University Southern California Trojans
Kelly Blazing Path To Greatness
October 17, 1999 | Football
Oct. 17, 1999
There have been many great receivers in Trojan history, but none of them have stared greatness in the eye the way that Kareem Kelly has. Actually, the whole USC team stared greatness in the eye recently, as boxing great Muhammad Ali visited with them the night before the Notre Dame game. Freshman receiver Kelly was one of many inspired by that event.
?That was the greatest experience of my life,? said Kelly, who has 26 catches for a team-high 603 yards and one touchdown this season. ?He?s the greatest. When his boxing marathon was on ESPN, I watched it for two days straight. I didn?t go anywhere. I got to see all his fights in one weekend.?
Just six games into his college career, Kelly is floating like a butterfly to make acrobatic catches and stinging like a bee while stiff-arming defenders. Kelly, who is named after former NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is showing why he was one of the top receivers in the country coming out of high school. But Kelly isn?t too surprised by his fast start. Ever since he was young, he?s been ahead of everyone else.
?I was always faster than the other guys, even when I was little,? said Kelly, who won the the California state high school championships in the 100 meters and 200 meters (his second straight state 200m championship) last June. ?My friends who knew me would place bets on me and I?d race the older guys. I?d be about 10 and would beat guys who were 13 or 14. That?s when I knew that I was blessed with speed.?
For a while, though, it looked like Kelly would be applying his tremendous athleticism on the basketball court.
?Basketball was my first love,? said Kelly. ?Lots of kids have ?hoop dreams? growing up and I was one of them. I played the off-guard spot and I could shoot really well. I was dunking in the eighth grade, even though I was only 5-8. After a while, though, my coaches convinced me to start running track.?
By the time Kelly graduated from Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High, he had not only won three state individual track titles, but he had also helped lead Poly?s football team to the 1998 CIF Southern Section Championship. Kelly, along with fellow freshmen Darrell Rideaux (his teammate at Poly who won the 1998 state 100m title) and Marcell Allmond (a two-time defending state 110m high hurdle champ), is a unique athlete who applies the mental toughness he learned in track to the gridiron.
?Myself, Darrell and Marcell bring to USC a special attitude which we developed from winning championships in high school,? said Kelly. ?In track, it?s all about having confidence in yourself. We all know what we have to do to compete and win. We are trying to step it up and get this team to the next level. We?re role players this year, but next year we should be able to establish ourselves.?
So far, Kelly has enjoyed his USC experience despite being a longtime fan of schools from the state of Florida. Both Florida State and Florida wanted Kelly to play for them, but he liked what USC and coach Paul Hackett had to offer.
" I came to USC because of the great academic reputation and the great athletic tradition," said Kelly. "I also saw the chance to play early and I liked the kind of offense we run here. Also, I wanted to play close to home and, despite having some rough spots this year, USC is a program on the rise.?
Kelly is on his way to being a big part of USC's emergence, but he sees plenty of room for improvement on his part in the meantime. In this regard, he looks to former Trojan greats for inspiration.
?Keyshawn Johnson is the receiver I look up to the most," said Kelly. "I don't really play like him, but watching him has taught me that I need to sharpen my routes and learn to read defenses. And I need to improve my hands. If I do those things, I will help the team win and also attain my goal of winning the Biletnikoff Award someday.?
Kelly?s goals don?t stop on the football field. He still has business to attend to in track.
?I?m getting stronger all the time, so I believe I can run faster,? said Kelly, who already has run a 10.28 100 meters and a 20.53 in the 200 meters. ?I want to help the USC track team win the Pac-10 and NCAA titles in the 400 meter relay. I also want to at least make the NCAA qualifying times in the 100 (10.18) and 200 (20.50).?
As if it wasn't enough that Kelly has incredible speed, excels in two sports and wins championships, he also displays extraordinary awareness of the demands required of him by being in the public spotlight. With the media, he displays savvy beyond his years.
"At Poly, I learned how to handle myself with the media," said Kelly, who is majoring in communications. "I became used to the television coverage and did a lot of interviews with the newspapers. But most of all, my family has been a big help. They taught me the proper ways to act and speak."
For an athlete who almost defies description, a simple saying by Muhammad Ali best sums up Kareem Kelly's approach to sports and life:
"Me. Whee!"
