 Kelley in 1959 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Joseph Kelley | |||||||||||
Nickname | Kelley the Younger | |||||||||||
| Born | (1930-12-24)December 24, 1930 Norwich, Connecticut, U.S. | |||||||||||
| Died | August 21, 2011(2011-08-21) (aged 80) | |||||||||||
| Height | 167 cm (5 ft 6 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 57 kg (126 lb) | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
Event | 5000 m –marathon | |||||||||||
| Club | Boston Athletic Association | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Personalbests | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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John Joseph Kelley (December 24, 1930 – August 21, 2011) was an Americanlong-distance runner who won the 1957Boston Marathon and themarathon at the1959 Pan American Games.[3] He was also a member of theUnited States Olympic teams of 1956 and 1960, competing in the marathon. He was often dubbed "Kelley the Younger" to avoid confusion withJohnny Kelley (1907–2004; "Kelley the Elder"), winner of the 1935 and 1945 Boston Marathons; the two men were not related.[1][4]
Kelley was born inNorwich, Connecticut. He began racing in marathons during his college years. From 1950 to 1954, he attendedBoston University, located about a mile from the Boston Marathon finish line. While there, he excelled in team races and would run his first two Boston Marathons, in 1953 and 1954. He finished fifth in the 1953 race before following up with a 7th-place finish the next year. After graduating, he finished 2nd in the 1956 Boston Marathon and made his way onto the U.S. Olympic Marathon team which competed inMelbourne,Australia during the same year. He would go on to win the Boston Marathon outright in 1957 while setting a new course record on the remeasured course.
After his win at Boston, Kelley would win several other marathons, including eight consecutive wins of theYonkers Marathon inYonkers, New York.[5] During all those years, the Yonkers Marathon served as the National Championship.[6] As a result of his record setting performance at Yonkers in 1960, he again found his way onto the U.S. Olympic Marathon team and competed in the 1960 Olympics inRome. He placed 21st and 19th in the Melbourne and Rome Olympic marathons, respectively.[1]
Kelley is a runner to ever win both the Boston Marathon and theMount Washington Road Race, which he won in 1961. Another runner,Jacqueline Gareau, has also won both. He made the ascent in one hour and 8 minutes 54 seconds, nearly seven minutes faster than the winning times in the three previous years the race had been held, 1936–1938. In September 2014, a larger-than-life sized bronze statue of Kelley and his dog (Brutus) was dedicated in downtown Mystic, Connecticut.[7][8]
After his career as a runner ended, he went on to a successful career as high school running coach. AtFitch High School inGroton, Connecticut, Kelley coachedAmby Burfoot, winner of the1968 Boston Marathon, andJulia Chase, the first woman to successfully challenge the gender barrier of the Amateur Athletic Union. He coached American Power-lifting Champion and world record holder Christopher Annino. In addition to coaching, he found work over the years as a newspaper columnist, freelance writer, cab driver and Kelley's Pace running wear store co-owner.
Kelley married Jacinta C. Braga in 1953, and together they had three children, Julia, Kathleen, and Eileen.
Kelley died inNorth Stonington, Connecticut at the age of 80 on August 21, 2011.[9]
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