Hall of Fame
The greatest of man is he who goes out of his way to build something for the future. Such was the case with Dan Kelly, the first-ever Saint golfer to be inducted into the hall of fame. An all-state perfomer during his sophomore season at Joliet Junior College, Kelly, rather than continuing at a much more established program, opted for St. Francis in the fall of 1980, where head coach Cliff Kelley and company were embarking on just the school's second season of competition. Following a tenth-place finish in the conference the year before, Kelly helped boost the team's placement up to fifth during his first season averaging a team-best 78 strokes per match. Included was a two-day score of 155 at the league tournament, which allowed him to garner medalist honors over 81 other challengers. One year later, a season in which he averaged a 81.5, Kelly used a pair of 79's to land a fifth-place finish at the District 20 Tournament. Earlier that year, he notched a No. 6 ranking at the Notre Dame Invitational firing a personal-best 74. That season, the team climbed its way even higher in the conference standings nearly pulling off its first-ever conference title before settling for second place and its first of eight consecutive winning seasons at 16-13. And thus, in just three short years, the building process was complete. From there, St. Francis went on to earn bids to seven of the next eight national tournaments and currently boasts ten such appearances, the most of any sport at the school. Ten District 20 title and six conference championship banners also now hang inside the walls of the Rec Center courtesy of the program. Prior to his collegiate days, Kelly also excelled at Joliet West High School, where he was a member of the golf team that placed seventh in the state in 1976, a season in which he recorded a seventh-place finish himself in the conference. A 1982 graduate of St. Francis, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing.
