USC Picture Of The Day

KELLY.MCKAY

Here is long-time USC broadcaster Tom Kelly with legendary Coach John McKay.

18 thoughts on “USC Picture Of The Day

  1. In my book Tom Kelly was legendary as an announcer. He was an unabashed SC homer, but he could make a game come alive with his description and pleasant voice.

    • I don’t remember. I read up on Parquat Kelly who is very ill right now. I loved KMET, 94.7 FM. They blew away KLOS at that time.

      Tom Kelly was awesome. Yes, he was a homer, but he would tell it like it was, example:, “Trojans are their own worst enemies”, “Oh Mercy Nurse”. “It is another Irish afternoon..”.. I think he was the best at announcing USC football. Miss him.

  2. RIP Tom Kelly. Tom was a friend of mine, although the last few years I did not see him. I have played numerous rounds of golf with Tom and he was quite the character. He could swear a blue streak and I often wondered how he got through a broadcast without swearing.

    He was quite the character and had a great sense of humor that could not only give the needle, he was able to take one in return…with one exception. I never failed to get him going by calling him a “homer.” He would never own up to that one!

    Tom actually gave me a “colorful” nickname years ago that has stayed with me to this very day. One of my fondest memories that I will always treasure is running into Tom after golf in the locker room and him grabbing me to have drinks with him, John McKay and JK McKay. We sat there for over an hour reliving some memories of SC-UCLA games of my youth. I am a rabid Bruin and my Uncle is a rabid Trojan and we all had season tickets, so as a kid I saw both teams play many times and I used to listen to Tom on the radio years before he became my friend. And listening to John McKay discuss those games along with the man that broadcast them was very special.

    Tom will be missed. He had a great voice and he was a lot of fun to be around. Hopefully he is in a better place and no longer has the yips!

    • Nice wrods. Tom later did a nice job with those broadcasts of the local Southern California area country clubs playing against each other on Fox Sports.

    • I always knew you had some cardinal and gold somewhere inside you. Great post 88!

    • I remember that old reporter Jim Healy used to have a sports radio show on every afternoon on KMPC and he referred to Tom as “Harry Hysterical”. Did Tom ever say anything about Healy and was it all in fun?

    • No stinkin’ ‘ruin needed here to talk about Tom Kelly. He was definitely a homer so know he would not associate with a classless ucla putz. Go sell your wares on the Westwood High blogs, and cry the blues about Mora getting dumped by his wife.

      • Steve, if anyone is acting classless here, it would be you. Sorry that you are upset about a Bruin commenting on a friend that was a Trojan. Tom had many Bruins as friends. And, he loved giving Bruins the needle. And as I said, he took the needles quite well and was always prepared with a comeback. It was fun to be around him.

        If you think Bruins are the enemy, then you haven’t been paying much attention to what is going on in the world. Bruins and Trojans are rivals, NOT enemies. Time to grow up.

      • Steve,

        I am a USC fan and 88 Straight has been nothing but complimentary to this board. Please read some of his other comments before making a remark like what you wrote.

        Thank you.

        • Thanks, PT.

          I am not sure if Tom was treated with the respect he deserved from SC at the end. It’s nice that the fans recognize the part Tom played in SC history.

          • 88, I don’t know. He was inducted into the initial Hall of Fame back in 1992. He was allowed in the booth anytime. I don’t know if he was forced out or he retired. I did see him on a plane to Hawaii back in 2005 going to a game. Yes he was out of sight, but not out of mind. When people would see him at the Colisiuem, it was like he was the headliner. People went to say hi to him and showed love both ways. He did so many things, but USC loves him like I do. He was an just as important to me than the Pope. I was in awe of him when I was a kid. His voice was distinctive.

            No problem 88, I will have your back. You have been gracious and kind. Maybe the guy has not seen your writing before.

          • No biggie. Maybe he had a few too many cocktails.

            I am sure Tom was treated kindly by many in the Trojan family. I am less sure about how the administration treated him when he was not retained and they brought in Arbogast. Tom was synonymous with SC. He was part of the brand. I got the general feeling that he was less than happy about how things worked out but it wasn’t something he talked about.

          • I think you are right. I was going to write that, but I wanted to hope the administration would treat him better, that is why I was writing positive things. But USC is a business and like any business, they ask one thing and that is, what have you done for me lately.

            88, please share more stories about him. He truly is an icon here and I was very sad to hear that he passed away. Loved reading what you had to say about him. Thank you for sharing. He was just as important to USC football than Anthony Davis or Ricky bell.

  3. In the long ago days when USC games were broadcast on IF I 50,000 watt clear channel I there are only two voices I remember Golden Milke Walden and Tom Kelly. Tom, however is a better memory. It is too bad the Trojans have been relegated to a dim radio station these days. I hope our new A.D. can negotiate better.

Comments are closed.