This statue in downtown Mystic is of 1957 Boston Marathon winner John Kelly. It is life-sized and he is mid-stride with his dog Brutus running next to him. The statue is made of bronze. It has a small round granite plinth and the figures are standing on a slightly smaller round bronze disc with the name John Kelly on the front of it. John is wearing running clothes.
"Six former Boston Marathon winners gathered Sunday in Mystic, Connecticut, to honor another Boston winner who preceded them by more than a decade. They were joined by a crowd of 300 who attended the unveiling of a bronze running statue of John J. Kelley, the 1957 Boston winner and Mystic teacher, friend, and resident for more than 50 years. Kelley died in August 2011.
Shortly thereafter, one-time Kelley student Jim Roy created a nonprofit organization that decided to raise funds for a bronze statue. It was an ambitious project. “At times I felt like I was running a marathon,” Roy admitted yesterday. “It felt long and tough. But today I feel like I’m on Boylston Street about to cross the Boston Marathon finish line, and it’s time to begin celebrating.”
Roy was joined by Boston winners Sara Mae Berman, Nina Kuscsik, Jack Fultz, Bill Rodgers, Geoff Smith and me, as well as Kelley’s three daughters, Julie, Kathleen and Eileen.
I wore my 1964 high school letter sweater, and pointed to my first cross country letter, awarded to me by Kelley in 1962. “I watched as he rolled the certificate into his portable typewriter, crossed out the word ‘coach’ and typed in ‘advisor,’" I said at the ceremony. “The point is, he lived and ran at a time little different from the ‘Chariots of Fire’ era. The Lords of Amateurism decreed that he couldn't get paid to coach us, and he couldn’t even use the English language he loved in a simple, clear manner.”
Commenting on the statue’s placement on a small hill overlooking downtown Mystic, I concluded, “John J. Kelley was a man of short stature, but a teacher-friend of towering influence and inspiration. This is a fitting place for his final run.”
Rodgers appeared to choke up and wipe away a tear as he spoke.
“This is a great moment,” he said. “Kelley played such an important role in the history of our sport. Running was much harder in his day. He paved the way for all the rest of us. It’s an honor to be here.”
Gloria Ratti, a member of the Boston Athletic Association board of directors, observed that she learned much about the sport’s early history from Kelley’s writings, many of which were published in New England Runner magazine. Kelley is the only member of the B.A.A. running team to have won the Boston Marathon, and the B.A.A. played a major role in helping Jim Roy and friends reach their fundraising goal.
Kuscsik, the first official women’s winner of the Boston Marathon (1972), chuckled as she recalled how she and Kelley talked much more about their shared passion for gardening than they did about running. “We were always comparing notes about what was growing well and what wasn’t,” she said. “Especially the asparagus. It seemed we were always talking about our asparagus.”
Several speakers noted Kelley’s early adoption of organic gardening, his advocacy for wildlands preservation, and his love of animals. The bronze statue of a twisting, hard-running Kelley includes, at his side, one of his favorite training partners, Brutus, a Golden Retriever mix. The statue, by Brian Hanlon, received high marks from all who saw it. It's titled "Fast Friends," with multiple meanings intended.
In his benediction, the Reverend Ken Carpenter got the biggest laugh of the day when he recalled how everyone in Mystic enjoyed seeing Kelley and Brutus on their daily runs and walks. “Brutus was always on a leash that he dragged behind him,” Carpenter said. “Kelley believed in leash laws, he just didn’t believe in holding onto the other end of the leash.”
In addition to his Boston Marathon victory in 1957, Kelley garnered many other noteworthy achievements. As a high schooler in nearby New London, he set a national record in the mile. He ran in two Olympic Marathons, 1956 and 1960, and won the 1959 Pan American Games Marathon. From 1956 through 1963, he won eight consecutive U.S. marathon championships. He is a member of the U.S. Distance Running Hall of Fame and the RRCA Hall of Fame.
The John Kelley Memorial Fund continues to raise funds that will be applied to Kelley scholarships for local high school students. “Kelley was the kindest man I have ever known,” said Roy. “I’d like to establish a scholarship for the kindest students.”"
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