[1] Unfortunately, James Kelly died of pneumonia at the age of 38 and in 1909 the four-year old's mother moved with her son to Butte, Montana, where she married a Northern Pacific Railroad employee named Otis Johnson Price.

It was rumored that Notre Dame University sought Kelly's services, but the financial support of a local booster — an automobile dealer named H.O.

Although his skills were legendary and he provided fans with their share of excitement, Kelly was not surrounded with enough talent at Montana to deliver a winning season during his college career.

He never lost to rival Montana State College, however, leading the team to big wins in 1925 and 1926, games in which scored 7 touchdowns and made 4 interceptions.

[2] The National Football League did not maintain passing records until 1934, however, so Kelly's relative gifts and failures as a passer are regrettably lost to the mists of time.

His 1929 teammate George Wilson recalled: "he would go to the left or right, leap into the air and throw a pass, could do it better than anyone other then Benny Friedman of Michigan and later the New York Giants, who was the best in my opinion.