Kelley played college football at the University of Chicago as a tackle for the Maroons under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg.

[1] In 1915 at Alabama, Kelley coached only the first half of season (4–0) before he came down with typhoid fever.

Athletic director B. L. Noojin and former Alabama quarterback Farley Moody took over the head coaching duties for the remaining four games of the season.

Kelley served in the U.S. Army in World War I and returned to coaching as an assistant at Missouri in 1919.

[3] He moved west in March 1920 and accepted the dual position of athletic director and head football coach at Idaho;[4][5][6][7] under his leadership the Vandals were admitted to the Pacific Coast Conference in 1922.