Roger Kelly, who spawned a huge coaching tree at Redwood and Sequoias, dies at age 78
Roger Kelly, the former Redwood High and College of the Sequoias football coach who died Monday, is remembered for his passion about his profession and and about helping others become great leaders.
“His coaching tree has to be huge,” said Strathmore High coach Jeromy Blackwell, who played for Kelly at COS.
That tree includes Kevin Scharton, who played for Kelly at Redwood and coached with him at COS. Scharton, who helped build Dinuba into a Central Section powerhouse in 17 seasons, is headed back to Redwood as the Rangers’ new coach.
“To me, Coach Kelly is the face of Redwood High,” Scharton said. “He got that monster rolling and was the most influential person that developed my coaching philosophy and career. Everything from his personality to the way he ran the program and treated people ... that’s the reason he had a big impact on everyone. He did so much.”
Kelly died in Sheridan, Wyoming, where he had moved after retiring. He was 78.
Kelly was a running back at Cal Poly who survived the 1960 Ohio plane crash that killed 22 in the Mustangs’ traveling party, including 16 of his teammates. Kelly had a broken back in the plane crash but came back to play again the following season.
He coached from 1969-88 at Redwood, compiling a 149-71-2 record with six league championships three Central Section titles (‘73, ‘82 and ‘83), according to section historian Bob Barnett.
Kelly was at COS from 1989-2004 where he went 66-38-2 in his first 10 seasons and led the Giants to a Valley Conference championship in 1998. He later coached as an assistant at Bakersfield College.
Hanford High coach Josh Young said he was “fortunate” to play for Kelly at COS. “He’s had an impact on a lot of football programs and a lot of people that got into coaching. A lot of how we do things, we try to emulate what was taught to us by him.”
Blackwell remembers getting needled by his old coach: “There’s little pieces of his playbook in mine and he looked up my playbook and said, ‘You have a misspelled word. Here’s what you got to do.’”
Blackwell said, “He was one of the old-school guys that will tell you the truth. I had to work really hard and pick his brain and see what he was doing. He was a master of getting the team together and buy into his system.”
Tulare Union coach Darren Bennett recalled Kelly’s grace.
“I called him and and he welcomed me to his office and shared his playbook,” Bennett said. “He was a big help and he loved Visalia and was an unbelievable person. He was a big fisherman and and liked to talk about fishing.”
Roger Kelly
Born: July 30, 1940 in Needles
Died: May 27, 2019
Hometown: Sheridan, Wyoming
Occupation: Retired football coach
Survivors: wife, Susan; daughters Kim and Michele; grandchildren
Services: 11 a.m. June 29, Gateway Church, 1100 S. Sowell St., Visalia, CA 93277
This story was originally published May 28, 2019 at 4:53 PM.
