Scott Kelley played in one of the biggest upsets and in what is generally considered one of the greatest games in the history of Galesburg Silver Streaks basketball.
Part of the Campbell and Kelley twin towers duo that starred for the Streaks in the mid 1970s, Kelley helped lead the Galesburg boys basketball team to an improbable 85-79 overtime win over undefeated and No. 1 ranked Peoria Richwoods before a packed house in the 1976 regional championship game in the GHS gym.
The Streaks went on to win the sectional and super sectional before falling 53-48 to eventual 1976 Class AA state champion Chicago Morgan Park in a state quarterfinal game at Assembly Hall in Champaign.
Kelley played two years for the Iowa Hawkeyes before transferring for his junior and senior collegiate seasons at the University of Evansville. As it turned out, playing at two different colleges enabled Kelley to play against both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
But as much as we all remember Kelley as No. 30 and 31 for the Silver Streaks, he’s done his share of impressive things post-basketball.
Kelley is a professor of marketing and executive associate dean in the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. Specializing in sports marketing, Scott earned the distinction of being among the top 2% of scientists worldwide as measured by the impact of their research publications.
He joins WGIL's Jay Redfern to talk Silver Streaks hoops and more, on this episode of Galesburg In Focus.