[3][4] Kelly began swimming as a beginner in the Walter Reed Army Hospital pool in Washington as her father, a chemist, was on the staff.

[5] She started with 6 a.m. practices with the Walter Reed swim club under Coach Jim Campbell, who was also a physical therapist at the hospital.

Recognized as an attractive American athletic champion with a Hollywood connection through her husband, she held a measure of celebrity status and appeared on the cover of Life Magazine on July 23, 1951.

[7] She was proficient in each of the three swim strokes at the time and in January 1952, set a national record in the 150-yard individual medley consisting of back, breast, and freestyle, at a District AAU Meet in York, Pennsylvania.

[1] She picked the name as it was the same as the rowing team in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for which her husband John was competing.

The Pennsylvania women were runners-up to winner West Chester State Teacher's College, and the team's Barbara Chesneau broke the 50-yard breastroke record with a time of 36.2.

[1] She would have been the first woman to be selected as an Olympic swimming coach for the United States in 1964, but took her name off the list because it was not important to her at the time.

[1] In 1958, Lyn Hopkins was Coach Kelly's first swimmer to place in the finals of the women's national championships—both for short course in Dallas, Texas and then for the long course championship in Topeka, Kansas.

Other Vesper Boat Club swimmers, including Ellie Daniel, Susan Doerr, Nina Harmer and Martha Randall, and Jane Barkman quickly began to compete at the national level.