Alva Kelley Explained

Alva Kelley
Birth Date:16 June 1918
Player Years1:1938–1940
Player Team1:Cornell
Player Positions:End
Coach Years1:1946–1949
Coach Team1:Cornell (assistant)
Coach Years2:1950
Coach Team2:Yale (line)
Coach Years3:1951–1958
Coach Team3:Brown
Coach Years4:1959–1961
Coach Team4:Colgate
Coach Years5:1963–1970
Coach Team5:Hobart
Overall Record:60–98–5
Awards:
  • First-team All-Eastern (1939)
  • Second-team All-Eastern (1940)

Alva E. Kelley (June 16, 1918 – August 21, 1999) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Brown University (1951–1958), Colgate University (1959–1961), and Hobart College (1963–1970), compiling a career college football record of 60–98–5.

Kelley graduated from Cornell University in 1941 after playing three seasons of football under Carl Snavely and fellow fraternity brother George K. James, including the 1939 undefeated national championship season. He was a member of Sphinx Head, the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, and through the latter organization, the Irving Literary Society. He was assistant coach at Cornell from 1946 to 1949, before becoming head coach at Brown University and then Colgate. He was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980.

Kelley was the 27th head football coach at Colgate University, serving for three seasons, from 1959 to 1961, and compiling a record of 9–18.

One of his great-grandchildren, Will Levis, currently plays football for the Tennessee Titans of the NFL[1] after spending the 2021 and 2022 seasons at the University of Kentucky as their starting quarterback. He also spent three seasons at Pennsylvania State University from 2018 to 2020.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Titans Move Up, Select QB Will Levis in Second Round of Friday’s NFL Draft . 2023-05-01 . www.tennesseetitans.com . en-US.
  2. Web site: Will Levis . Kentucky Wildcats . October 7, 2021.