Mary Kelly: A Trailblazer’s Journey from Wrestling Underdog to Mahomet-Seymour Hall of Fame
M-S 2024 Hall of Fame class
Mary Kelly, Class of 2002
Tom Shallenberger, Class of 1978
Dick Watkins, Teacher 1973-2006
Induction date: Friday, Sept. 20 vs. Charleston
By FRED KRONER
Whatever the movement, whatever the era, there is always a person or a group of people responsible for pushing the issues forward and raising awareness.
When Mary Kelly attended Mahomet-Seymour schools, she was at the ground level of creating opportunities for girls to wrestle.
In the 1990s when she was in elementary school and then as a new century rolled in, a few girls throughout the state with an interest in the sport settled for being members of a boys’ wrestling team just to pursue their passion.
Kelly wasn’t trying to make a statement other than that she wanted to wrestle. Her father (Jerry) and uncle (Bill) were prominent figures in the sport – both won two individual state championships – and her brother (Chris) also wrestled.
Mary Kelly did, too. Against boys.
Competing primarily at 103 pounds in high school, the 5-foot-3 Kelly was a fixture in the M-S varsity lineup from her sophomore through senior years. She had a career record of 75-36, with 28 of her wins by pins.
It took nearly two decades after Kelly graduated from M-S before girls’ wrestling became a sanctioned sport in the IHSA with the state association conducting a complete postseason tournament resulting in the crowning of a state champion.
“She was a pioneer in women’s wrestling,” said Rob Porter, who coached Kelly throughout her prep career. “She blazed the trail. She’s one of the reasons more girls started competing.”
Ironically, Porter’s own coaching career took a different turn a year ago when he accepted the position of head coach for the girls’ wrestling program at Naperville Central.
“We had seven girls (on his first team),” Porter said.
Kelly will be one of four inductees into the Mahomet Schools Foundation Hall of Fame when the seventh class is honored during homecoming in September, 2024.
“To have someone like her in there makes the Hall more prestigious,” Porter said.
Kelly was competing for the Bulldogs at a time there were few girls involved with wrestling and hardly any in Central Illinois.
“Her gender faded away,” Porter said. “There were no other girls around the area wrestling. People recognized her as a wrestler.
“It’s a matter of how well you prepare. She was definitely one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker.”
In junior high, Kelly had a 31-1 record as a seventh-grader at 65 pounds and a 28-1 mark as an eighth-grader at 75 pounds. She placed third at state in an otherwise all-boys bracket as an eighth-grader in 1998.
She was the first girl in state history to earn an IESA medal.
In high school, Kelly was the first girl to win a match in the IHSA dual-meet state tournament, helping the Bulldogs place third her junior year and fourth her senior season. In the third-place team match in 2001, Kelly registered a pin.
In 2019, she became the first female to be inducted into the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Hall of Fame as a competitor. Her induction came exactly 20 years after her father was enshrined in the IWCOA Hall of Fame.
She came to understand that many eyes were on her and since others were watching her every move, she needed to be cognizant of her deportment.
“I did recognize back then that it was important I set the example,” said Kelly, who was a regional champion as a senior. “I knew many would judge whether women should wrestle based on my behavior, demeanor, performance and so on.
“I knew many were looking for reasons to say girls shouldn’t wrestle, so I made sure not to show emotion winning or losing. I knew I needed to work just as hard or harder than the boys if, and when, possible. I made sure I was respectful and tried not to be a burden or make anything more difficult. I had to prove I deserved to be there.”
Eventually, she made a name for herself. Early on, it was a struggle.
“It used to be very rare to see women competing,” Kelly said. “I often got announced as Mark Kelly because they thought it was a typo, and now it’s more than normal.
“It’s pretty neat to see how much the sport has grown for women in the last 20 years.”
The preparation required could extend beyond the wrestling room.
“There were times we had to get approval or fight for me to be able to compete,” Kelly said. “In that way I know that more followed because of me and that I drew attention to women in the sport.
“I do see myself as a pioneer, but there were ones before me too, who made it possible for me to continue in the next phase, which I kind of see as being the ‘second’ group.
“The first were women like Tricia Saunders and Afsoon Johnston. My dad had watched Tricia Saunders beat Zeke Jones when he was in his youth. Zeke went on to win a Silver Medal at the Olympics and a World Championship. Tricia went on to win four World Championships and a silver medal in women’s wrestling.”
Arguably, Kelly made her greatest impact in wrestling post-high school.
Competing against women, she was a member of the U.S. National Team for seven years and represented her country in international tournaments in 15 different countries.
“Wrestling boys gave me a lot of confidence going into competing against women,” Kelly said. “The boys in high school were stronger, so I had to work with that, which made me feel prepared to be the best.
“Wrestling against the women was different. They tended to be more flexible. I’d sometimes have trouble using some of the same moves.”
Kelly was fourth in both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Trials. She won the USA World Team Trials in 2006 and placed fifth in 2007 World Cup Team.
“She was on the Olympic ladder, but battled injuries,” Porter said. “She was definitely a name people knew, Mary Kelly.
“Having her from Illinois encouraged more girls to compete.”
When Kelly says she was born into wrestling, it’s not an exaggeration.
She was born in Ames, Iowa during the time her uncle (Bill) was wrestling at Iowa State University (where he won an NCAA championship).
“I’ve been told, the week I was born I was on the Iowa State wrestling bus to go to a Nebraska Dual,” Mary Kelly said. “I crawled on those mats, hung around my uncle’s neck, was brought in my baby carrier to the practices.
“Those guys would come over to our little trailer. I saw all the fans cheer and looked up to them. All I heard in my household was wrestling stories. It was a lifestyle.”
Her family’s background in wrestling helped get her foot in the door, but her performance was what continued the Kelly legacy.
“Without being an asset to the team and demonstrating skill, I don’t think it would have been even close to the same experience,” Mary Kelly said. “In addition to that, coming from the family I did with the history in Illinois wrestling helped as well. People respected my father and his accomplishments. That paired with my work ethic, giving it all I had, being respectful, positive, grateful, all contributed to me being accepted.”
She caught the bug early and longed to do more than watch. She begged her parents to let her participate.
“I had been saying for years that I had wanted to wrestle and when my parents were going to start my brother, I said I wanted to, too,” Mary Kelly said. “At that point I think I was 8.”
Her mom wasn’t totally in favor of the idea, but didn’t like the precedent it would set if she said no.
“My mom (Becci) came to the conclusion she didn’t want to start telling me I couldn’t do something because I was a girl,” Mary Kelly said. “So they decided to talk with Coach (Jim) Jeffers, about letting me go out for the team in exchange for my dad helping out with the kids’ club.
“The condition my parents made for me was that if I went out, I couldn’t quit. I had to see the season through no matter what. I agreed, but I do vividly remember being at that first practice of the kids’ club being held in the Junior High room.”
The youngster had a change of heart.
“Once I got there, I got scared and wanted to change my mind,” Mary Kelly recalled. “My mom said, ‘No, we’re here and you’re doing it.’ So I did.
“I do recall a lot of the boys didn’t want to practice with me. Josh Jeffers usually got stuck with me because his dad would make him. We were about the same weight. I do remember him saying he didn’t want to wrestle the girl.”
Her debut wrestling match took place the year before she joined the Mahomet kids’ club. She was in second grade.
“My very first wrestling experience was actually at Monticello,” Mary Kelly said. “My dad was coaching at the high school there and they were putting on a two-week camp for youth where they were going to do a mini-tournament at the end where we could practice what we had learned that.”
It was handled with all the bells and whistles. The high school gym was reserved and referees (local high school wrestlers) were on hand to officiate.
Kelly was a sight to see.
“Because I had never wrestled, I didn’t have a singlet or anything,” she said. “I wrestled in the mini-tournament in hot pink sweat pants and a white floral sweat shirt.
“I only had two other people around my weight, so it was a three-person round robin.”
Her inaugural match was against an opponent she saw every day at home.
“My brother ended up being my very first match,” Mary Kelly said, “and then another guy Blake, who I also competed against in high school.
“I beat my brother. It was actually a pretty funny match because he tried to run off the mat, and I lost to Blake, although I did beat him in high school.”
Mary and Chris Kelly were not frequently paired together though they were generally in similar weight classes.
“I didn’t practice much with Chris,” Mary Kelly said. “We didn’t make good partners and I think it became more of a fight than wrestling, so at a pretty young age our parents kept us separated. We very rarely practiced together.”
That is not to say that the siblings didn’t get along.
“Chris did support me a ton, though,” Mary Kelly said. “He would be more upset about my losses than I was. There were a couple occasions in our youth where he cried when I lost.
“One of them probably fits into my fondest wrestling moments.”
In Mahomet, other members of the kids’ club soon realized that Mary Kelly was serious about competing and wasn’t there as a lark.
“After time everyone got really used to me, accepted and actually embraced me,” Mary Kelly said. “Josh continued to be one of my main practice partners all the way through high school. I’m grateful he was there.
“Those guys became like brothers. They could tease me, but they were pretty protective. They included me and we all had a lot of fun working hard and joking around.”
By the time she was a senior, Mary Kelly was one of the M-S team captains.
“It was a display that I was a valued asset to the team, it meant that I earned the respect to be considered a leader and it was a bit more special knowing that I was considered that with a group of talented, hard-working guys.
“We were a close team and many of those guys were some of my best friends. They were my people. There’s a very unique bond and interaction that comes with the sport of wrestling.”
Her first day with the kids’ club wasn’t the only time that Kelly considered not wrestling. A few years later, she participated in summer camps for track and field as well as cheerleading.
“In fifth grade, for a brief time I actually thought I wanted to quit wrestling and be a cheerleader so that I could be like ‘everyone else,’” Kelly said. “I got a lot of strange attention (in wrestling) that I didn’t really like. I stood out.
“When I told my dad, he didn’t say anything. I could see his emotion, though, and decided I wasn’t going to quit.”
In retrospect, it was the best decision she could have made.
“Come junior high I was able to appreciate how much better it was to stand out,” Kelly said. “Still didn’t always make it easy. Had I quit, I think it would have been my biggest life mistake.
“I wouldn’t be who I am or have done a fraction of what I have if it wasn’t for what I did with wrestling.”
Traveling was one of the benefits of her time in the sport. Among the countries she has visited are England, Poland, France, Italy, Ukrain, Turkey, Russia, Canada, Brazil, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Belarus and Germany.
Some activities she did for fun and a change of pace.
“I did some slow pitch softball in the summers in the ponytail league, with the Mustangs,” she said. “That was something more just fun to do while I wasn’t wrestling that I didn’t have to worry about trying to be the best.
“I could just enjoy myself a little more and do something different.”
She also tried other activities, thinking they might be beneficial for her wrestling career.
“For a short time in middle school my brother, Brandon Arnold and I took some ballet lessons with the idea it could help with wrestling,” Mary Kelly said. “In high school, I went to some judo classes in Bloomington for a bit. It was too far of a drive to do on a regular basis though.”
The discipline required to excel in wrestling is one of many life lessons Kelly has gleaned over the years.
“I think the big one was perseverance, to be able to keep going,” she said. “Wrestling is a pretty tough sport and my dad was old school.
“You learned to push through a lot of things and to sustain it. It’s not always wise to do that, but there are often rewards.”
Kelly was raised at a time when platforms such as Facebook, Twitter (X) and Instagram were not prevalent.
“There also wasn’t social media so there was no posting everything you did,” she said. “It was a lot of doing without any recognition or praise, it was just work, as much as I could do and a lot of it by myself.
“It set me up to be more independent. I learned a lot about myself through these sorts of endeavors, so I believe it put me in a position to be more intuitive about myself, to take what I’ve experienced, to build and understand more from there.”
Knowing that she made an impact and opened doors for girls who followed are some of Kelly’s most satisfying moments.
“It does feel cool to know that people see me as someone who had an impact and remember me in a positive way,” she said. “It makes me happy to know that I left a mark and was able to have an influence in such an amazing sport that helped mold me, help me be a better, stronger, more experienced person.
“To be regarded as someone who did something in or for a sport that has done so much for me is an honor.”
She is so proud of her name that she didn’t take her husband’s name during the time she was married.
“I always liked mine,” she said. “There’s a lot of history and I have pride in being a Kelly. It’s not something I wanted to change.”
Before earning her degree in community health education from Northern Michigan University, Kelly attended different colleges as she pursued wrestling.
She spent time at the U.S. Olympic Education Center, at Northern Michigan University, as well as the Olympic Training Center, in Colorado Springs.
When Kelly started college, she didn’t have a firm career path.
“I knew I wanted to wrestle and I planned to take all of my general classes to buy me some time to figure it out. I ended up settling on Community Health Education,” though she acknowledged, “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do professionally. It has proven to be the best fit for what I currently do.”
She has lived in Hawaii for almost seven years.
“I’ve experienced things out here that I never expected,” she said. “I came out here partly to be tested, which gets a big check mark.
“I’ve also become the most ‘successful’ work wise, with personal training. I have a wide variety of clientele that I travel to different locations on the island for. With being an independent contractor, I get a lot of freedom which brings a different kind of peace.”
Kelly considers herself retired from wrestling, due to an assortment of injuries.
“I retired because I had too many concussions (and other injuries),” she said. “As much as I love it, and it really is the most amazing feeling to be on the mat and in wrestling rooms, I try not to be around it much because I can’t help but not participate.
“After retirement due to a head injury and post-concussion syndrome for a couple years, I don’t want to put myself in a position where I might compromise my brain again.”
Her job as a personal trainer, she said, is “a positive way to spend my time, helping other people improve their health, wellness and fitness. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”
Though she ultimately fell short of some goals, such as competing in the Olympics, Kelly doesn’t regret the effort she made to try and reach those lofty goals.
“The thing with this sort of thing is you put in a lot of blood, sweat, tears and sacrifice with no guarantee of attaining what you’re there to do,” she said. “It’s a big gamble, through passion, skill and having a goal, that you take on yourself.”
Kelly is looking forward to returning to her hometown for the induction ceremony.
“I’m excited to come back, hopefully see some old friends, and teammates, walk the old halls that I used to, to see what’s changed and what’s the same,” Mary Kelly said. “It’s neat to know that I’m still remembered and thought of as someone who had an impact, made a difference, proved my skill and thought of fondly.
“Those are some of the most precious things a person can ask for.”
She was notified of the honor by Jim Risley, whom she called, “one of my favorite middle school teachers.”
Added Kelly: “There’s always a very pleasant feeling of nostalgia when I’m in touch with people from Mahomet and my wrestling days.”
