Every sport needs a “voice” and Dean Kelly has been that voice as the Public Address (PA) Announcer at Faulkner Eagles ball games for several decades
Kelly attended Alabama Christian High School and College (ACC) in the 1970s while his mother worked in the Rotunda at the bookstore and on the switchboard. He was not a student athlete, but he was very involved in athletics as he spent Saturdays running the clock for all the youth and high school basketball games in Tine Davis Gym. He also worked on a very impressive sports section of the 1973 SHEAF yearbook.
He recalls the 1972-1973 basketball team was a very good one and shared his memories. “While I was a student, Charles Russell was a Junior College All-American who would go on to play at the University of Alabama. I remember watching him working out alone in the gym while I was working there one day. He shot a large number of free throws. He wore a 20lb weighted vest, and some more weights on his ankles, while he was jumping over and over, dunking the ball. The first game of the season he bumped his head on the goal, still going up, while blocking a shot. He was 6’6’ so he had jumped 40 inches from the floor. He had a lot of natural ability, but he worked harder than anyone else. Russell led the state in scoring and was second in rebounds. His teammate, Johnny (the Montgomery paper nicknamed him “King Kong”) Seawright was second in scoring and first in rebounds.”
After ACC, Kelly continued his education at Freed Hardeman where he met his wife Barbara. He preached at various locations around the southeast and did PA announcing at school ball games, one being Georgia Christian School. They eventually returned to Montgomery and they both worked at Faulkner; Kelly as an adjunct English teacher and Barbara as a librarian. All three of their children graduated from Faulkner.
After returning to Montgomery, Kelly announced football games at Alabama Christian Academy and Highland Home High School. Now at Faulkner, he says he has “been behind the PA microphone for Faulkner basketball for more than 20 years overall, football for the past few years and baseball for most of the last several years.”
With announcing all of those games comes many memories. “There have been many highlights of my PA announcing here at Faulkner. It was so exciting to announce the brand-new Lady Eagles basketball program. So many good players have come through that program. Brittany Carter was a force for the early Lady Eagle’s teams. I was announcing the championship games for the 2023 SSAC Tournament when the Lady Eagles won their first Conference Tournament Title.”
In addition to ballgames, Kelly says he has been privileged to announce graduate names at Faulkner graduation ceremonies for several years now.
He reflects, “I have been involved with athletics in various ways at ACC/Faulkner for much of the last 50 years. I enjoy announcing, but I truly enjoy watching these young people who participate. Faulkner sports holds a special place in my heart.”
In addition to all of these ways that Dean Kelly continues to support Faulkner University, he and his wife Barbara also hold an Alumni Association Couple Membership.