Rescuing History
By Fred Miller

          Few families in the history of Ocean City had more of a positive impact on the community than the Kelly’s of Philadelphia.  John B. Kelly was a famous summer resident long before his daughter Grace won an Academy Award and married a prince.  He began summering on the island when he was a teenager, often spending time with the local lifeguards.  Although he wanted to become a lifeguard, most of his summer was spent training crew on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.  In 1920, John B. won two Olympic gold medals in sculls racing in Antwerp, Belgium.  At the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, he won another gold medal in the double sculls event.  The Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger reported in 1927: “The renowned Jack Kelly, known as the world’s greatest oarsman, is now a summer resident.”  Kelly had given up competing to rent a summer cottage in the city and to spend more time on his business as a builder.



After Kelly built a summer home in the city, the whole Kelly family spent summers on the 26th Street beach where John could often be seen rowing with the lifeguards.  After one of those guards, Charles Kieffer, won a rowing race, Kelly urged him to train for the next Olympic Games to be held in Los Angeles, which Kieffer did.  Americans had never won this event-the pair-oared shell with coxswain Kieffer and his teammates came through with a great performance to beat Poland by a length.  A jubilant John Kelly welcomed Kieffer when he arrived back home. 
            During the 1930s, Kelly’s favorite project in the resort was helping the Ocean City lifeguards improve their lifesaving skills and gain national recognition.  The Ocean City Beach Patrol’s Captain Jack Jernee, had the same goals, but the Depression made the Patrol’s budget inadequate; luckily Kelly could and did make up the difference.  Whatever Jernee needed, Kelly supplied, including racing boats, surfboards, and trophies.  By 1936, the guards had won three straight National Lifeguard Championships and were recognized as the top lifesavers in the country.  They had the best equipment and uniforms of any beach patrol in the country.
            In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Kelly as the country’s director-general of physical training.  He was charged with getting American youth fit for the coming war.  His interest in athletics never waned, and he encouraged his children to be active and involved.  His son, Jack Jr., became an Ocean City lifeguard in 1942.  He followed in his father’s footsteps as an oarsman, and in the following summers he won the OCBP and South Jersey championships. 
            The Village Theatre on the Boardwalk had a sellout crowd when Grace Kelly’s first movie, 14 Hours , opened in 1951.  She was still Ocean City’s sweetheart even though she spent most of her time in Hollywood.  In 1954, Grace won her Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in The Country Girl.  She married Prince Ranierof Monaco and the couple caused much excitement whenever they visited her family’s Ocean City home. 
            John B. Kelly died at age 69 in 1960.  Flags were flown at half-mast to honor one of Ocean City’s most prominent summer residents.