TicketsCINCINNATI – Cincinnati Athletics mourns the passing of UC Hall of Famer Jim Kelly Jr.
He died surrounded by his family on Sunday night.
A member of the James P. Kelly Hall of Fame, he was the Bearcats’ leading receiver from 1973-75 and served as a color analyst for Cincinnati football’s official radio broadcast for 35 years.
“Working with Jim was one of the greatest joys of my professional life,” Cincinnati radio broadcaster Dan Hoard said. “In addition to being a great broadcaster and friend, Jim was the link among generations of Bearcat football players. He got to know them as a kid hanging around his dad’s teams, as a teammate in the 1970s, and as a broadcaster for more than three decades. No one loved the University of Cincinnati more.”
Kelly Jr. grew up around Bearcats football, serving as a ball boy in the 1960s before following in his father Jim Kelly Sr.’s footsteps and playing wide receiver for UC from 1972 to 1975. He caught 76 passes for 964 yards in his career.
His father played at UC from 1947 to 1950 and served as a coach and administrator until 1994. Today, the UC Athletics Hall of Fame bears his name. The Kellys join William Keating Sr. and his son, William Jr., as the only father-son combinations in the UC Hall of Fame.
After graduating with a business degree, Kelly Jr. was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Bears, but an injury ended his football career. He returned to Cincinnati as a graduate assistant coach before embarking on a career in business.
Kelly Jr. joined the radio booth as the color analyst in 1988, and outside of taking three years off from 1992 to 1994, he has been a consummate voice on Bearcats football broadcasts alongside Paul Keels, George Von Benko and later Hoard for the last 26 years.
Kelly had a firsthand view and provided the soundtrack for the rise of Cincinnati football from the Tim Murphy era into Rick Minter’s 10-year stint and Mark Dantonio’s breakthrough in the BIG EAST. He was on the call for the legendary “Pike to Binns” game, the BIG EAST Championships and BCS Bowl appearances under Brian Kelly in 2008 and 2009 and the Butch Jones and Tommy Tuberville tenures. He watched Luke Fickell, Sauce Gardner and Desmond Ridder take the Bearcats to the Peach Bowl and College Football Playoff in 2020 and 2021 and ushered in the current Scott Satterfield era in the Big 12, including the first three games of the 2025 season.
"Our hearts are with Jim Kelly and his family,” Cincinnati Director of Athletics John Cunningham said. “Jim embodied Bearcats football: growing up at Nippert Stadium and choosing to stay in Cincinnati to play college football on that same field. He stood with the program through thick and thin for more than 30 years in the radio booth. He was a standout player, a beloved radio voice and a Hall of Famer. No one loved the Bearcats more than Jim. We are thankful he was able to be surrounded by his teammates from the 1975 team this past weekend. We were all blessed to know him.”
He is survived by his wife, Sarah, and his sons, Kevin, Dave, Scott and Brian, and their families.
Cincinnati Athletics will provide memorial information when it is available.
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