John B. Kelly senior

John B. Kelly senior medal table
John B. Kelly sr.
Rowers
United States
Olympic Summer Games
gold	1920 Antwerp	One
gold	1920 Antwerp	Double scull
gold	1924 Paris	Double scull

John Brendan Kelly senior (born October 4, 1889 in Philadelphia , † June 20, 1960 there ; also called Jack Kelly ) was an American rower and entrepreneur . With three victories at the Olympic Games, he is one of the most successful rowers in the first half of the 20th century. He was the father of actress Grace Kelly (later Princess of Monaco ) and the grandfather of Prince Albert of Monaco . His son John B. Kelly junior was also successful as a rower.

biography

The second youngest of ten children of an immigrant family from Ireland began rowing on the Schuylkill River at the age of 18 . He started out for the Chamonix Boat Club and Montrose Boat Club , but in 1909 he switched to the Vesper Boat Club , the country's leading rowing club at the time. Until his retirement 25 years later, he remained undefeated in the singles in each of the 126 races in which he competed.

From 1916, Kelly served in the United States Army during World War I and was promoted to lieutenant. He won twelve heavyweight boxing matches in the army championship until an ankle injury stopped him. After his discharge from military service in 1918, the trained bricklayer founded a construction company and resumed rowing.

In 1920 Kelly wanted to take part in the famous Henley Royal Regatta on the Thames , but the stewards of the regatta refused to allow him to start. Members of the Vesper Boat Club had been generally excluded since 1906 because of a violation of the amateur statute introduced especially for this regatta in 1876 in the previous year, and Kelly was also personally disqualified as a trained bricklayer according to the same rules. The exclusion caused a media hype and Kelly finally became the world's most famous rower. His company, with which he soon became a millionaire, also benefited from the increased attention.

A few weeks later, Kelly competed at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp . He prevailed against the English winner of the Henley Royal Regatta Jack Beresford in a legendary, exciting race and won the gold medal. Only half an hour later he and his cousin Paul Costello celebrated their second victory in a double scull. After him, not a single rower managed to become Olympic champion in both single and double at the same Olympic Games. In the years that followed, Kelly continued his winning streak. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris , he did not start in the single, but repeated his victory in the double scull with Costello.

Kelly then ended his athletic career and married Margaret Katherine Majer, a former mannequin who worked as a physical education teacher at the University of Pennsylvania . The couple had four children, with daughter Grace and son John Jr. also achieved celebrity status. Two of Kelly's brothers were also well-known personalities: writer George Edward Kelly won the Pulitzer Prize and Walter Kelly was a theater and film actor.

John B. Kelly as a bronze sculpture in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

Atlantic City Racing Association Bond dated April 1, 1944, signed by John B. Kelly as President

Kelly was politically active at the city level. He was chairman of the local section of the Democrats and was narrowly defeated in the mayoral election in 1935. He later served as President of the Fairmount Park Commission. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt named him director of national fitness; he held this office until the end of the Second World War . In 1954 and 1955 he was chairman of the national rowing association.

Web links

Commons : John B. Kelly Sr.  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• John B. Kelly senior in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Short biography on hickoksports.com (English) ( Memento of 15 January 2013, Internet Archive )
• A reflection on John B. Kelly Sr. on boathouserow.org (English)