Frederick Warren Kelly (September 12, 1891 – May 7, 1974) was an American

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

, winner of 110 m hurdles at the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

. Born in

Beaumont, California Beaumont is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located at the summit of the San Gorgonio Pass, between the San Bernardino Mountains and Mount San Gorgonio to the north, and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. Around 18 ...

, Fred Kelly attended Orange High School. He was a freshman at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

when he was selected to the US 1912 Olympic team. At

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Kelly won his preliminary heats easily and qualified to the final with four more Americans and one representative from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. From the start, the five Americans ran even until the eighth hurdle, where Kelly and James Wendell spun ahead to decide the winner. Kelly got in front the instant before the tape was broken to win by 0.1

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

s. He also competed for the USA in an exhibition

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

tournament in Stockholm. Kelly was the AAU Champion in hurdles in 1913 and finished second in 1916 and 1919. Kelly also finished first at the 1915 AAU Championships but was disqualified for knocking down four hurdles. Kelly served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and later became a pioneering aviator, carrying mail for

Western Air Express Western Airlines was a major airline in the United States based in California, operating in the Western United States including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada, as well as to New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami and to Mexi ...

and training Army pilots during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Beginning on March 19, 1949, he served as the first President of the SoCal Olympians and Paralympians. Fred Kelly died in

Medford, Oregon Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824, making it the List of cities in Oregon, eighth-most populo ...

, aged 82. A stadium near where he attended Orange High School in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District ...

has been named after him, Fred Kelly Stadium, which is located next to

El Modena High School El Modena High School, colloquially called El Mo or ElMo, is a traditional four-year public high school located in the El Modena neighborhood of the City of Orange in Orange County, California. It is one of four high schools in the Orange Unifie ...

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Fred 1891 births 1974 deaths American male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics American aviation pioneers Aviators from California Baseball players at the 1912 Summer Olympics Baseball players from Orange, California Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Orange High School (Orange, California) alumni Track and field athletes from California United States Army personnel of World War I USC Trojans men's track and field athletes 20th-century American sportsmen

See also

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