Former KU national champion Al Kelley dies at 83

By Matt Tait     Aug 13, 2016

Photo courtesy of Kansas Athletics
Former KU men's basketball player Al Kelley, a member of the 1952 national championship team and 1960 Olympic gold medalist.

Al Kelley, one of Kansas basketball’s 1952 national champions and a former Olympic gold medalist, passed away Saturday at the age of 83.

Kelley died in Lawrence, his family confirmed to Kansas Athletics on Saturday night.

A three-year letter winner at KU while playing for legendary head coach Phog Allen from 1952-54, Kelley was a sophomore on the 1952 NCAA National Championship team and one of the truly great ambassadors of his era for many associated with the program today.

“Al Kelley is Kansas basketball,” KU coach Bill Self said in a news release. “He had a great career. He was always a pleasure when he would come to the office or a practice and was a fixture at home games. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

Kelley, the younger brother of former KU great Dean Kelley, who passed away in 1996, was an all-Big Seven Conference first-team selection during both his junior and senior seasons. In his three seasons at KU, Kelley won an NCAA title, three Big Seven Conference regular-season championships and two Big Seven Holiday Tournaments. He was KU’s second-leading scorer as a junior (12.9 ppg) and followed that up by finishing as the team’s third-leading scorer (12.4) during his senior season in which he served as team captain.

Kelley also was a member of the 1960 USA Men’s Olympic team that was enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in 2010. His gold medal resides in the Booth Family Hall of Athletics in Allen Fieldhouse.

Following his KU career, Kelley was chosen in the seventh round, 56th overall, in the 1954 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Hawks. Kelley chose instead to play for the AAU Caterpillars in Peoria, Illinois. In his first season with the Caterpillars in 1954, Kelley helped lead the team to the AAU national title and the 1954 World Basketball Championship in Brazil.

Originally from McCune, Kansas, Kelley and his wife Barbara, of Oskaloosa, Kansas, lived in Lawrence for 16 years after he retired from Caterpillar. He was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.