Kelly flew twenty-nine combat missions over Germany, winning five battle stars and the air medal with oak leaf clusters.

While at NYU, he won a spot on the basketball team as a walk-on, joining such nationally recognized athletes as Dolph Schayes, Ray Lumpp, Sid Tannenbaum, and Frank Mangiapane.

[3] At NYU, Kelly was All-Metropolitan basketball forward on the team that reached the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) final game in 1948.

After leading the league in scoring, he was recalled to the Celtics[6] and was high scorer in their victory over the Fort Wayne Pistons and labeled by the Boston sports media as a contender for "Rookie of the Year".

[7] After Kelly retired from basketball, he had a four-decades career building a successful business in commercial heating, ventilating and air conditioning sales in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County.