"He's a Kelly," said uncle Jim. "He's tough, he wants to be where the action is. I'm not just speaking for me, I'm talking his five uncles. We wanted to be in the middle of everything, diving on the floor in basketball, grabbing rebounds. We were all leaders. Chad doesn't want to sit on the outside -- he's exactly like his dad was.
"We as brothers, all six brothers [oldest to youngest: Pat, Ed, Ray, Jim, twins Dan and Kevin], we were not lazy and we had a work ethic that was unmatched. We didn't have the best speed, not the most nimble with our feet, but we worked at it, and continued to work at it, and that's the way Chad is."
Jim Kelly certainly taught Chad football fundamentals -- along with all of his nephews.
"Sure, I'd show them how to hold the football, the five-step drop ... I taught all my nephews, just like I would teach my son, Hunter, if he were here," Kelly said, referring to his late son, who inspired him and his wife, Jill, to establish the Hunter's Hope Foundation.
But Jim Kelly said that recently he has had to do something un-Kelly like -- rein himself in a bit. He's had to force himself to remain on the outside. He's not a big fan of Chad's propensity for using Twitter (often more than 20 times a day), and knows that if a promising recruit makes just one misstep in 2011, it will get a lot more attention than it did when Kelly was a senior at East Brady (Pa.) in the late 1970s.
"You try to teach kids things to do on the field, off the field, especially when you've been through it," Jim said. "For kids nowadays, with what's in front of Chad ... it's not like it was back then. You try to educate them as much as you can.
(4.28)
Upgrade Your Account
