Larry Kelley was second recipient of football’s Heisman Trophy in 1936
By: Michael Arges
Heisman Trophy winner Larry Kelley, 85, died at his home
at about 12:20 p.m. Tuesday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound,
according to police reports.
Angelo Onofrio of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office
said Hightstown police responded to a call reporting a gunshot victim at
the Orchard Street home, where Mr. Kelley was discovered as the victim.
Police are withholding further information at the request of the family.
Mr. Kelley had been a longtime resident of Hightstown,
playing football at The Peddie School, then later returning to teach and
coach at the school.
Mr. Kelley was born in Conneaut, Ohio, and came to Peddie
in 1932 as a post-graduate student from Williamsport, Pa. He did not at
first impress the football coach, who told the boy, "Kelley, as an end, you
photograph beautifully, but that’s about it," according to a Peddie School
press release.
After graduating from Peddie in 1933, Mr. Kelley starred
as an end at Yale University, where he won the second Heisman Trophy in
1936. In his Yale career he caught 15 touchdown passes and scored 91 points
– impressive statistics for an era when football strategy emphasized
defense and field position and scoring was low.
As Mr. Kelley noted in a 1993 story by Windsor
Hights-Herald Sports Editor Kyle Moylan, "When we were in a bad position on
the field, we often kicked on first down, which is sacrilegious now."
The New York Sunday News in 1937 reported "the thing that
made (Mr. Kelley) a great athlete was his unusual coordination. His brain
is a fire engine, and it drives the splendid chassis of his body smoothly.
His reactions are instantaneous. A clear head on a football field is of
little use unless the muscles are instantly obedient. He is always there
with the sudden dash, the change of pace, the full steam ahead, when it is
needed. Like all champions, he is able to do the right thing at the right
moment."
Mr. Kelley also was an outstanding student. He graduated
first in his Peddie class of 66 students and made the Dean’s List all four
years at Yale.
After Yale, Mr. Kelley taught American history and
coached at Peddie for five years. After various business ventures and 12
years teaching at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, he returned to Peddie in
1970 to work several years in the alumni and development office. In
addition to his wife, Mr. Kelley is survived by several nieces and nephews
in the area.
Mr. Kelley’s kindly nature seems to have stayed with him
through the years, according to Peddie School Athletic Director Susan
Cabot.
"When I first really met Larry was my first year as
athletic director, when I asked him to be a part of the Peddie table at the
Delaware Valley chapter of the National Football Foundation," recalled Ms.
Cabot.
Mr. Kelley had been asked to bring his Heisman Trophy
with him, and he did so, "but he didn’t want to speak or be recognized,"
Ms. Cabot said. "But every kid there, was in awe and wanted to touch it,
talk to it. He was very gracious."
She recalled that in their conversation over dinner, Mr.
Kelley’s great love of football came through and he was "very exuberant"
about the excitement of young kids who aspired to play football and go on
to levels of greater challenge.
"Peddie has a lot of pride and spirit in his
accomplishments, and it certainly, with his passing, will carry on," Ms.
Cabot said, noting the replica of Mr. Kelley’s Heisman Trophy is the first
thing seen by everyone walking into the Peddie athletic center.
Every student who goes through the Peddie football
program learns about Mr. Kelley and his accomplishments, giving the players
a sense of pride in the team’s heritage, she added.
Ms. Cabot recalled that Mr. Kelley came to football games
at Peddie to watch the play of Eric Lohrman, the nephew of an old friend
who had been a member of New York’s Downtown Athletic Club which awards the
Heisman Trophy.
Mr. Kelley appeared "last fall, on a couple of occasions,
in a golf cart, wrapped up, watching Eric play in the freshman/sophomore
game," she said.
Mr. Kelley is survived by his wife, Comdr. Mary Ruth
Becker Kelley, U.S. Navy (Retired); a brother-in-law, Jerome L. Becker Jr.
of Hightstown; two sisters-in-law, Elizabeth Emens of Monroe Township and
Claire Kutch of Pennington;18 nieces and nephews; and 24 great-nieces and
nephews.
The funeral service for Mr. Kelley will be 11 a.m. today
at the Peddie School Chapel. Interment will follow at the Cedar Hill
Cemetery, Hightstown.
Contributions may be made in Mr. Kelley’s memory to the
Heisman Foundation, c/o Downtown Athletic Club, 19 West Street, New York
City, NY 10004.