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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Jackie Robinson is known for breaking the color
3barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947, but Keith Kelley was
4one of the first in baseball for the State of Illinois; he
5broke the barrier on June 11, 1950 for the Sunday Morning
6League of Peoria, a year before the Chicago White Sox and three
7years prior to the Chicago Cubs; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Keith Kelley got his start in the Peoria Sunday
9Morning League, which is recognized by the National Baseball
10Hall of Fame in Cooperstown as the oldest amateur baseball
11league in America; established more than a century ago, the
12league has seen countless future and former major leaguers and
13elite local players on its fields, including Jim Thome, Joe
14Girardi, Mike Dunne, Zack Monroe, and many more; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Keith Kelley, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound, right-handed
16pitcher, had starred at then Peoria Central High School in
171950, where he went 13 and 3 with 154 strikeouts in 106
18innings; he received the schools' Jack Koch Award as its most
19outstanding athlete; and
 
20    WHEREAS, In between those Sunday Morning League bookends,
21Keith Kelley played for the Brooklyn Dodgers farm clubs,
22joined the Air Force, and participated in the Dodgers spring

 

 

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1training in Vero Beach, Florida with legends such as Robinson,
2Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Maury Wills; he also met
3renowned boxer Jersey Joe Walcott; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Keith Kelley paused his minor league career to
5join the Air Force, where he was assigned to the special
6services division and played baseball and basketball; his
7baseball team won the 1956 Northern Japan League title, the
8315th Airborne Division tournament, and the 1956 Far East Air
9Force Tournament, which qualified the team for the World
10Baseball Championship in South Carolina; he hit .380 with 34
11home runs that season; and
 
12    WHEREAS, After his military service, Keith Kelley returned
13to the Dodgers farm system, playing briefly in 1956 for Great
14Falls, Montana at the Class C level; he then went to work as a
15mail sorter in Peoria's downtown post office for 17 years and
16later worked at the Peoria Journal Star, where he spent 28
17years as a circulation department assistant manager; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Keith Kelley died in August 2007 at the age of 75;
19he had four sons, Frank (deceased), Ken, Gregory, and Don; he
20left behind a large family, including 20 grandchildren and 20
21great-grandchildren; therefore, be it
 
22    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE

 

 

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1HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
2we declare June 11, 2023 as "Keith Kelley Day" in the State of
3Illinois; and be it further
 
4    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
5presented to the family of Keith Kelley.