There Is Much Irony and Tragedy in the Death of USOC’s John Kelly

The particular irony in the death while jogging of U.S. Olympic Committee President John B. (Jack) Kelly Jr. is that in many respects he had come to epitomize the growing interest in physical fitness among older persons.

At 57, Kelly, who was elected USOC president for the 1985-88 quadrennial just three weekends ago, exercised every day, either jogging or rowing. He had been rowing since youth and like his father, John B. Kelly Sr., he had earned an Olympic medal in the sport, winning a bronze at the 1956 Melbourne Games.

In recent years, it was Kelly who had played the role of George Washington in the annual re-creation near his home city of Philadelphia of Washington’s Christmas-time crossing of the icy Delaware River.

Kelly, for his age, seemed in excellent condition. At the recent Olympic meetings in 6,000-foot-high Colorado Springs, Colo., he jogged every morning. He frequently spoke of his personal dedication to fitness, even while pledging that the USOC would develop “the greatest American team ever” for the Seoul Games in 1988.

It was his healthy appearance--and the fact that he had worked so hard and so long to attain the presidency of the USOC--that lent a special poignancy to his unexpected death Saturday. The USOC’s recently retired executive director, F. Don Miller, referred to this Sunday when he declared, “Jack has been identified with amateur sports all his life and had looked forward with great anticipation to serving as the president of the USOC. It’s a great tragedy that this should happen before he could fulfill his dream.”

Kelly’s passing comes at a bad time for the USOC. It was just starting its regular fund-raising for the next four years. Already, a cash flow crisis has forced it, at least temporarily, to dip into its share of L.A. Olympic surplus funds it had ben planning to use as an endowment. Some $21 million has been held out of the endowment fund.

The plan, prior to Kelly’s death, was to sign up major corporate sponsors early, get some of their money up front, and then repay the endowment fund. Kelly’s fund-raising activities were extremely important.

Now, there cannot help but be delay and uncertainty. The successor to Kelly is by no means evident.

The current first vice president, Robert H. Helmick, a Des Moines attorney, has other commitments as president of the International Swimming Federation. While he hinted Sunday that he might seek to succeed Kelly, his selection is not automatic. Helmick will serve as acting president, pending a meeting of the 85-member USOC executive board, which, according to the bylaws, cannot be held for at least 30 days.

If Helmick is not chosen, neither the second nor third vice presidents, Dr. Evie Dennis, an educator from Denver, nor attorney Stephen Sobel would appear to be likely choices. There was some speculation Sunday by USOC staff members that in a pinch, Miller might be chosen as president, despite always having been a staff member.

The USOC’s new executive director, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. George D. Miller, no relation to F. Don Miller, said Sunday: “I don’t want to leave the position open for long. We’ll fill it as quickly as we can (legally) assemble the executive board.”

The new president, whoever it is, will then undoubtedly change at least some of the many committee assignments Kelly had only just made.

Kelly will be missed. He was not regarded as intellectually brilliant, but he had a long record of dedication to the American and International Olympic movement and as the head of a prominent Philadelphia family and the brother of the late Princess Grace of Monaco--who also died relatively young--he had the social standing that has always been important to the USOC.

He also had some other attributes. As his inaugural speech three weeks ago demonstrated, Kelly was dedicated to choosing an American Olympic team that would be representative of all racial, religious and ethnic groups in the United States. He believed more than some of his predecessors in opening up the USOC to representation by all groups and he stood strongly against use of drugs and other artificial aids by Olympic aspirants.

He also had the personal wealth to spend virtually full time on Olympic business and attend the international meetings which American Olympic officials have often missed. Four years ago, he was present throughout the full World Olympic Congress at Baden Baden, West Germany, while some of his USOC colleagues flew in and out. Just a few weeks ago, he sold his construction business, so he would be available on an unlimited basis.

Kelly--like other USOC officials--was usually candid. In 1984, before the Soviets announced their boycott, as the chosen Chef de Mission for the American team, he had said frankly he was not optimistic the U.S. team could win more medals than the Soviets, and he gave a detailed sport by sport analysis to support that view. And finally he had considerable personal charm, and was not a back biter.

So, he brought many things to the job that the USOC--with all of its many responsibilities now for the amateur sports network in the United States, beyond simply producing an Olympic team--really needed.

Coincidentally, Philadelphia authorities reported Sunday that a former brother-in-law, Eugene Conlan, also 57, collapsed and died on a Philadelphia street only blocks away from the scene of Kelly’s collapse and only hours later, before, in fact, Kelly’s body, which carried no identification, had been identified.

Both the city’s medical examiner and police homicide detectives said they believed there was no connection. Autopsies in both cases were to be released today, but in the meantime, both men were said to have died of heart attacks.