it will be the second time he’s accepting the honor.
The first time happened in 1976. Brian was 17 then, heading into his senior year at Harper Woods Notre Dame. He and his older brother, Mike, arrived to receive the award for their father, Tom.
Tom Kelly had spent nearly two decades as the respected AD and head football and baseball coach at Notre Dame. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in June of 1975 and died a year later. He was only 50.
“When we got there,” Brian recalls, “(CHSL Director) Walt Bazylewicz announced that the award was being named after our father. Could we say a few words? I don’t remember what we said, but it was short. Dad would have liked that.”
Brian will be the 46th recipient of the award, presented annually. He will be among 19 athletes, coaches and officials inducted into the league’s Hall of Fame at the banquet at the Fern Hill Country Club in Clinton Township. Log on to CHSL.com
or call (313) 237-5960 for more information.
Brian went on to Michigan State for two years, then transferred to the University of Detroit Mercy. He spent the summer of 1982 “desperate for a job. A corner of the basement in my house was wallpapered with rejection letters.”
In early August he got an offer from De La Salle, which was in the process of relocating its campus across the street from Detroit’s City Airport to Warren.
“I was an English major, but I was also teaching biology, European history and science. I filled a need,” he said.
He coached baseball, too, first the freshmen team, then the junior varsity, and, in 1985, the varsity. Over the next 26 seasons, Brian directed the Pilots to a 614-355 record — 19th best in the state — including state Division 1 championships in 1993, 2000 and 2009.
Brian gave up the head coach reins in 2010, but has stayed on as an assistant coach.
In June 1985, Brian married his wife, Donna. They have three sons, all DLS alumni: Sean in 2008, Brennan in 2011 and Michael in 2013. They all played multiple sports; only Sean had his dad for a coach.
“I had to cut him from baseball in his senior year,” Brian says, “It was a little chilly in the Kelly house for a while.”
In 2004, Brian was appointed to his present responsibilities, athletic director and assistant principal. The positions are similar, he says. “There’s more people-work than paperwork. You’re building relationships with teachers, students, faculty, parents, the community.”
In recent years, legal and liability issues have dramatically altered the AD’s job description. One of the major concerns is the safety and security of athletes and coaches. Gone are the days “when a player got his bell rung, felt dizzy for a few moments, and then went back in the game,” he says.
Gone, too, are the days of high school sports where kids played for the fun, the challenge and the memories to be shared at reunions later on.
Brian is critical of the travel leagues, the showcases, the 7-on-7 competitions, etc., requiring athletes at great expense and interruption of their family life to show off their talents to college and pro scouts.
“Purportedly those who sponsor these events are doing it for the benefit of the kids, but it’s putting a lot of money in their pockets,” he says.
About his career at De La Salle, Brian remembers his mother trying to dissuade him from a job in education, using his father as an example about how you don’t make much money, how they struggled.
“I didn’t intentionally follow in my father’s footsteps, but I love doing this, watching kids develop and grow, and being a part of that.”
I can’t help thinking that Tom Kelly is giving his approval: “This time, son, the award is yours.”
Don Horkey may be reached at [email protected]
