tw-align-centerA Boston University legend has passed away at the age of 93.
— BU Athletics (@BUAthletics) September 16, 2020
𝗝𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗞𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 '𝟱𝟮 made an immeasurable impact on the BU community and led @TerrierHockey to its first two NCAA titles (1971 & 1972) before a distinguished career in professional hockey.
Rest in peace, Coach. pic.twitter.com/erpS8E6FTR
Legendary BU hockey coach Jack
Kelley, who led the Terriers for ten seasons culminating in back-to-back NCAA
championships in 1971 and 1972, passed away today at his home in Maine. He was
93 and his death follows just five months after the passing of his wife of 67
years, Ginny. He is survived by his four children—racehorse trainer Paul Kelley,
screenwriter/producer David, Blackhawks' vice president of Amateur Scouting Mark
Kelley and Nancy Saucier—and nine grandchildren.
Longtime Terrier head coach and Kelley protege Jack Parker told goterriers.com:
"We've lost an incredible man who meant so much to this university. He established BU hockey as a national entity, and beyond his impressive record as a coach, his legacy and impact on his former players is hard to match. I've always heard so many of the guys who played in my era say that, outside of their parents, Jack was the most important person in their lives. That definitely was the case for me. He got the absolute best out of his players and turned us all into men."
His squads also won six Beanpot titles and the 1972 ECAC tournament championship, part of BU's first Triple Crown--Beanpot, Conference title and NCAA title, later duplicated in 1995 and 2009.
Kelley also was the driving force behind BU’s first on-campus home, Walter Brown Arena, which opened for his final season at BU, organizing and leading the fund-raising effort.
A Medford native, Kelley starred at Belmont High School and then played the 1948-49 season with the U.S. National Team, which won a bronze medal in the World Championships, prior to enrolling at BU. In three varsity seasons, he scored 52 goals and added 43 assists.
After launching his coaching career at Weston High School, Kelley became head coach at Division 2 Colby College in 1955. In his seventh season, 1961-62, playing in the ECAC against Division 1 schools, he led the White Mules to a 19-6-2 record and a third-place finish in the conference tournament, earning the Spencer Penrose Award as the top NCAA hockey coach.
After coaching Team USA in the 1972 World Championships, Kelley departed BU to become general manager and head coach of the New England Whalers in the new WHA. His team, which included several of his Terriers, won the league’s initial AVCO Cup Championship.
Kelley returned to Colby College for the 1976-77 season and earned his 300th collegiate coaching win.
He later was an executive in the Detroit Red Wings' front office and from 1993 to 1998 served as president of the Pittsburgh Penguins. After his retirement from the game, he raised harness racing horses with his daughter.
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Milestones and remembrances
[Readers are invited to share their own memories of Jack Kelley and experiences with him in the comments section at the bottom]
Ironically, several members of Kelley’s national title squad will be gathering tomorrow for the Fifth Annual BU Hockey Elders and Friends Golf Outing, organized by Steve Dolloff and Peter Yetten. The Jack Kelley stories certainly will be flowing.
Kelley was inducted into the BU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1973 and twenty years later in 1993, he was inducted into
the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.
At the 2013 Red Hot Hockey match-up between BU and Cornell at Madison Square Garden, a winners’ trophy was to be established, bearing the names of both Kelley and his long-time Big Red rival Ned Harkness.
The winning team’s former coach’s name would permanently appear first on the trophy. Coach David Quinn invited Kelley to address the team prior to the game and the Hall of Famer made perfectly clear that he fully expected BU to win so that his name would always be ahead of Harkness’s. The Terriers delivered, defeating Cornell, 3-2 and received the Kelly-Harkness Cup.
Steve Dolloff, a center on both national title teams and later an All-American, recalls:
My two years playing for Jack Kelley were magical ... a super group of teammates, and a great staff. A superb coach, he blended the many different talents and formed two championship teams. He was always in full control and always made sure we were in the best of physical shape. Coach Kelley was an important part of my hockey development as I continued on after BU to play professionally.
Jake Danby, a standout scorer on both NCAA title teams and captain and All-American in 1971-72, would continue into pro hockey, joining Kelley on the Whalers. He explains:
Coach Kelley had a huge impact on my life at BU and afterwards. I was fortunate to be able to see "two" very different Coach Jack Kelleys. First while at BU and second as head coach/GM of the Whalers where "modifications" of his approach became necessary.
At BU, he was an intense competitor, a strict disciplinarian who brought the "most” out in most every player It was Coach Kelley's way or NO WAY while at BU. As a sophomore (1969-70) with a lot of sophomores on that varsity team) due to the first undefeated, untied, freshman team ever at BU the year before, we had a "majority rule" by the time we were seniors with only a couple players dropping off along that journey. We then began to see "Coach Kelley" slightly changing. I was to see more changes after graduation and playing for him as a professional for two years.
Coach Kelley quickly realized that his approach at BU was not going to work with the Whalers where more than half the team had come from the pro ranks. He did change, he did joke from time to time with the players. Needless to say, other college players on that first year Whaler team, not from BU, had heard of Coach Kelley and his reputation; they weren't exactly comfortable in the beginning but it all worked itself out and that first year was memorable.
Neal Boudette, co-author of Mike Eruzione's autobiography, Making of a Miracle:
Just think of the impact he had. He created BU hockey as we know it. If there's no Jack Kelley, there's no Jack Parker, no BU Four, no Miracle on Ice, no Agganis Arena etc., etc., etc. And all of us wouldn't be associated with each other through BU hockey.
From the editor:
I first got to know Coach Kelley during the 1969-70 and 1970-71 seasons as Daily Free Press Sports editor. He was, at first, quite intimidating for a student reporter, but a relationship grew and eventually he awarded me the moniker "relentless," a compliment, I think. At his urging, I recruited several friends to launch a predecessor of sorts to the BU Dog Pound: the "Pucker Uppers" (in retrospect, a terrible name) to arrange subsidized buses from BU dorms to home games at Boston Arena (WBA's opening had been delayed) and a half dozen away games, too.
Thanks to a gig reporting on the Whalers' first season for a local weekly sports publication, I was fortunate to enjoy more Kelley-time. In his later years, when I reached out for interviews or information for a blog post, he was always generous with his time and finally the long-hidden softer side of Jack Kelley would shine through. After a life well-lived, rest in peace, Coach.
● GoTerriers.com BU Athletics Mourns the Passing of Jack Kelley '52
● Bostonia Former Terrier Men's Hockey Coach Jack Kelley dies at 93
● Boston Globe Famed BU hockey coach Jack Kelley dies at 93
● NHL.com Kelley dies at 93, was former GM of Whalers
● ColbyAthletics.com The Passing of Legendary Hockey Coach Jack Kelley
● BU Athletics Hall of Fame page
● US Hockey Hall of Fame bio
● VeteranScribe's Blog Discussing College Hockey's Best Rivalry with former BU Coach Jack Kelley
● USTA Of Hockey and Horses
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