Long-Time USC Announcer Tom Kelly Dies At 88


Tom Kelly, who was synonymous with USC football and basketball, died this morning. He was 88 and about to celebrate his 89th birthday Wednesday. Kelly started calling USC games in 1961 and did games almost yearly until 2003. Above he is announcing the 1974 USC-Notre Dame game.

Here’s an obituary on Kelly, who was the announcer for five national championship teams.

49 thoughts on “Long-Time USC Announcer Tom Kelly Dies At 88

  1. Wow. Tom Kelly might belong to the older generation, but I’m sure glad that I was around to hear him call some SC games.
    RIP & FIGHT ON TOM!

    • If you watch that game on YouTube you’ll notice that there comes a point where dear, old Tom can’t hide the laugh in his voice as USC starts to pour it on Notre Dame.

        • The clip which Scott picked is really the perfect snapshot of the Kelly announcing style— voice filled with apprehension as USC
          appears to be sleepwalking, filled with joy as the Trojans come back to “tear Notre Dame apart.” Tom Kelly always wore that big heart of his on his sleeve.

          • Chick, Vin, Tom all have that certain “voice” or “sound”. There’s guys you just want to hear. He was in that category.

          • As Peter said, “we’ve been very lucky.” Not a bad voice in the bunch —in fact, they are all perfect.

          • Their voices created the games..Many times I’d not watch and just listen .Their comments and play by play was better than what eyes would see.Watching sometimes took away from the magic. Vin is the last GREAT one .Yet I can still hear the others.With the Lakers, I still ask WWCS?
            (What would Chick Say?)

          • Great tribute from a great sports fan. Awfully nice to read these words, especially today.

          • He would really get on SC when they were not playing well and delighted with every victory.

          • I had forgotten that side of things til you mentioned it, gotroy. He hated boneheaded play calls —and, come to think of it, he wasn’t exactly shy about pointing out bad officiating either (actually pointing out, on more than one occasion, that a call must’ve been made to help the home team sustain a drive). We won’t see his like again in this modulated age…

    • I’m a part of that older generation, and was so blessed to hear many
      Games called by him.Living in Hawaii for years,I’d sit on beach and listen
      to games piped in.Tom Kelly was Trojan football to me.It’s like when I’m
      asked who my favorite Laker is ,answer: Chick Hern!!!!!!. These guys made
      LA radio…..Oh My.

      • He was definitely Trojan football. And an all around Trojan. I got to meet him when I was about 12 at Dedeaux Field with Steve Garvey. He seemed like a real nice man. LA has had some of the greatest announcers. We’ve been lucky.

  2. He was such a nice guy! Throughout the 90’s i can never really recall him ever ripping on one of the coaches, when USC was mightily struggling.

  3. Ever since USC hired arbogast, I think a lot of people said “we seriously took tom Kelly for granted.”

      • I hate arbogast! He is the biggest homer I have ever seen. I remember one time years ago, he went on the radio and talked about his erection problems. The guy has a screw loose! I’ll admit i post inappropriate things here, but that is under a username. I would never, ever, ever post those thing under my real name. That is what I love about message boards, you can act like a jerk, and you are anonymous.

    • “How do you do!” You’ll never hear Petros say anything remotely good about Arbogast and that’s not for lack of Arbogast in a ‘hat in hand’ mindset. Poor Pete Arbogast did something to Petros and it ain’t been forgotten.

        • You can hear his need to ‘eat’ when he does those ads for ‘Bristol Farms’.

          One time he went on about his ex-wife yah dah yah dah

          • I can totally see him having an ex-wife. I can’t listen to that guy for 2 minutes. Now imagine being married to him. If he is an alum at USC, then it says a lot about the academic requirements back then. Because the guy is not very bright!

  4. Condolences Trojans. His voice was as distinctive as any. Definitely one of the voices I grew up on along with Chick, Vin and Ross, and Bob Miller.

  5. Mr. Jenkins raises a shot of Bushmills in memory of many exciting football AND basketball calls by Tom Kelly.

    • Mr. Jenkins, it should be Jamenson. That is the Catholic brand of Irish whiskey. Lololololo. Bush mills is good as well

  6. Tom Kelly will be remembered as both a TV and a Radio personality and the voice of the Trojans throughout my youth. He turned so many phrases and didn’t skip a beat. I know many people don’t like his radio replacement, and in this case Pete Arbogast is a shallow imitation.
    RIP Tom

  7. I was driving when I heard the news that Tom Kelly had passed. I rolled down my car window and yelled out, “Oh, mercy nurse!”

  8. RIP Tom Kelly
    What SoCal needs now is an announcer with football expertise, Trojan heritage and an uncompromising dedication to truth, justice and the American Way, Petros Papadakis. Of course, even with the tainted A.D. that fired him on the way out, I don’t think that will never happen in Trojanland. Petros is not afraid to call them as he sees them (as he did with Kiffin, Sark, Reggie Bush and now Haden). It appears as if Petros’ ability to smell BS has been consistently correct, especially now that these unaddressed allegations against St. Pat come to light.
    Is it too late for Petros to run for President?

    • Petros would be awesome. However, he would tell it the way it is and the USC brass does not want that. He is very good at being anyalitcal with football and breaking it down. I have met Petros a few times and he is a nice man who cares about USC but will not buy the balony that they have been selling lately.

      • Petros is a smart guy. I’ll admit, he can act like an idiot frequently, but my god is he intelligent.

        • He can act like a goof ball but I like that. However, I would have him in my corner for football. He would make a great coach though

  9. A terrible play by play announcer, but a great Trojan. RIP Harry Hysterical!

  10. A great announcer and a real Trojan!

    Tom Kelley’s voice is the announcer in the Godfather Part II scene from Miami when Michael goes to see Hyman Roth at his house in Miami, the football
    game on the TV is USC vs. Notre Dame, a major rivalry. In 1958, the year
    the scene takes place, Notre Dame defeated USC 20-13.

    .It seems Coppola used a game that was after the 1958 game from So. Bend-IN –

  11. God Bless Tom Kelly. I can just hear Jim Healy ragging on Tom and using the phrase “Oh mercy nurse” on his show. Now you have Chick, Jim, and Tom in heaven. After this, Vinny will be in heaven, hopefully not soon. When thiks happens, God will just put his ear plug in his ear and listen to the most dynamic announcers of all time.

    Tom Kelly was announcing the USC football games at the second rising of the Trojan Empire, the first under Howard Jones, and the third, under Pete Carroll. I listened to him as a boy and into my adult hood hanging onto every word he said. He grew on me and to this day, he is still the greatest USC announcer of all time. I was at the 74 game against ND listening to Tom. This is a sad day. It is like losing your favorite uncle. Bummer.

    May the Dear Lord Jesus place him in heaven. May he rest in peace.

    Fight On!1

    • Jim Healy – the best ever (even if he was a Bruin). He was up at WA St. years and years ago and the fight song for WA St. began. Healy hummed the melody and then said “It’s the same melody that was at my high school – Beverly Hills HS!”.

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