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Jim Kelly
The Black Six Million Dollar Man
Born in Paris, Kentucky, Jim Kelly (not to be confused with the Buffalo Bills football player of the same name) grew up with uncanny athletic ability. He ran track and played football and basketball in junior high and high school, was voted the most inspirational junior high athlete in San Diego, and had a chance to become a professional football player. He first found interest in karate after leaving the University of Louisville as a freshman and moving to Lexington, where he began studying the martial arts under shorin-ryu karate instructor Parker Sheldon.
Kelly rocketed to fame in the martial arts community after an impressive showing at Ed Parker's 1971 Internationals, and he appeared as one of Bruce Lee's co-stars in the legendary film, Enter the Dragon. Since then, Kelly has faded out of the martial arts limelight as his interests have broadened. Not before releaseing awesome Kung Fu hits like "Black Belt Jones" "The black Samuri."
In 1975, he turned to tennis and became a professional player, rising to number two in California in the senior men's doubles rankings and reaching the top ten in the state in senior men's singles. Following a short stint in 1990 as a boxer, Kelly is currently working with the Gracie brothers, studying their unique form of jujitsu, while teaching both tennis and martial arts across the United States and overseas.
What a man.
