Shipwreck Kelly

Shipwreck Kelly

John Simms "Shipwreck" Kelly (July 8, 1910 – August 17, 1986) was a professional American football player who played halfback in the National Football League; he was also an owner and banker, most prominent in New York City in the 1930s and 1940s. He played five seasons for the New York Giants (1932) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (1933–1937). Kelly became a player-coach and later a player/coach/owner with the Dodgers football club, the successor to the Dayton Triangles, a charter member of the NFL. The Dodgers, through a couple of reorganizations, became the Baltimore Colts, now the Indianapolis Colts. He gained his nickname from his ability,while at the University of Kentucky, to make a "shipwreck" of opposing defensive lines, or from Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, who was famous for pole-sitting in the 1920s.