Leroy Kelly

It was a windy, biting-cold Sunday fall afternoon at Veterans Stadium. Football weather. The chill belied the temperature - in high 30s - as it always does when you are sitting in the 500 level. I was there that day with about 25 other guys in our group. But the Eagles were beating the Giants, so the weather didn't matter. Randall Cunningham had just run for a 30-yard gain. Except for one last tackler, he would have gone all the way for a touchdown. The men attending the game were a diverse group of African American males.

"Wow, all right," exclaimed Leroy Kelly, after learning this past weekend that he'd been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To that, we add, it's about time. Philadelphians know that Kelly, a graduate of Simon Gratz High School who still lives in Willingboro, N.J., is one of our greatest local-born sports heroes, right up there with Hall of Famers like Wilt Chamberlain, Tom Gola, Roy Campanella, Earl Monroe, Paul Arizin and Herb Adderly. Finally, his brilliant accomplishments as a strong and swift Cleveland Browns running back - 12,329 total yards and 90 touchdowns in a 10-year career concluding in 1974 - have been justly recognized on a national level.

Argie Watson Kelly, 95, a Southerner who moved north to Philadelphia almost three-quarters of a century ago and raised nine children here, died Wednesday at the Keystone House. She was born and educated in Pinewood, S.C., where she met and married her childhood sweetheart, Orvin Kelly. They married on Christmas Day 1925 and soon moved to Germantown, where Orvin Kelly had found work with a steel company. Their children included two professional athletes. One son, Leroy Kelly, who played with the Cleveland Browns, was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

Ron Lynn, who engineered the dramatic improvement in the Cincinnati Bengals' defense over the past two seasons, has resigned. "I wanted him to come back and I'm disappointed that he won't be back," coach Dave Shula said. "For a variety of reasons, most of which he would like to keep private, he's not going to be returning. " The defensive coordinator resigned Wednesday night at Palo Alto, Calif., where the Bengals' staff was scouting the East-West Shrine game. "I saw this coming on within the last week," Shula said.

PHOENIX, Ariz. - St. Louis Cardinals owner William V. Bidwill and NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle told Sen. Dennis DeConcini today that the team will move to the Phoenix area, a spokesman for the Arizona senator said. Bidwill and Rozelle, who were meeting in New York, told DeConcini by telephone in Mesa that Bidwill was filing a letter with the league stating his intention to move, said DeConcini spokesman Bob Maynes. Under an NFL policy that was adopted in December 1984, owners desiring to move their teams must submit transfer applications to the league by Jan. 15 of the same year.

  The 2010 Class of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame is an eclectic mix of the legendary and little-known, the famous and forgotten, people and places, and even a veteran sportswriter. The Hall's seventh group of inductees, announced during a lunchtime news conference Wednesday at the Sheraton Society Hill, is topped by a pair of former Phillies, Dick Allen and the late Tug McGraw. At the other end of the recognizability chart are the late Hobey Baker, a World War I hero who won national titles in football and hockey with Princeton, and Elizabeth Becker, a two-time Olympic diving gold-medalist in 1924 and '28. It includes Eagles (Mike Quick and the late Tom Brookshier)

And who said you had to be an unemotional, uncaring, unfeeling brute to make it in pro football? Five of the six men who were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame either broke down during yesterday's emotional enshrinement ceremony - or came darn close. Leroy Kelly, the Philadelphia native and former Cleveland Browns running back, was choked up less than two minutes into his speech. Tony Dorsett, the former Dallas Cowboys running back, had to stop to brush back a tear.

In the aftermath of the extraordinary fall from grace of O.J. Simpson, my thoughts have focused on the life of another great running back - Leroy Kelly. Kelly, the Cleveland Browns star, will be inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame next month. A graduate of Simon Gratz High School, he was raised in the Nicetown section of North Philadelphia. Compared to O.J. Simpson, Leroy Kelly's life and career are fairly ordinary. But despite the comparative lack of fame and fortune, Kelly in his own quiet way has been a perfect role model for young people.

The football was often a bunch of rolled-up newspapers tied together with rope. The weekend opponents were the neighborhood Old Heads - the fathers and uncles and grown-ups from East Falls. The rules were "rough touch," which meant nothing less than a hard shove stopped the action. The field was a well- worn playground. The stakes for the really big games were often a couple of cases of soda. Fern Hill Park was the no-nonsense place where Leroy Kelly really learned to play football.

Daily News sports writer Phil Jasner joins a distinguished Class VII of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, it was announced today at a press conference at the Society Hill Sheraton. Jasner, who has been with the Daily News since 1972, was named the Hall's Legacy of Excellence winner. This year's class is laden with stars. Phillies slugger Dick Allen and Eagles wide receiver Mike Quick, now a broadcaster, were among those in the class who attended the press conference. Joining Allen, Quick and Jasner as Hall of Famers: . Hobie Baker, who grew up in Philadelphia and was an All-American in both football and hockey.

ASK FRANNIE Donnellon who Ed Sabol is, and she does not know. Ask her about growing up with two big brothers, and this is the story she starts with: She was Jerry Kramer in the mud and the snow, one of us jumping over her to score while the other mimicked a Dallas Cowboys defender. She was Jerry Kramer when the folks went out for the night and the living room transformed into Lambeau Field. Sometimes she got to be Leroy Kelly, or Gale Sayers, but only when Ed's art called for two defenders to collapse upon the running back, making him fumble, or disappear.

  The 2010 Class of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame is an eclectic mix of the legendary and little-known, the famous and forgotten, people and places, and even a veteran sportswriter. The Hall's seventh group of inductees, announced during a lunchtime news conference Wednesday at the Sheraton Society Hill, is topped by a pair of former Phillies, Dick Allen and the late Tug McGraw. At the other end of the recognizability chart are the late Hobey Baker, a World War I hero who won national titles in football and hockey with Princeton, and Elizabeth Becker, a two-time Olympic diving gold-medalist in 1924 and '28. It includes Eagles (Mike Quick and the late Tom Brookshier)

Daily News sports writer Phil Jasner joins a distinguished Class VII of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, it was announced today at a press conference at the Society Hill Sheraton. Jasner, who has been with the Daily News since 1972, was named the Hall's Legacy of Excellence winner. This year's class is laden with stars. Phillies slugger Dick Allen and Eagles wide receiver Mike Quick, now a broadcaster, were among those in the class who attended the press conference. Joining Allen, Quick and Jasner as Hall of Famers: . Hobie Baker, who grew up in Philadelphia and was an All-American in both football and hockey.

Argie Watson Kelly, 95, a Southerner who moved north to Philadelphia almost three-quarters of a century ago and raised nine children here, died Wednesday at the Keystone House. She was born and educated in Pinewood, S.C., where she met and married her childhood sweetheart, Orvin Kelly. They married on Christmas Day 1925 and soon moved to Germantown, where Orvin Kelly had found work with a steel company. Their children included two professional athletes. One son, Leroy Kelly, who played with the Cleveland Browns, was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

The football was often a bunch of rolled-up newspapers tied together with rope. The weekend opponents were the neighborhood Old Heads - the fathers and uncles and grown-ups from East Falls. The rules were "rough touch," which meant nothing less than a hard shove stopped the action. The field was a well- worn playground. The stakes for the really big games were often a couple of cases of soda. Fern Hill Park was the no-nonsense place where Leroy Kelly really learned to play football.

And who said you had to be an unemotional, uncaring, unfeeling brute to make it in pro football? Five of the six men who were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame either broke down during yesterday's emotional enshrinement ceremony - or came darn close. Leroy Kelly, the Philadelphia native and former Cleveland Browns running back, was choked up less than two minutes into his speech. Tony Dorsett, the former Dallas Cowboys running back, had to stop to brush back a tear.

In the aftermath of the extraordinary fall from grace of O.J. Simpson, my thoughts have focused on the life of another great running back - Leroy Kelly. Kelly, the Cleveland Browns star, will be inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame next month. A graduate of Simon Gratz High School, he was raised in the Nicetown section of North Philadelphia. Compared to O.J. Simpson, Leroy Kelly's life and career are fairly ordinary. But despite the comparative lack of fame and fortune, Kelly in his own quiet way has been a perfect role model for young people.

"Wow, all right," exclaimed Leroy Kelly, after learning this past weekend that he'd been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. To that, we add, it's about time. Philadelphians know that Kelly, a graduate of Simon Gratz High School who still lives in Willingboro, N.J., is one of our greatest local-born sports heroes, right up there with Hall of Famers like Wilt Chamberlain, Tom Gola, Roy Campanella, Earl Monroe, Paul Arizin and Herb Adderly. Finally, his brilliant accomplishments as a strong and swift Cleveland Browns running back - 12,329 total yards and 90 touchdowns in a 10-year career concluding in 1974 - have been justly recognized on a national level.

It was a windy, biting-cold Sunday fall afternoon at Veterans Stadium. Football weather. The chill belied the temperature - in high 30s - as it always does when you are sitting in the 500 level. I was there that day with about 25 other guys in our group. But the Eagles were beating the Giants, so the weather didn't matter. Randall Cunningham had just run for a 30-yard gain. Except for one last tackler, he would have gone all the way for a touchdown. The men attending the game were a diverse group of African American males.

Leroy Kelly had waited 15 years for this phone call, so it was no surprise that he answered on the first ring. A roomful of reporters listened on a conference line as Pete Elliott, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, told the former Cleveland Browns star that he was voted into the Hall on Saturday. "Wow, all right," Kelly replied. "That's beautiful. " Kelly, a Philadelphia native who now lives in Willingboro, N.J., was elected to the Hall along with two Dallas greats, halfback Tony Dorsett and defensive tackle Randy White, St. Louis Cardinals tight end Jackie Smith, San Francisco cornerback Jimmy Johnson and Minnesota coach Bud Grant.