Leroy Kelly (born May 20, 1942) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. A

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

, he played for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1964 to 1973.

Career

Kelly had attended

Simon Gratz High School Simon Gratz High School Mastery Charter, formerly Simon Gratz High School is a secondary school in Philadelphia, named after Simon Gratz (1840-1925), a member of the Philadelphia Board of Education. Originally a public high school operated by the ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Morgan State University Morgan State University (Morgan State or MSU) is a public historically black research university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the largest of Maryland's historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). In 1867, the university, then known ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. He was selected by the Browns in the eighth round of the

1964 NFL Draft The 1964 National Football League draft was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers on Monday, December 2, 1963. The first overall pick was Dave Parks, an end from Texas Tech, selected by the San Francisco 49ers. The AFL dra ...

. As a Cleveland

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

he was a key return man, averaging 24.3 yards per return and contributing to the Browns' 1964 NFL championship, and backup running back behind featured fullback

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one ...

and blocking halfback

Ernie Green Ernest "Ernie" Green (born October 15, 1938) is a former American football halfback and fullback for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League. Early years Born and raised in Columbus, Georgia, Green is a 1958 graduate of Spence ...

. He moved up to become the Browns' featured running back after Brown's retirement at the end of the 1965 season. When

retired before the 1966 season, Kelly became the starter. For the next three years, he rushed for 1,000 yards, led the NFL in rushing touchdowns, and won All-NFL and starting Pro Bowl honors. Kelly also played in three other Pro Bowls following the 1969, 1970 and 1971 seasons, and earned first-team All-NFL in 1969 and 1971. In 1968, he scored a touchdown in a franchise-record 12 games, and two-or-more touchdowns in a franchise-record 7. In game 12 of the 1970 season, he passed Bill Brown as the career rushing-yards leader among active players, a position he maintained until his retirement in 1974. Kelly led the NFL in rushing for two consecutive seasons (1967–1968). He also was a talented punt and kick returner, who averaged 10.5 yards per punt return and 23.5 yards per kick return for his career. Kelly ended his pro career with the Chicago Fire of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

in 1974, rushing for 315 yards (4.1 average) and catching 8 passes for 128 yards (16.0 average). At the time of his retirement Kelly, had rushed for 7,274 yards (then 4th all-time to

, Joe Perry, and Jim Taylor) and 74 touchdowns (3rd) on 1,727 carries for 4.2 yards per carry. He also caught 190 passes for 2,281 yards and 13 touchdowns. On

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

, he returned 94 punts for 990 yards and 3 touchdowns, and 76 kickoffs for 1,784 yards. Overall, he gained 12,330 all-purpose yards and scored 90 touchdowns. He was named All-NFL five times and to six

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

s. After his retirement as an active player, he remained in the World Football League as the

Philadelphia Bell The Philadelphia Bell was a franchise in the World Football League, which operated in 1974 and a portion of a season in 1975. The Bell played their home games in 1974 at JFK Stadium in South Philadelphia. The team logo was a representation of th ...

's offensive backfield coach, joining two other Hall of Famers on that staff, former

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

defensive backfield standouts

Willie Wood William Vernell Wood Sr. (December 23, 1936February 3, 2020) was an American professional football player and coach. He played as a safety with the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League (NFL). Wood was an eight-time Pro Bowler an ...

(the first black head coach in pro football history) and

Herb Adderley Herbert Anthony Adderley (June 8, 1939 – October 30, 2020) was an American professional football player who was a cornerback for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). In 1980, he was enshrined in th ...

(defensive coordinator). Kelly was voted to the

in 1994.

Family

Pat Kelly, his younger brother, was an All-Star

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

who played for five teams during a 15-year

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

career. Felicia Kelly, only daughter, worked in news 20 years at WEWS Newschannel 5; engineering department, news source reporter, hosted a half-hour entertainment show called,"The Set" in Cleveland, Ohio. Now an educator in the Cleveland Public School System. David Kelly, his eldest son, is sports anchor and reporter for

KMSB KMSB (channel 11) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTTU (channel 18); Tegna maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with ...

-TV in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. Leroy Kelly II his second son, played 3 years in the

American Indoor Football League American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

and 1 year overseas in the GFL Germany League For the Kiel-Baltic Hurricanes. Leroy Kelly II was invited to 2 workouts with the

and 1 with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

References

External links

* ''Pro Football Hall of Fame:'
Member – Leroy Kelly
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Leroy 1942 births Living people American football running backs Cleveland Browns players Chicago Fire (WFL) players Morgan State Bears football players Philadelphia Bell coaches American Conference Pro Bowl players Eastern Conference Pro Bowl players Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Philadelphia Players of American football from Philadelphia African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople