When he was enshrined into the Wilmington High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991, the opening sentence of his biography read “Frank Kelley is the Father of Wilmington High School Track.” Those words have forever been so true, and will forever stay true in the future days as the town of Wilmington that Kelley loved so much will always remember the long time teacher/coach and most of all dear friend. Kelley at the age of 87, passed away on Friday. The overview of his coaching career is extremely long and impressive and we'll probably barely scratch the surface of it in this article. Kelley started the WHS outdoor track program in the spring of 1958, before starting the cross-country program that fall, before the indoor track program was started by the legend himself formally in 1968. Kelley coached 36 years and over 83 seasons between the three sports, won league and state titles and also had individuals win class titles. He was inducted into both the WHS Athletic Hall of Fame and then the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association's Hall of Fame in 1990. For the past 15 years, there's been up to 12 student-athletes across the state who have received the “Frank Kelley Adversity Award”, while the MSTCA organizes the “Frank Kelley Invitational Cross-Country Meet” every fall. His wins as a coach were never counted or kept. He never, once for a single second every cared about that. All he ever cared about were the lives of the Wilmington High School kids. It didn't matter if they ran cross-country or track, played basketball, played the drums in the band, were off smoking in the bathroom, were flunking his math class, or were the students he never coached or taught, he made sure he knew who you were and he made sure you stayed on the right path all the while hearing some long story he told, some corny jokes he told but more importantly he made sure that every single person he came across felt important. “All I can say is that (Mr. Kelley) cared about everyone the same,” said former cross-country captain Paul Maiella. “That is what I will always admire most. He walked the halls everyone September looking for kids to try running. It didn't matter there background or what type of athlete they were. He was more than a great coach. His passion for his kids was so obvious. Over 30 years later since my first cross-country practice in September of 1984 is a day I always think about. I ran to the Wildwood School and back with a pair of high-top basketball sneakers, shorts and a polo shirt because I didn't have anything else. “I know he affected hundreds of students and I am no different. He lived an amazing life and will be deeply missed. The other thing that I was always amazed by was he never forgot a name. Even years later seeing him around town at the local races and half marathon. He always new your name and remembered everything. He remembered my injury my junior year and always talked about it when he saw me. Who does that? He was special as you know.” CROSS-COUNTRY Kelley started up the cross-country program in 1958 and served as the head coach until the mid 1990s, except missing one year with school administration duties. The program started out with just boys until girls joined up in the early 1970s, according to the WHS Hall of Fame program. In the first meet back in 1958, Wilmington faced Woburn in downpour rainy conditions and were defeated 15-50. But two years later, Kelley's work with the program was evident as Ronnie and Dixon Knight finished fourth and ninth in the State Class Meet. That progress continued through the 1970s as the team finished in second place in both the league and State Class C standings. The highlights during the 1980s decade included second place finishes in the league standings in both 1984 and 1985, and then on the female side, the emergence of Hall of Fame Athletes Mary McNaughton and Andrea Hayden, who broke numerous records and were well known across the state for their excellence. In 1990, Kelley was named Kelley stayed on as coach of the cross-country programs through the early 1990s before Bob Cripps nd then Tom Bradley took over the reigns. “I had the 'pleasure"'of driving Frank to and from practice for four to five years,” recalled Bradley. “For driving Frank, I received a terrific coach at a bargain price to work with throwers and anyone else that needed help. On days I felt like things were piling up on me, I just had to look at Frank at his age and with his impediments still make it to practice and work with the team and love every minute of it. I heard at least a one thousand stories of Frank and athletes at Wilmington through the years and wish I had ten percent of the dedication and stamina he had for Wilmington sports.” INDOOR TRACK The indoor track program wasn't formally accepted by the school committee until 1968 but before that Kelley organized informal teams and those teams competed in informal meets. Wilmington competed in the Northern Essex League before the Merrimack Valley Conference was formed. Among the coaching highlights for Kelley came in 1975 when he led the Wildcats to a Northern Area Championship Title, as well as the program's first Class Championship led behind athletes like Rick McCully, Tim Nee, Ian MacInnis, Doug Spring, Jim Busby, Robert Sferrazza, Tony Gravellese, Dana Roueche, Bob Reid, Don Capone, Steve Conville, Mark Blaisdell, Dave Cain, among many others. McCully and Sferrazza would later join Kelley into the WHS Hall of Fame. The 1986 boys squad also had a successful season behind Eric and Kevin Cripanuk. Then on the female side, 1983 team won the MVC Small School Championship title. “My father (Hugh) introduced me to Mr. Kelley when I was 14 (years old) and about to enter high school,” recalled another fellow WHS Hall of Fame Athlete Heidi Wiberg Hastings. “My dad and I were both excited about me joining the track team. I remember meeting (Mr. Kelley) and wasn't sure how I felt about his foreboding persona at first, but soon learned there was a jokester underneath. He recommended I run cross-country to get in shape for the sprints I so desperately wanted to run. So after a grueling fall cross-country season, I approached him an anxiously asked when sign ups were for the girls Winter Track team. Much to my shock, he informed me that there wasn't a girls Winter Track team, only a boys team! But after seeing the completely look of disappointment on my face and hearing how badly I wanted to run the 50-yard dash, he looked at me with that real serious look he often gave the kids, and said, 'Well, Heidi, if you come to all the boy's practices and do all the boy's workouts, I'll let you compete on the team.' And I did, and he kept his promise and I became the first girl on the boys Winter Track team. “I competed in the 50 despite a lot of strange looks from all the other boys. I always came in last, but my dad told me that's because the boys were so scared to lose to a girl that I made them run faster. I didn't care - I just loved sprinting more than anything, and I've always been grateful that Mr. Kelley gave me that chance.” Kelley was the coach from 1968 and again through the mid 1990s before Cripps took over as the boys coach, while the girls program had a number of different coaches over the years. A few years before he stepped down as coach, Kelley coached Jennifer Caira Bolanos in all three programs, cross-country, and indoor and outdoor track. The strong relationship started before she graduated from WHS in 1992 and stood to present before his passing. “Mr. Kelley had such a special way about him,” she said. “Playing a sport in high school was certainly nothing I ever considered, but he was able to convince me to give it a try. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I made. I still enjoy going out for a run today. Mr. Kelley treated everyone on his team equally. He worked to bring out the best in everyone. I distinctly remember running the anchor leg in a winter track meet. People were leaving the field house and getting ready to board buses. Our team had been lapped and I was still running. Mr. Kelley stood and cheered for me as if I were winning the race. He was truly a special person who always had a story to share or a joke to tell. He left an indelible mark on Wilmington. It was a privilege to be a member of his track team.” OUTDOOR TRACK The spring teams is where Kelley really made a mark, in terms of team and individual success. The boys program started in the spring of 1958 with an opening meet against Bedford. Wilmington lost that meet but later that season beat the same Bedford team by over 30 points. Frank Monroe was the first elite athlete back then before Jon Fairfield became the program's first state and New England Champion in the early 1960s. Then in the mid 1970s, Wilmington Track went to another level. The Wildcats first stopped Andover's unbeaten streak of 93 wins during the 1974 season before going on to win the Class Championship Meet and finishing second at the All-State Meet to Brockton, losing by a single point. The Wildcats captured the Class Championship once again in 1975. Later on, in 1986, Matty Phillips finished in the top ten nationally in the javelin, while that '86 team went on to win the MVC Small School Division title. On the female side, McNaughton, Hayden, Wiberg and Margaret Mooney were some of the elite runners to go through the program during the 1980s and in the field events Janet O'Reilly set the school record in the javelin in 1978 only to have her sister Deidre break it in 1982. Then in 1983 Cheryl Branscombe set the school record in the shot put and discus, winning the class meet in the district before the 1990s came when current Hall of Famer Jennifer Rago won multiple Class Titles in the javelin. KELLEY COACHED THEM ALL
Inducted: 1990