At Notre Dame, Kilkenny tried out for the football team, then coached by Knute Rockne, but a knee injury kept him from playing.
He helped manage one of the teams and was assigned by Rockne the task of acquiring four horses for the Four Horsemen photograph in 1924 due to his experience growing up on a ranch.
[1] Upon graduation he became a practicing attorney in Pendleton Oregon, until his appointment to the federal bench in 1959.
[2] Kilkenny was nominated by President Richard Nixon on May 12, 1969, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, to a new seat authorized by 82 Stat.
He donated funds to both Blue Mountain Community College and his alma mater, Notre Dame Law School.