John Kelly Jr. was hired as the Assistant Sports Information Director at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in November 2024. Kelly Jr. joins and strengthens the Athletic Communications team at USMMA led by Assistant AD for Communications Joe Guster.
“I am extremely excited to have John Kelly Jr. join our staff here at KP,” said Guster. “He was one of the first faces I saw when I started at the Academy back in 2014 in his role as the USMMA Sports Network’s lead play-by-play announcer. I saw firsthand back then how hard he worked, diligently preparing for each game and really getting to know our coaches, student-athletes and even their families, and then perfectly capturing our teams’ successes over the airwaves of our streams. He went on to become rising star in the Sports Information profession for the past five-plus years and I know he will do a great job to help promote our programs.”
Kelly Jr. will assist in all aspects of the sports information operation at the Academy, including game day management, statistical record-keeping for our teams (and subsequently our conferences and the NCAA), all content that appears on USMMASports.com, content creation for and management of our social media pages and videoboards, media relations and video stream oversight for the USMMA Sports Network to name a few.
"I want to thank Kris Schnatz, Joe Guster and the entire search committee for being given the opportunity to serve as the Assistant SID at USMMA," said Kelly Jr. "The Kings Point Athletics community has always had a special place in my heart. I was fortunate to be a part of many major program milestones and develop relationships with outstanding coaches and families during my time as their play-by-play announcer from 2013 to 2019. The opportunity to cover these unique student-athletes who will become the country's future leaders and highlight their successes on and off the field along is very exciting to me."
He most recently served as the Sports Information Director for the Borough of Manhattan Community College. During his time in Manhattan, Kelly Jr. was responsible for the leadership, execution, and support of BMCC Athletics, blending the traditional sports information role with enhanced digital and creative content services. He oversaw all creative services, video streaming, production, and graphic design for the school's 13 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) programs.
Kelly Jr. hit the ground running after returning to the Panther's Athletic department for the school's first entire Athletic Season in 2022-23 since the COVID-19 pandemic, playing a crucial role in working to revamp the department's brand by collaborating with the Athletic Director on the redesign of the BMCC Athletics webpage www.bmccathletics.com for the first time in over 10 seasons. Kelly Jr. also improved the BMCC Athletics YouTube page during his time at 199 Chambers Street, helping the Athletic Department live stream all home contests in BMCC Gymnasium for men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, and remotely for baseball home games during the 2022-23 season. Kelly Jr. also increased the BMCC Athletics’ social media following, getting the program over 2,000 followers in three seasons with engaging content highlighting BMCC Athletics' greatest accomplishments, program records, postgame highlights, and interviews.
Kelly Jr. played an instrumental role in helping promote the BMCC outdoor track and field program during their inaugural season. He helped get the school's first-ever USTFCCCA All-American, Lea Reimer, and Athletic Department television coverage on WPIX 11 New York City before the program's first-ever trip to Nationals.
He also nominated the school's first-ever College Sports Communicators (Formerly CoSIDA) Academic All-America and All-District selection, El Hadji Gaye. Kelly Jr. nominated two College Sports Communicators (Formerly CoSIDA) All-District honorees overall during his time in Downtown Manhattan helping the Panthers pick up their second straight selection with Trent Santoro of the BMCC men's cross country team grabbing College Sports Communicators (Formerly CoSIDA) All-District accolades last season.
He has also been there every step of the way to highlight the women's volleyball program's first CUNYAC Championship since 2006, a Conference three-peat from the men's soccer program, and their first national ranking since the 2000s, along with numerous individual accolades by the Panther's Athletic programs. Kelly Jr. has helped nominate seven National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Player of the Week winners overall across all three sport seasons, including the women's volleyball program's first two NJCAA Division III Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week in over a decade in Xheni Doci and Emmanuella Aurel from the women's volleyball program, Emily Kennedy from the women's basketball program, two Goalkeeper of the Week honors Abdul Mumin Seidu, NJCAA Division III Offensive and Goalkeeper of the Week Sebastien George and El Momar Coundoul along with two NJCAA Division III Runner of the Week honors for Panther women's cross country runner Lea Reimer.
Before BMCC, Kelly Jr. served as the Director of Sports Information at Monroe-Bronx during the 2021-22 Athletic season. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of Athletic Communications for all 17 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) sports for the Athletics Department, including social media, live in-game statistics, and other game-day communications and operations activities. He helped build the Monroe Express YouTube channel and grew the subscriber base by live-streaming men's soccer, men's and women's basketball, and baseball while providing game highlights and coach interviews. He also helped promote the Express's first-ever men's and women's basketball NJCAA Tournament appearance on News 12 Bronx and got the program five NJCAA National Players of the Week across three sports seasons.
From 2013 to 2018, Kelly Jr. was the play-by-play broadcaster for the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) from 2013-18. In that role, he handled play-by-play duties on the USMMA Sports Network and announced six Skyline Championships in total during his time, including the first-ever for baseball in 2021 and women's lacrosse in 2018, along with back-to-backs for women's basketball and lacrosse in 2019. He was also on the call for the men's lacrosse Skyline Championship in 2018 and the men's soccer Skyline crown in 2016.
The Glen Ridge, N.J., native obtained his Masters in Sports Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2013 and a Bachelor's in Communications from Fordham University in 2009. While at Fordham, he worked for WFUV Sports as an undergraduate, serving as the beat reporter for the Giants, Islanders, Devils, and Knicks while covering the 2008 Barclays (FedEx Cup).
Kelly Jr. is an active College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) member and served on a CoSIDA Two-Year cabinet for four straight years. His 2023-24 season graphic design portfolio was also honored as Designer of the Year by College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) for one of their two Best Of categories for the two-year colleges. He was one of 210 individuals from the College Division for Division II, Division III, the NAIA, two-year schools, high school members, and Canadian Institutions to receive the honor. His graphic work has also earned 2YSIDA Publications Contests Awards recognition three straight years for gameday graphics and social media features, along with his BMCC Baseball team schedule poster last year.
