Hughie Kelly was born at Valleyfield, Culross, Fifeshire on 23 July 1923 and became a wing half who, while working for the Ministry of Food in Perth, played for Jeanfield Swifts and also played as a wartime guest player for a number of Scottish League sides. His sterling performances brought him to the attention of the Blackpool scout in Scotland and he was signed from Jeanfield Swifts in May 1943 for the customary £10 signing-on fee.
The war restricted his appearances for the Seasiders and he made his first official appearance for the club in a 3-0 victory over Chesterfield in The Football League (North) competition on 8 December 1945. He went on to play 20 League games for the club, eight of them in the unaccustomed position of right half, in that season, in which he also played as a guest player for East Fife. In addition he made his debut in the FA Cup for Blackpool, appearing in the fourth round replay against Middlesbrough on 4 February 1946 when Blackpool exited the competition 1-0.
He started the first official post-war League season of 1946/47 at left half in the Central League side, playing in the opening game, a 1-0 victory over Bury reserves on 31 August 194 and after four games at that level he was introduced to the League side for his debut at right half against Aston Villa on 21 September 1946 when a Stan Mortensen goal gave Blackpool a 1-0 victory. Even though he starred when Blackpool defeated Derby County 2-1 on 28 September 1946, the press comment being "Once this line began to be given a service of passes from two fine wing half backs [Johnston and Hugh Kelly] it always had the promise of goals in it", the famous Farrow/Hayward/Johnston half back line prevented him appearing too many times in that initial season in which he played six League games and 31 Central League games, five at outside left. His first goal for the club came in a 3-1 victory over Everton reserves on 4 January 1947 and it was after that game that he was tried at outside left.
He was a Central League regular in the early part of the 1947/48 season, playing the occasional first team game, but once George Farrow was transferred to Sheffield United in exchange for Walter Rickett, Harry Johnston moved over to right half and Hughie gained a regular place in the League side at left half; thereafter he was rarely out of the side except for injury. He began with a 1-1 draw against Stoke City on 27 December 1947 and his season ended after he had played in the exciting FA Cup Final that resulted in a 4-2 defeat by Manchester United.
And it was against Manchester United on 1 September 1948 that he scored his first League goal for Blackpool when, after 82 minutes, he took a cross from Billy Wardle and scored "with a great rising shot" as Blackpool came from behind to win 4-3 with a last-minute goal. He missed very few games in that 1948/49 season and he married in the off-season, Miss Joan Cousens of Blackpool being his bride, and love of his life, at St Cuthbert's Church, Lytham Road on 11 May 1949.
He missed only two games in the 1949/50 season and in 1950/51 he missed only five and was once again unlucky at Wembley when Blackpool were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United. Not renown for his goalscoring, he opened his account in the first game of the season when Blackpool defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 but it was to be his only goal of that season and, indeed, his last for seven years!
He was always the first name on the team sheet but injury cost him some games in the middle of the 1951/52 season but he came back so strongly that he was selected for Scotland against the United States of America at Hampden Park on 30 April 1952. It was to be his only international cap but it was an extremely successful appearance as Scotland won 6-0. And he began 1952/53 so well that he was selected for Scotland's first ever 'B' international fixture against France in Toulouse on 11 November 1952. The game ended 0-0 but he was in the 'B' side again for the first game on home soil as Scotland drew 2-2 with England at Easter Road on 11 March 1953.
Sadly the season was to end in tragedy for, having helped Blackpool to the FA Cup Final, he was injured in the penultimate League game of the season against Liverpool and had to sit out the famous 4-3 victory over Bolton Wanderers. Even so, that doyen of football reporters Clifford Greenwood of the Green suggested at the close of that 1952/53 season, "If there is a wing half stronger in the tackle than Hugh Kelly, giving 20 shillings in the pound in every game, I have not yet met him." Never a truer word was written!
Surprisingly he lost his place in the first team following injury in December 1953 and, again surprisingly, he asked for a transfer but the Directors did not want to lose such a valuable player and they (thankfully) refused his request. It was just as well that they did for he forced his way back into the side for a 2-2 draw with Arsenal on 26 December and was never out of the side again for the remainder of the season.
He reached a landmark when he played his 300th League and Cup game against Sheffield Wednesday on 19 February 1955 and fittingly Blackpool won 2-1. Two hundred and ninety-two of his games had been at left half with the other eight being at right half, before he became the permanent fixture in the side that he was, so much so that it was often said that the side would have been incomplete without him.
On Harry Johnston's retirement after the 1955/56 season he was appointed Blackpool captain and he missed only one game through injury in that season, which ended with Blackpool finishing in their highest ever League position, second behind First Division champions Manchester United. Sadly after leading Blackpool to six victories in the opening nine fixtures of the following season he was injured and Ewan Fenton got his chance, which he gratefully accepted, so much so that when Kelly was fit again he had to settle for a place in the Central League side until returning to finish the season with a run of nine games that began with a 5-0 victory over Portsmouth on 30 March 1957. Blackpool once again finished in a commanding place in the First Division table, fourth spot being the second top 10 finish they were to achieve in four successive seasons.
The seven-year wait for a goal came when he netted from the penalty spot against Burnley in a 4-2 defeat on 16 November 1957 and, enjoying the role, he had scored three more penalties before the season was out. He started the 1958/59 season in the same commanding form as he had shown throughout his time at Bloomfield Road and on opening day when Blackpool defeated Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 on 23 August 1958 "The two Kellys [Hughie and Jimmy] outshone the expensive Spurs pair of Blanchflower and Iley simply because they were rapier-like in their tackling and [were] seldom caught out of position." Once again it was only injury that restricted his season to 42 League and Cup games and once again he scored from the penalty spot, on two occasions.
He continued to earn good reviews such as "A compact half-back line, in which Roy Gratrix was superb and Peter Hauser and Hugh Kelly forever active, plus two sound, assured full backs in Jimmy Armfield and Barrie Martin, played a major part in achieving a deserved draw" as Blackpool drew 1-1 with Wolverhampton Wanderers on 6 February 1960 but his time in the League side was drawing to a close. And in that 1959/60 season he spent his time alternating between the first and second team and then in what turned out to be his final season at the club, 1960/61, he nursed an injury that restricted him to just 13 Central League appearances.
Inevitably it was time to move on and when Ashton United approached him to become their player-manager, Blackpool sportingly agreed on a free transfer for services rendered in the close season of 1960/61, even presenting him with a canteen of cutlery in appreciation of his 18 years' service. He had been a stalwart at Bloomfield Road and was an integral part of the Blackpool side in, what at the moment represents, the high point in the club's history. Hughie played 470 League and Cup games, scoring nine goals and in addition he added his class to the Central League side by playing 122 games at that level, scoring four goals.
While with Ashton United he won the Lancashire Combination Second Division Championship and thus promotion in his first season and then the club finished a very creditable third in the Lancashire Combination First Division in his second year in charge and also won the Manchester Intermediate Cup. He remained with the club until August 1963 when he resigned due to his business commitments in Blackpool, where he also had a spell on the football club's backroom staff before retiring from the came completely to concentrate on his business.
He was a true gentleman on and off the field and will be sadly missed by family and his many friends plus supporters who were either lucky enough to have seen him play or who will have heard of his talents through others. Rest in peace Hughie Kelly.