John J. Kelley

From WikiRun

John J. Kelley
Event	marathon
Height	5'6" (167 cm)
Weight	126 lbs (57 kg)
PR	Marathon – 2:20:05 (1957)
Born	December 24, 1930 at Norwich, CT
High School	Bulkeley School
College	Boston U '54
Club	BAA

John Joseph Kelley (1930-) was the winner of the 1957 Boston Marathon and the marathon at the 1959 Pan American Games,^[1] and a member of two United States Olympic Marathon teams. He is often dubbed John "The Younger" to avoid confusion with John A. Kelley, the similarly-named winner of the 1935 and 1945 Boston Marathons. (These two John Kelleys are not related.)

Contents 1 Competition 1.1 Career Summary 1.2 John J. Kelley's Boston Marathons 1.3 Other notable races 2 Life Beyond Running 3 See also 4 External links 5 References

Competition

Career Summary

An excellent competitive runner during his high school years at Bulkeley School in New London, CT, Kelley ran a national record 4:21.8 mile his senior year and was named top male student miler in the country. As a freshman at Boston University in 1950, in seven cross-country meets he was undefeated and broke five course records. Kelley began racing in marathons during his college years. While at Boston University, he would excel 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 graduation from college, Kelley would finish 2nd in the 1956 Boston Marathon and made his way onto the U.S. Olympic Marathon team which competed in Melbourne, 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 won several other marathons including eight consecutive wins of the Yonkers Marathon in Yonkers, NY.^[2] 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 Summer Olympics in Rome. He placed 21st and 19th in the Melbourne and Rome Olympic marathons respectively.

He was U.S. National Marathon Champion eight straight times, 1956-1963, and a two time Olympian. (1956 &1960)

John J. Kelley's Boston Marathons

1953 2:28:19 5th 1954 2:28:51 7th 1956 2:14:33 2nd 1957 2:20:05 1st 1958 2:30:51 2nd 1959 2:23:43 2nd 1960 DNF 1961 2:23:54 2nd 1962 2:28:37 4th 1963 2:21:09 2nd 1964 2:27:23 7th 1965 2:25:23 14th 1967 2:25:25 12th 1968 2:37:03 15th 1969 2:31:36 22nd 1970 2:36:50 63rd 1971 2:44:10 96th 1972 2:40:05 79th 1973 2:41:13 66th 1974 2:32:18 78th 1975 2:34:11 169th 1976 2:46:43 154th 1977 2:46:26 353rd 1980 2:55:45 1982 2:55:50 1983 2:55:30 1984 2:58:35 1986 3:01:40 1987 3:08:46 1988 3:28:53 1989 3:46:50 1992 4:07:32

Other notable races

John J. Kelley is the only runner to ever win both the Boston Marathon and Mount Washington Road Race, which he won in 1961. 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.

Life Beyond Running

After the pinnacle of his career as a runner, he went onto a successful career as high school running coach. At Fitch High School in Groton Ct., Kelley coached Amby Burfoot, winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon. In addition to coaching, Kelley would find work over the years as a newspaper columnist, free lance writer, cab driver and running wear store co-owner. John Kelley married Jacintha C. Braga in 1953, and has three children, Julia, Kathleen, and Eileen.

See also

• Boston Marathon Men's Champions

External links

• http://www.cityofyonkers.com/parkssite/John%20J.%20Kelley.htm
• http://www.runningpast.com/johnj.htm
• http://www.runningpast.com/kelley_speech.htm
• sports-reference.com profile

References

1. ↑ http://www.arrs.net/HP_PnAMa.htm
2. ↑ Colaizzo, Pete; Hauman, Riel; Wilson, Maurice; Civai, Franco (2007-01-19). Most Wins within a Single Race Series. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2007-01-23.