He also started a brickwork contracting company in Philadelphia, John B. Kelly, Inc., with a $7,000 loan from his brothers George, a future Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, and Walter, who was a popular vaudeville actor.

Once paid, Kelly would send crews out to drop a brick down each chimney they'd constructed, smashing the glass panes and solving the problem.

[citation needed] Kelly won 126 straight races in the single scull in 1919 and 1920, a six-time U.S. national champion who was one of the most popular figures in the sport.

[citation needed] In 1920 Kelly applied to race in the Diamond Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta[6] held annually on the River Thames, the most prestigious event in rowing.

Despite his American success and winning streak, the event's organizers rejected his application, citing an earlier dispute with his rowing club and the fact that he had worked as a manual laborer: The minutes of the regatta's Committee of Management for June 3, 1920, read: "The list of entries ... outside of the United Kingdom under Rule iv was presented ... and received with the exception of Mr J.B. Kelly of the Vesper Boat Club to compete in the Diamond Sculls, which was refused under the resolution passed by the Committee on 7th June, 1906 'viz' 'That no entry from the Vesper Boat Club of Philadelphia, or from any member of their 1905 crew be accepted in future': Mr Kelly was also not qualified under Rule I (e) of the General Rules (manual labour).

"[citation needed] That 1906 resolution banned members of the Vesper Boat Club from the event because their eight-man team in the Grand Challenge Cup had used a public subscription to raise the money to travel to London, breaching the regatta's rule on amateurism.

"[8] Two days before Kelly was due to sail to the UK, with his passage booked and his boat boxed, he received a telegram which said: "Entry rejected; letter follows."

The ban on Vesper Boat Club was rescinded soon afterward, and in 1937, the references in the Henley rules, excluding manual laborers, mechanics, artisans, and menial duties, were deleted.

In the 1950s, he wrote to Jack Beresford, the winner of the 1920 Henley Diamond Sculls race, the following: This rejection led Kelly to seek and gain redemption by going to the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, which he had originally not planned to attend.

Half an hour after the singles final, Kelly teamed with his cousin Paul Costello to win the double scull (2x) race, a feat which has never been repeated at the Olympic games.

After his Olympic victory, Kelly purportedly mailed his racing cap to King George V with the note, "Greetings from a bricklayer", for having been snubbed at Henley.

He continued to be involved in amateur sports, eventually being appointed President of the United States Olympic Committee shortly before his sudden death from a heart attack in 1985.

Kelly was the model for the character of George Kittredge, Tracy Lord's brash, up-and-coming, man-of-the-people fiancé, in Philip Barry's 1939 Broadway comedy The Philadelphia Story.

[citation needed] Grace Kelly played Tracy Lord in the 1956 Cole Porter movie musical version, High Society.

When he ran for mayor, Philadelphia was a heavily Republican city, but he came close to winning, losing by fewer than 50,000 votes compared with the usual margin of 300,000.

In 1941, President Roosevelt named the still-popular Kelly as the National Physical Fitness Director, a post he held throughout World War II.

He is also a member of the United States Rowing Hall of Fame, having been elected in 1956 at the same time as his son Jack Jr.[citation needed] Kelly died of intestinal cancer at his home in Philadelphia, age 70.