DENNIS, Mass. -- Boston Marathon legend, and two-time race champion, Johnny Kelley, has died at the age of 97.
The nephew of the former Olympian, Dave DeLong, said Kelly died Wednesday night at a nursing home on Cape Cod.
Born Sept. 6, 1907, it was in 1928 that John A. "The Elder" Kelley made his Boston Marathon debut. The man who holds the record for most Boston Marathons run, Kelley won the race in 1935 and again in 1945, but it was not until 1933, on his third attempt, that he completed the course, placing 37th. Kelley started 61 races and finished 58. He finished second a record seven times. His final race, in 1992, was at the age of 84.
It was Kelley who was a central figure in the naming of Newton's famous "Heartbreak Hill," a spot where the elevation of the course suddenly rises from 150 feet to 230 feet, 21 grueling miles into the course. Many think this the rise of the hill at a point when many runners are already reaching a breaking point is the reason for the nickname, but not so.
According to the Boston Athletic Association, the hill earned its moniker in 1936, when Kelley caught up with the eventual winner, Ellison "Tarzan" Brown, on the Newton Hills. It was there that Kelley "made the friendly gesture" of patting Brown on the shoulder. Brown, the legend goes, responded by regaining the lead on the final hill and, as
Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason reported, "Breaking Kelley's heart." The name stuck.
Kelley was a member of the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame. The oldest in a family of five boys and five girls, Kelley grew up in West Medford, Mass., and ran track at Medford and Arlington High Schools.
For years after he "retired" from running the Boston Marathon, Kelley was an honored guest at the race, often boosting the spirits of runners at the race start in Hopkinton, Mass., by singing "Young At Heart." In 1993, a statute of Kelley was erected at the base of "Heartbreak Hill," depicting Kelley at both 27 and 83, his ages when he first won the race and when he last ran it.
Kelley's nephew, Tom Kelley, said the runner who served as an inspiration for generations of marathoners was in good spirits up until the end. He called the marathoner the "spirit of life," and said Kelley always thought of the Boston race as his favorite, saying he'd spent much of his life running up and down Commonwealth Avenue.
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Johnny Kelley Remembered
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