter.
In an interview Tuesday morning, Glor said it was a one-of-a-kind moment.
“It was one of the most unexpected and genuine moments I’ve been a part of in my career,” he said.
In the “60 Minutes Sports” piece, Kim Pegula said she was lucky that her parents decided to adopt her and that she ended up here.
“This was a home for me,” she said. “This is an area that meant a lot to me. I want people to be proud of where they are, of growing up in Western New York. This is where my parents chose to be. They chose me. They chose to be here in Western New York and that’s pretty special. And I think everyone in Western New York should know that.”
email: apergament@buffnews.com
