Leroy Kelly

Leroy Kelly, born May 20, 1942, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was an American professional football player who played running back for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League from 1964 to 1973. His parents, Orvin and Argie (Watson) Kelly, came from South Carolina to Philadelphia in the mid-1920s. They had nine children, two of whom died of rheumatic fever in 1940, before Kelly was born. He grew up in the Nicetown section of North Philadelphia and attended Simon Gratz High School, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. In football he played quarterback and middle linebacker and also served as a kicker, punter, and kick returner, and was named team captain. He later credited his high school coach, Louis E. DeVicaris, with getting him to college. Kelly attended Morgan State University, a leading historically Black college and university, in Baltimore. He is regarded by many Philadelphia sports writers as one of the top ten professional athletes to come out of the city's high school leagues. Across ten seasons with the Browns, Kelly established himself as one of the league's leading running backs. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994.