builder Businessman politician athlete
John Brendan Kelly was born on October 4, 1889 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of Irish immigrant parents, John Henry Kelly, a laborer in a woolen mill, and Mary Ann Costello. The family was dominated and inspired by the self-educated mother, who urged her sons to excel. All five achieved success. For example, Walter was a well-known actor and George was a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.
Kelly attended public schools and at night furthered his education at the Spring Garden Institute.
After laboring briefly with his father in the woolen mill, Kelly in 1902 joined his older brother Patrick's thriving construction firm. Five years later a rift developed, and he left to apprentice himself as a bricklayer. In 1909 he took up rowing with clubs on the Schuylkill River course. Kelly began rowing in a four-oar gig and quickly moved into single sculls and double sculls competition. In his first year he won the first of his 126 sculling victories. In 1913 he won nine races, including the senior doubles, senior four-oar shells, senior paired, and senior singles. His victory in the American Henley singles at Boston that year made him one od the most famous sportsmen in rowing.
During his service with the American Expeditionary Force in France in 1918, his athletic prowess led to his transfer into the Special Services unit and to his rapid advancement in rank from private to lieutenant. While overseas he fought and defeated twelve heavyweight opponents. Only a broken ankle prevented him from fighting Gene Tunney, then a marine, in what might have been a turning point in his athletic career.
In 1919 Kelly borrowed $7, 000 from his brother Walter and, with his brother Charles and Jess Otley, established John B. Kelly Inc. , a building construction firm that was to make him a millionaire. He also resumed rowing and in 1919 and 1920 was national single sculls champion. At the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Kelly won the singles and (with his cousin Paul V. Costello) the doubles in the same day, a feat unmatched in Olympic rowing. His singles victory over the British Diamond Sculls champion was particularly satisfying, for he had been barred from competing in the British Henley Royal Regatta that year because officials ruled that he was no "gentleman. "
Kelly's 1920 Olympic victories linked him with Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, and Jim Thorpe as the brightest stars in the American athletic galaxy of the 1920's. At the Paris Olympics in 1924, Kelly and Costello again won the doubles. Although a millionaire and a nationally acclaimed sports celebrity, Kelly was denied listing in the Philadelphia Social Register. His family nevertheless became socially prominent. As a gentleman-sportsman Kelly patronized rowing competitions, track-and-field events, horse racing, and Davis Cup tennis.
From 1934 to 1941 he served as Democratic party chairman in Philadelphia. In 1935, in a campaign marked by slurs on his Irish-Catholic background, Kelly was defeated for mayor. The following year he lost his bid for the nomination for the U. S. Senate. Nevertheless, he was a powerful figure in the Democratic party in Philadelphia. In 1940, at the Democratic National Convention held in that city, Kelly introduced Franklin D. Roosevelt as the third-term presidential candidate. His increasing conservatism and his support of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950's ended his power in Democratic circles.
Kelly died in Philadelphia. His will, which was widely acclaimed for its informality, wit, and candor, bequeathed an estate valued at $1. 1 million to his immediate family. He left nothing to his sons-in-law, saying that they should provide for themselves. He died, he said, "unafraid and, if you must know, a little curious. "
John Brendan Kelly established himself as the leading American rower. He won six U. S. national championships and 126 sculling victories, a total unmatched by an American rower. He won the Olympic games three times and was the first to be so in the sport of rowing. He also became a multimillionaire in the construction industry based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1945 Kelly established the John B. Kelly Award, given annually to the person who has done the most to promote athletics among young people.
Kelly was a member of the Democratic Party.
On January 30, 1924, Kelly married Margaret Majer, a magazine cover girl and teacher of physical education at the University of Pennsylvania. They had four children, one of whom, Grace, became an Academy Award-winning film star and, as Princess Grace of Monaco, an international celebrity. Their son, John B. , Jr. , twice won the Diamond Sculls at Henley and participated in four Olympic rowing competitions.
