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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Jackie Robinson is known for breaking the color | ||||||
| 3 | barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947, but Keith Kelley was | ||||||
| 4 | one of the first in baseball for the State of Illinois; he | ||||||
| 5 | broke the barrier on June 11, 1950 for the Sunday Morning | ||||||
| 6 | League of Peoria, a year before the Chicago White Sox and three | ||||||
| 7 | years prior to the Chicago Cubs; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, Keith Kelley got his start in the Peoria Sunday | ||||||
| 9 | Morning League, which is recognized by the National Baseball | ||||||
| 10 | Hall of Fame in Cooperstown as the oldest amateur baseball | ||||||
| 11 | league in America; established more than a century ago, the | ||||||
| 12 | league has seen countless future and former major leaguers and | ||||||
| 13 | elite local players on its fields, including Jim Thome, Joe | ||||||
| 14 | Girardi, Mike Dunne, Zack Monroe, and many more; and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, Keith Kelley, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound, right-handed | ||||||
| 16 | pitcher, had starred at then Peoria Central High School in | ||||||
| 17 | 1950, where he went 13 and 3 with 154 strikeouts in 106 | ||||||
| 18 | innings; he received the schools' Jack Koch Award as its most | ||||||
| 19 | outstanding athlete; and
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| 20 | WHEREAS, In between those Sunday Morning League bookends, | ||||||
| 21 | Keith Kelley played for the Brooklyn Dodgers farm clubs, | ||||||
| 22 | joined the Air Force, and participated in the Dodgers spring | ||||||
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| 1 | training in Vero Beach, Florida with legends such as Robinson, | ||||||
| 2 | Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Maury Wills; he also met | ||||||
| 3 | renowned boxer Jersey Joe Walcott; and | ||||||
| 4 | WHEREAS, Keith Kelley paused his minor league career to | ||||||
| 5 | join the Air Force, where he was assigned to the special | ||||||
| 6 | services division and played baseball and basketball; his | ||||||
| 7 | baseball team won the 1956 Northern Japan League title, the | ||||||
| 8 | 315th Airborne Division tournament, and the 1956 Far East Air | ||||||
| 9 | Force Tournament, which qualified the team for the World | ||||||
| 10 | Baseball Championship in South Carolina; he hit .380 with 34 | ||||||
| 11 | home runs that season; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, After his military service, Keith Kelley returned | ||||||
| 13 | to the Dodgers farm system, playing briefly in 1956 for Great | ||||||
| 14 | Falls, Montana at the Class C level; he then went to work as a | ||||||
| 15 | mail sorter in Peoria's downtown post office for 17 years and | ||||||
| 16 | later worked at the Peoria Journal Star, where he spent 28 | ||||||
| 17 | years as a circulation department assistant manager; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, Keith Kelley died in August 2007 at the age of 75; | ||||||
| 19 | he had four sons, Frank (deceased), Ken, Gregory, and Don; he | ||||||
| 20 | left behind a large family, including 20 grandchildren and 20 | ||||||
| 21 | great-grandchildren; therefore, be it
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| 22 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
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| 1 | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 2 | we declare June 11, 2023 as "Keith Kelley Day" in the State of | ||||||
| 3 | Illinois; and be it further
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| 4 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 5 | presented to the family of Keith Kelley.
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