WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.299 Imagine for a second that you are the architect 00:00:03.299 --> 00:00:05.759 of an absolute revolution in your field. Oh, 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:07.879 wow. OK. Yeah, just picture it. You are doing 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:09.839 things no one has ever seen before. You're bending 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:12.140 the rules of physics, totally changing the paradigm. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.740 Right. But there is a catch. You happen to live 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:18.379 in an era right before anyone bothered to invent 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:21.219 the tools to record what you were doing. Oh, 00:00:21.399 --> 00:00:24.820 man. That's. That's rough. Right. No cameras, 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:27.940 no stat sheets, no official ledgers. Your entire 00:00:27.940 --> 00:00:31.920 legacy relies on the, you know, fading memories 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:33.579 of the people who happen to be standing there 00:00:33.579 --> 00:00:36.700 watching you. It is the ultimate historical nightmare. 00:00:36.979 --> 00:00:39.850 Exactly. I mean, you become a ghost. a rumor, 00:00:40.170 --> 00:00:42.350 and eventually you just slip through the cracks 00:00:42.350 --> 00:00:45.429 of history entirely because, well, society hasn't 00:00:45.429 --> 00:00:47.369 built the infrastructure to measure your greatness 00:00:47.369 --> 00:00:50.049 yet. And that is the exact historical blind spot 00:00:50.049 --> 00:00:52.590 we are wading into for today's deep dive. Yeah, 00:00:52.590 --> 00:00:55.829 it's a fascinating one. So we've pulled a single 00:00:55.829 --> 00:00:58.969 really incredible Wikipedia article about a largely 00:00:58.969 --> 00:01:02.009 forgotten American sports pioneer, and we are 00:01:02.009 --> 00:01:04.909 going to use his story to explore how legends 00:01:04.909 --> 00:01:07.909 are actually built and, you know, how they are 00:01:07.909 --> 00:01:10.790 lost. Right. We are talking about William C. 00:01:10.969 --> 00:01:15.069 Kelly. Wild Bill Kelly, a football phenom from 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:18.189 the 1920s who was quite literally doing the impossible. 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:20.629 Yeah. And to really wrap your head on Bill Kelly, 00:01:20.849 --> 00:01:24.109 you have to completely discard your modern vision 00:01:24.109 --> 00:01:26.489 of American football. Totally. You need to mentally 00:01:26.489 --> 00:01:29.150 place yourself in the rough, muddy, highly localized 00:01:29.150 --> 00:01:32.290 days of the early 1920s. We're talking leather 00:01:32.290 --> 00:01:34.209 helmets here. Right. Exactly. Leather helmets 00:01:34.209 --> 00:01:37.129 and mythic local heroes. The sport is in its 00:01:37.129 --> 00:01:40.079 awkward just trying to find its modern identity. 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:42.700 The rules are in flux, the equipment is primitive, 00:01:43.099 --> 00:01:45.000 and the football, well, the football wasn't really 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:46.819 a football as we know it today. Right, it was 00:01:46.819 --> 00:01:49.099 basically a melon. Yeah, it was highly un -aerodynamic. 00:01:49.219 --> 00:01:51.599 Oh, right. It's essentially a completely different 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:54.180 physical game. But before Kelly was even trying 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:56.920 to manipulate that, you know, un -aerodynamic 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.340 ball, he had to build a foundation. And his story 00:02:00.340 --> 00:02:03.000 starts with some serious early life resilience. 00:02:03.019 --> 00:02:05.719 It really does. He's born in Denver in 1905, 00:02:05.780 --> 00:02:08.560 but tragedy strays on. almost immediately. His 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.860 father, James, dies of pneumonia at just 38 years 00:02:11.860 --> 00:02:15.900 old. Kelly is only four. It's a massive disruption. 00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:18.819 I mean, the family is totally upended. His mother 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:21.120 eventually remarries a Northern Pacific Railroad 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.740 employee, and they pack up and move out to... 00:02:23.560 --> 00:02:26.139 Butte, Montana, before finally settling in Missoula. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:28.000 And that's really where it all begins. Right. 00:02:28.099 --> 00:02:30.240 It's in that rugged, emerging environment of 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:33.039 early 20th century Montana that his athletic 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:35.539 identity is forged. And Missoula is where the 00:02:35.539 --> 00:02:37.340 legend begins to take root. By the time he's 00:02:37.340 --> 00:02:40.300 a teenager, he is an absolute phenomenon. We 00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:42.580 are talking about a four sports star in high 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:45.199 school. Football, baseball, basketball, track, 00:02:45.580 --> 00:02:48.379 whatever the season was, he dominated it. In 00:02:48.379 --> 00:02:50.960 1921, he actually leads Missoula High to its 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:53.680 first ever state championship in football, which. 00:02:53.930 --> 00:02:56.349 instantly elevates him from just being a talented 00:02:56.349 --> 00:03:00.150 athletic kid to a certified, undeniable local 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:02.409 hero. Definitely. And achieving that specific 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:05.830 status in a place like Montana in the 1920s sets 00:03:05.830 --> 00:03:09.090 up a fascinating crossroads for his college career. 00:03:09.569 --> 00:03:11.270 Because, you know, when you are that dominant, 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:14.009 the national powerhouses inevitably come calling. 00:03:14.310 --> 00:03:17.909 Right. The rumor mill goes into overdrive. Word 00:03:17.909 --> 00:03:20.830 was that Notre Dame wanted him badly. And Notre 00:03:20.830 --> 00:03:23.370 Dame was it. Even back then, Notre Dame was the 00:03:23.370 --> 00:03:25.110 pinnacle of college football. It was the premier 00:03:25.110 --> 00:03:28.090 stage. But he doesn't go to South Bend. He stays 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:30.069 right there at the hometown college, the University 00:03:30.069 --> 00:03:32.610 of Montana. And the reason why, okay, let's unpack 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:34.530 this. Yeah, this is great. It wasn't just hometown 00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:37.930 pride. It was a local auto dealer named H .O. 00:03:38.129 --> 00:03:41.590 Bell. An auto dealer? Yes. Bell steps in and 00:03:41.590 --> 00:03:45.189 pays Kelly $75 a month for a job where Kelly, 00:03:45.289 --> 00:03:47.409 and the source material is very specific about 00:03:47.409 --> 00:03:49.849 this, didn't perform much work. It was essentially 00:03:49.849 --> 00:03:52.789 a pure retainer. just for breathing Montana air. 00:03:53.030 --> 00:03:54.750 Which is incredible to think about. I mean, we 00:03:54.750 --> 00:03:57.530 have these massive, intense debates right now 00:03:57.530 --> 00:03:59.830 over college athletes getting paid to play, the 00:03:59.830 --> 00:04:02.370 whole name, image, and likeness era, the transfer 00:04:02.370 --> 00:04:04.330 portal. Oh, it's everywhere in the news. People 00:04:04.330 --> 00:04:06.770 act like this is a brand new corruption of amateur 00:04:06.770 --> 00:04:10.349 sports, but here we are looking at a 1920s local 00:04:10.349 --> 00:04:14.849 booster handing out a $75 a month no -show job 00:04:14.849 --> 00:04:18.879 to a teenager. This dynamic has literally existed 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.759 for a century. What's fascinating here is how 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:25.160 vital that single local booster was in retaining 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:27.500 regional talent. Yeah. Because if you look at 00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:30.459 sports or even industry today, talent is highly 00:04:30.459 --> 00:04:33.040 centralized. Right. The rich get richer. Exactly. 00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:35.639 The best athletes go to a handful of super programs. 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:37.800 The best tech minds flock to Silicon Valley. 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:41.560 But back then, a local auto dealer essentially 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:44.180 crowdfunded the retention of a potential national 00:04:44.180 --> 00:04:46.420 superstar, keeping him entirely in the state 00:04:46.420 --> 00:04:49.180 of Montana. It's wild. It shows you the fierce, 00:04:49.459 --> 00:04:51.620 almost desperate, protective loyalty these smaller 00:04:51.620 --> 00:04:53.839 markets had for their homegrown talent. They 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:56.819 knew if Kelly left, he wasn't coming back. And 00:04:56.819 --> 00:04:59.459 staying in that smaller market entirely defines 00:04:59.459 --> 00:05:02.139 Kelly's college career. Because he stays at the 00:05:02.139 --> 00:05:04.899 University of Montana, he isn't surrounded by 00:05:04.899 --> 00:05:07.379 a roster full of All -Americans. Not at all. 00:05:07.660 --> 00:05:09.759 He doesn't have an elite offensive line protecting 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:13.040 him. He essentially has to carry the entire team 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:16.139 on his back. And the individual numbers he puts 00:05:16.139 --> 00:05:18.819 up while doing that are just staggering. They 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:20.620 really are. I mean, he played quarterback. But 00:05:20.620 --> 00:05:23.459 you have to remember that in the 1920s, a quarterback 00:05:23.459 --> 00:05:26.000 was primarily an open field runner and a kick 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:27.860 returner. Right. It wasn't about sitting in the 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:30.819 pocket. Not at all. And his explosiveness was 00:05:30.819 --> 00:05:33.360 completely unmatched. Just to give you an idea 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.399 of the sheer athletic dominance, as a sophomore, 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:39.800 he had nine runs of over 40 yards for scores. 00:05:40.110 --> 00:05:42.910 Nine. In a single season. Those are video game 00:05:42.910 --> 00:05:44.970 numbers. Yeah, it's absurd. And it wasn't just 00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:47.129 from the line of scrimmage. Over his final two 00:05:47.129 --> 00:05:50.129 years, he ran back five kickoffs for scores, 00:05:50.329 --> 00:05:52.769 and two of those were over 90 yards. I want you 00:05:52.769 --> 00:05:56.069 to picture the sheer speed, the lateral vision, 00:05:56.470 --> 00:05:59.889 the endurance required to dodge 11 guys trying 00:05:59.889 --> 00:06:03.199 to tackle you on a 90 -yard sprint. all while 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:06.800 wearing 1920s equipment that weighed a ton and 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.579 absorbed sweat like a sponge. Yeah, it requires 00:06:09.579 --> 00:06:13.579 a level of physical supremacy that is hard to 00:06:13.579 --> 00:06:15.550 overstate. But I do want to pump the brakes and 00:06:15.550 --> 00:06:17.610 push back on this a little bit. OK, sure. Because 00:06:17.610 --> 00:06:20.290 the source notes a crucial detail. Despite his 00:06:20.290 --> 00:06:22.629 legendary skills and all these 40 yard runs, 00:06:23.230 --> 00:06:25.269 Kelly didn't have enough talent around him for 00:06:25.269 --> 00:06:27.649 Montana to actually deliver a winning season 00:06:27.649 --> 00:06:29.829 during his college career. That's true. So I 00:06:29.829 --> 00:06:32.449 have to ask the skeptical question. Was Kelly 00:06:32.449 --> 00:06:35.149 just a big fish in a small pond? Ah, I see where 00:06:35.149 --> 00:06:38.189 you're going. If his team is consistently losing, 00:06:38.410 --> 00:06:41.689 how do we know he was truly an elite generational 00:06:41.689 --> 00:06:44.579 talent and not just a really fast guy beating 00:06:44.579 --> 00:06:47.180 up on weaker local competition? It's exactly 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:49.339 the right question to ask. When you see a uniquely 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:52.279 great player trapped on a losing team, you naturally 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:54.120 have to question the caliber of the competition. 00:06:54.139 --> 00:06:56.779 Right. Was he just stat padding against nobody's? 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:01.360 But the historical record provides two very compelling 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:04.000 pieces of evidence that prove his elite status 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:06.959 wasn't a mirage. OK, what's the first one? First. 00:07:07.129 --> 00:07:09.449 You look at his absolute dominance over their 00:07:09.449 --> 00:07:13.050 fiercest rival, Montana State College. In 1925 00:07:13.050 --> 00:07:16.610 and 1926, he led his team to massive wins against 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:18.829 them. Oh, nice. He never lost to that specific 00:07:18.829 --> 00:07:21.970 rival. And in those games alone, he scored seven 00:07:21.970 --> 00:07:24.649 touchdowns and made four interceptions. Wow, 00:07:24.769 --> 00:07:27.170 playing both sides of the ball. Exactly. When 00:07:27.170 --> 00:07:29.670 the local stakes were the absolute highest and 00:07:29.670 --> 00:07:31.930 the opposing defense was entirely focused on 00:07:31.930 --> 00:07:34.149 stopping him, he was unstoppable. OK, I hear 00:07:34.149 --> 00:07:36.990 that. He owned the local rivalry. But again, 00:07:37.209 --> 00:07:39.170 that's still Montana. That doesn't answer the 00:07:39.170 --> 00:07:40.990 question of the national stage. If he went to 00:07:40.990 --> 00:07:43.750 Notre Dame, would he have been exposed? And that 00:07:43.750 --> 00:07:45.730 brings us to the second piece of evidence, which 00:07:45.730 --> 00:07:48.189 completely synthesizes this question of his true 00:07:48.189 --> 00:07:50.269 talent. Alright, lay it on me. After his college 00:07:50.269 --> 00:07:53.170 career wraps up, he gets invited to the 1927 00:07:53.170 --> 00:07:56.610 East -West Shrine Game. Wait! Throwing one touchdown 00:07:56.610 --> 00:07:58.829 in a shrine game proves he's a national elite. 00:07:59.250 --> 00:08:01.410 Isn't that just a spectacularly small sample 00:08:01.410 --> 00:08:03.069 size? We're talking about an exhibition game. 00:08:03.170 --> 00:08:05.889 It would be a small sample size today. Yes, but 00:08:05.889 --> 00:08:08.810 you have to understand the context of the East 00:08:08.810 --> 00:08:11.810 West Shrine game in the 1920s. Okay, this wasn't 00:08:11.810 --> 00:08:15.910 a casual exhibition. This was the premier absolute 00:08:16.110 --> 00:08:19.730 highest level showcase of the best collegiate 00:08:19.730 --> 00:08:21.850 talent from across the entire country. Gross! 00:08:22.050 --> 00:08:24.089 So everyone was watching this. The scouting was 00:08:24.089 --> 00:08:26.129 intense. You had all the All -Americans on one 00:08:26.129 --> 00:08:28.470 field. He isn't playing against local Montana 00:08:28.470 --> 00:08:30.850 Ranch kids anymore. He is playing against the 00:08:30.850 --> 00:08:33.190 absolute elite. And what happens? The game is 00:08:33.190 --> 00:08:36.149 a brutal defensive struggle, but Kelly throws 00:08:36.149 --> 00:08:39.190 the only touchdown pass of the entire game. He 00:08:39.190 --> 00:08:41.309 provides the exact margin of victory for the 00:08:41.309 --> 00:08:44.889 West in a 7 -3 win. Wow. OK, so that really changes 00:08:44.889 --> 00:08:47.169 the perspective. Individual brilliance actually 00:08:47.169 --> 00:08:49.789 can eclipse a team's failure if you put that 00:08:49.789 --> 00:08:52.409 individual in a vacuum with other greats. Exactly. 00:08:52.529 --> 00:08:54.690 He gets put on a field with the best of the best 00:08:54.690 --> 00:08:56.950 from every major program in the country, and 00:08:56.950 --> 00:08:59.889 he is still the singular deciding factor. Right. 00:09:00.750 --> 00:09:03.590 That shrine game performance proved definitively 00:09:03.590 --> 00:09:06.129 that his skills translated perfectly against 00:09:06.129 --> 00:09:10.149 elite non -local competition. It validated the 00:09:10.149 --> 00:09:13.519 Montana hype. He absolutely belonged on the bigger 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:15.940 stage. And proving he belonged on that stage 00:09:15.940 --> 00:09:18.620 prompts a massive pivot in his life. Because 00:09:18.620 --> 00:09:21.379 originally, Kelly had this entirely different, 00:09:21.539 --> 00:09:24.360 very structured path mapped out. He did. He was 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.200 planning to go to West Point to become a military 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:29.039 officer after graduating in the spring of 1927. 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:32.200 But then professional football comes knocking. 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:35.879 Specifically, Cece Pyle comes knocking. Oh, the 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:38.730 promoter. Yeah. Pyle was organizing a brand new 00:09:38.730 --> 00:09:41.470 professional franchise called the New York Yankees. 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:44.450 And he wants Kelly so badly that he sends his 00:09:44.450 --> 00:09:47.470 head coach, Ralph Scott, all the way out to Missoula, 00:09:47.470 --> 00:09:50.049 Montana, just to induce Kelly to join the squad. 00:09:50.230 --> 00:09:52.850 Think about the logistics of that trip in 1927. 00:09:52.990 --> 00:09:54.970 It's crazy. And the pitch must have been incredible 00:09:54.970 --> 00:09:56.830 because he's asking this Montana kid to come 00:09:56.830 --> 00:09:58.750 to the bright lights of New York City to play 00:09:58.750 --> 00:10:01.370 alongside the legendary Red Grange. The galloping 00:10:01.370 --> 00:10:03.629 ghost himself? I mean, how do you say no to that? 00:10:03.710 --> 00:10:06.600 You don't. So Kelly signs. He ditches West Point. 00:10:06.700 --> 00:10:08.700 He gets to the pros. He plays for the Yankees 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:10.559 in twenty seven and twenty eight. Then he bounces 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.539 to the Frankfurt Yellow Jackets in twenty nine 00:10:12.539 --> 00:10:15.779 and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1930. Right. And 00:10:15.779 --> 00:10:17.580 just for some quick context for you listening, 00:10:18.139 --> 00:10:20.519 early NFL franchises like the Yellow Jackets 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:23.019 weren't the billion dollar corporate entities 00:10:23.019 --> 00:10:25.320 we see today. Not at all. They were essentially 00:10:25.320 --> 00:10:28.519 local athletic clubs, rough and tumble squads 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:32.340 playing a very brutal ground bound game. And 00:10:32.340 --> 00:10:34.899 to truly understand Kelly's impact in this league, 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:36.960 we have to talk about the physical reality of 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.159 the sport back then. You mentioned it earlier. 00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:42.059 The football itself was un -aerodynamic. Right. 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:44.500 And it's important to explain why it was un -aerodynamic. 00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:47.620 The game of American football evolved directly 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:50.259 out of rugby. OK. So the ball they were using 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:52.600 in the 1920s was still very much a rugby ball. 00:10:53.259 --> 00:10:55.500 It was rounder, plumper, much harder to grip. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:58.240 Passing was largely an afterthought, essentially 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:00.980 a trick play because the ball simply wasn't designed 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:02.980 to spiral through the air. You were meant to 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:05.320 run with it or drop -kick it. Here's where it 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:07.559 gets really interesting. I want you to imagine 00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:11.090 taking a heavy bloated leather melon. A melon, 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:12.990 yeah. Maybe it's a little wet from the mud. The 00:11:12.990 --> 00:11:15.049 leases are thick and rough. Now imagine trying 00:11:15.049 --> 00:11:17.350 to throw that melon on a dead straight line. 00:11:17.389 --> 00:11:19.070 It's almost impossible. Because if you think 00:11:19.070 --> 00:11:22.490 of modern passing, you think of a nice, clean 00:11:22.490 --> 00:11:25.929 spiral dropping into a receiver's hands. But 00:11:25.929 --> 00:11:28.610 that's not what Kelly was doing. Listen to what 00:11:28.610 --> 00:11:32.389 a journalist wrote about him in 1927. The journalist 00:11:32.389 --> 00:11:35.929 wrote, quote, The Montana star throws amazing 00:11:35.929 --> 00:11:38.679 forward passes on a straight line. as if it was 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:41.580 a baseball. A baseball? Yeah. Think about the 00:11:41.580 --> 00:11:44.500 sheer raw arm strength and torque that requires. 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:46.820 Yeah. It's like trying to play modern power tennis 00:11:46.820 --> 00:11:49.879 with a heavy wooden racket from the 1970s. The 00:11:49.879 --> 00:11:52.059 sheer physical strength required to make the 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:54.000 equipment do something it wasn't designed to 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.539 do fundamentally changes the geometry of the 00:11:56.539 --> 00:11:59.230 game. It totally does. And it gets crazier. His 00:11:59.230 --> 00:12:02.429 1929 teammate George Wilson, who was a legend 00:12:02.429 --> 00:12:04.690 in his own right, recalled how Kelly threw the 00:12:04.690 --> 00:12:06.350 ball. Yeah, Wilson recalled that Kelly would 00:12:06.350 --> 00:12:08.750 scramble left or right, leap completely into 00:12:08.750 --> 00:12:12.009 the air to avoid defenders, and fire a pass while 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:14.789 airborne. Just flying through the air. Exactly. 00:12:15.230 --> 00:12:17.429 Wilson explicitly stated that Kelly was second 00:12:17.429 --> 00:12:20.009 only to Benny Friedman, who was a Hall of Famer, 00:12:20.330 --> 00:12:22.549 and widely credited as the first great passer, 00:12:22.669 --> 00:12:25.090 as the best passer of his era. Leaping into the 00:12:25.090 --> 00:12:29.649 air to throw a fat leather 1920s rugby ball on 00:12:29.649 --> 00:12:32.389 a frozen rope like a baseball shortstop. It's 00:12:32.389 --> 00:12:34.509 just an unbelievable visual. It highlights just 00:12:34.509 --> 00:12:37.169 how anomalous he was. He possessed a mechanical 00:12:37.169 --> 00:12:39.950 and athletic gift that completely defied the 00:12:39.950 --> 00:12:42.610 limitations of his era's equipment. He was innovating 00:12:42.610 --> 00:12:45.190 a modern aerial attack in a league that was built 00:12:45.190 --> 00:12:49.370 entirely around grinding runs. But. If we connect 00:12:49.370 --> 00:12:52.190 this to the bigger picture, here is the profound 00:12:52.190 --> 00:12:54.470 historical tragedy of Bill Kelly. Oh, this part 00:12:54.470 --> 00:12:56.929 hurts. He's doing all of this revolutionary passing, 00:12:57.169 --> 00:12:59.809 making these leaping throws, fundamentally altering 00:12:59.809 --> 00:13:02.909 how defenses have to play in the late 1920s and 00:13:02.909 --> 00:13:05.490 1930s. But the National Football League did not 00:13:05.490 --> 00:13:08.009 officially maintain passing records until 1934. 00:13:08.509 --> 00:13:12.230 Wait. 1934. So everything Kelly did is completely 00:13:12.230 --> 00:13:14.710 unquantifiable today. That is heartbreaking. 00:13:14.909 --> 00:13:16.929 The official stats we have for him show he played 00:13:16.929 --> 00:13:19.610 52 games and scored seven touchdowns. But that's 00:13:19.610 --> 00:13:22.389 it. That's it. As the source material explicitly 00:13:22.389 --> 00:13:25.549 notes, his other statistics are wildly incomplete. 00:13:26.210 --> 00:13:29.409 His relative gifts and failures as a passer are, 00:13:29.629 --> 00:13:32.370 as the article beautifully and sadly puts it, 00:13:32.629 --> 00:13:35.730 lost to the mists of time. It's like those stories 00:13:35.730 --> 00:13:37.769 you hear about the early days of computing where 00:13:37.899 --> 00:13:40.340 brilliant women programmers were writing incredibly 00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:43.519 complex code. But because the industry only valued 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.399 the physical hardware at the time, their software 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.139 contributions weren't officially logged or recognized 00:13:49.139 --> 00:13:51.279 until decades later. Oh, that's a great point. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.759 The medium for recording their genius simply 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:56.480 didn't exist yet. That is the perfect analogy. 00:13:57.060 --> 00:14:00.100 History relies entirely on data. We build our 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:02.539 pantheons based on ledgers. When the data is 00:14:02.539 --> 00:14:04.840 missing, we lose the pioneers who paved the way. 00:14:04.940 --> 00:14:07.259 We lose the connective tissue. Bill Kelly was 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:10.019 the bridge between the gritty, run -heavy origins 00:14:10.019 --> 00:14:12.080 of the game and the aerial spectacle it would 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:14.379 eventually become. But because he did it four 00:14:14.379 --> 00:14:16.519 years before the NFL bought a ledger for passing 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:19.139 stats, he vanishes from the record book. He was 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:21.740 quite literally ahead of his time, ahead of the 00:14:21.740 --> 00:14:23.220 time when people even thought it was important 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:25.759 to write down what he was doing. And that lack 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.000 of statistical memory is just brutally compounded 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:30.600 by how suddenly and tragically his personal story 00:14:30.600 --> 00:14:34.940 ends. It is a shocking turn of events. In 1931, 00:14:35.259 --> 00:14:38.159 Kelly's professional career has wound down. He 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:40.600 is in New York and he attends a football game 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:43.159 as a spectator, just sitting in the stands, just 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:45.980 watching a game and Out of nowhere, he suddenly 00:14:45.980 --> 00:14:48.259 collapses and dies. He was only 26 years old. 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:51.820 26. A massive heart issue, seemingly out of nowhere. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:55.659 So what does this all mean? I sit with that fact 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:58.960 and I'm just struck by the profound irony and 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:01.539 sheer fragility of an athlete's life. Yeah, it's 00:15:01.539 --> 00:15:04.059 really heavy. Here is a guy who was defined entirely 00:15:04.059 --> 00:15:06.480 by his motion. open field running, returning 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:09.360 90 -yard kickoffs, scrambling away from massive 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:11.779 defenders, leaping into the air to throw passes. 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:14.820 He was the most dynamic, fast -moving person 00:15:14.820 --> 00:15:16.879 on any field he ever stepped onto. Absolutely. 00:15:17.299 --> 00:15:19.620 And then at come six, as a spectator sitting 00:15:19.620 --> 00:15:21.799 perfectly still on the stands, it's just over. 00:15:22.139 --> 00:15:25.220 And because his life ended so abruptly... And 00:15:25.220 --> 00:15:27.679 because he played just before the era of recorded 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:31.480 passing statistics, his legacy immediately enters 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:33.519 a sort of hibernation. That's a good way to put 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:37.419 it. He dies in 1931, but it takes until 1969 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:40.600 nearly 40 years for him to be formally inducted 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.200 into the College Football Hall of Fame. 40 years! 00:15:43.379 --> 00:15:45.779 That is a lifetime of waiting for recognition. 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:49.100 If he had lived, he'd be in his mid -60s by the 00:15:49.100 --> 00:15:51.509 time they finally acknowledged him. This raises 00:15:51.509 --> 00:15:53.769 an important question about how cultural memory 00:15:53.769 --> 00:15:56.610 actually works. Why the 40 -year delay? Right, 00:15:56.649 --> 00:15:59.230 why then? Well, we talked about the lack of data. 00:15:59.809 --> 00:16:01.769 Without a neat column of statistics to point 00:16:01.769 --> 00:16:04.690 to, a player's legacy relies entirely on oral 00:16:04.690 --> 00:16:07.710 tradition. It relies on the fading, highly subjective 00:16:07.710 --> 00:16:10.009 memories of the specific people who happen to 00:16:10.009 --> 00:16:12.429 be in the stadium in Missoula or New York to 00:16:12.429 --> 00:16:14.610 see him play. And human memory is incredibly 00:16:14.610 --> 00:16:17.929 fragile. Exactly. It takes decades for historians 00:16:17.929 --> 00:16:20.750 to look back, synthesize those scattered memories, 00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:23.950 cross -reference the old newspaper clippings 00:16:23.950 --> 00:16:25.629 about a guy throwing a ball like a baseball, 00:16:26.169 --> 00:16:28.769 and make a concerted institutional effort to 00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:32.049 say, wait, this person mattered. We need to carve 00:16:32.049 --> 00:16:34.070 his name into stone before the last person who 00:16:34.070 --> 00:16:37.120 saw him play passes away. And 1969 really was 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.539 that year of institutional reclamation for him. 00:16:39.720 --> 00:16:42.240 It wasn't just the Hall of Fame. That same year, 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:44.620 a Billings Gazette poll goes out to the public 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:47.139 and names him the greatest football player in 00:16:47.139 --> 00:16:50.220 Montana history, which is huge. And then a couple 00:16:50.220 --> 00:16:53.159 of years later in 1971, he's named the quarterback 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:55.679 of the East West Shrine Games all time team. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.240 It's the ultimate proof that true impact can 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:01.320 survive the loss of data. If you change the game 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:03.990 fundamentally enough. The echo of what you did 00:17:03.990 --> 00:17:05.890 will eventually reach the people keeping the 00:17:05.890 --> 00:17:07.910 history books, even if it takes half a century 00:17:07.910 --> 00:17:10.569 to be formally recognized. It really is. So to 00:17:10.569 --> 00:17:12.390 distill all of this for you listening today, 00:17:13.170 --> 00:17:15.470 William C. Wilde Bill Kelly wasn't just a great 00:17:15.470 --> 00:17:17.809 player who put up big numbers in a small town. 00:17:18.049 --> 00:17:20.650 He was a vital bridge. A completely necessary 00:17:20.650 --> 00:17:23.410 one. He was the link between the rugby style, 00:17:23.730 --> 00:17:25.789 ground and pound origins of American football 00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:28.619 and the modern passing game we know today. He 00:17:28.619 --> 00:17:31.420 was kept at home by the early 1920s version of 00:17:31.420 --> 00:17:34.339 booster money, and he defined a revolutionary 00:17:34.339 --> 00:17:37.220 style of play that the league simply hadn't figured 00:17:37.220 --> 00:17:39.660 out how to measure yet. He was a true pioneer 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:42.700 operating in the dark. Exactly. Which brings 00:17:42.700 --> 00:17:44.880 us back to where we started that blank record 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:47.980 book and the terrifying idea of being an unrecorded 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:50.319 pioneer. Yeah. I want to leave you with this 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:53.180 thought to mull over today. If the NFL had kept 00:17:53.180 --> 00:17:55.859 passing statistics from the very beginning, if 00:17:55.859 --> 00:17:58.680 we had the actual math on every 40 -yard leaping 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:01.559 throw he made, would wild Bill Kelly be a household 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:04.420 name today? Would kids wear his jersey? And it 00:18:04.420 --> 00:18:06.279 makes you wonder. And belting on that, look around 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.539 right now. In your own field, your own industry, 00:18:08.700 --> 00:18:11.460 your own office, who are the brilliant pioneers 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:13.680 whose achievements are currently being lost or 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:16.380 ignored simply because society hasn't figured 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:18.119 out the right metric to measure them yet?