Johnny Kelley

Long distance runner John Adelbert "Johnny" Kelley was born on September 6, 1907 in West Medford, Massachusetts. The oldest in a family of ten children, Kelley ran track and cross country at Arlington High School in Massachusetts. Johnny twice represented the United States in the Olympics: He finished in 18th place in the men's marathon in the 1936 Olympics and finished in 21st place in the same event at the 1948 Olympics. However, Kelley achieved his greatest enduring popularity with his frequent participation in the Boston Marathon: He not only won the 1935 and 1945 Boston Marathons, but also finished second in seven additional Boston Marathons, placed in the top ten in eighteen Boston Marathons, and ran his last full Boston Marathon at age 84 in 1992. (Marathon officials erected a statue in Kelley's honor the following year.) Moreover, Johnny won the Amateur Athletic Union Marathons in 1948 and 1950 as well as won nine other AAU titles in various long distance events. Kelley was married four times and worked as an electrical maintenance man for the Boston Edison Company until his retirement in 1973. Johnny was named Runner of the Century by Runner's World magazine in 2000. Outside of running, Kelley also did seascape and landscape paintings; he averaged twenty paintings per year and sold most of them. Johnny died at age 97 on October 6, 2004 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts. He was survived by his fourth wife Ginger DeLong, a stepson, a stepdaughter, three sisters, and many nieces and nephews.