TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Prep Coach, Ex-Sports Star Charged In Drug Sweep

ADVERTISEMENT

By DAVE NICHOLSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 24, 2008

Kenny Kelly

PLANT CITY - Kenny Kelly, a volunteer assistant football coach at Plant City High School and former professional baseball player, was among about 70 people arrested Wednesday on drug charges as part of a three-county, five-month investigation.

Kelly, who was a three-sport athlete at Tampa Catholic High in the mid-1990s and is recognized as one of the top prep athletes to come out of Hillsborough County, was charged with solicitation to deliver, possess and purchase marijuana.

He was being held today at Orient Road Jail with bail set at $45,000.

Jail records list him as unemployed, but he was recent named quarterbacks coach at Plant City High, an unpaid position. He will not be allowed to return to campus while the charges are pending, a school board spokeswoman said.

Kelly, who once owned a restaurant in Plant City, was one of dozens of people arrested by law enforcement agencies following the investigation into two drug networks.

In football, Kelly was a Parade All-American honoree and once the county's career leader in passing yards and touchdown passes. He signed a football scholarship with the University of Miami in February 1997 and, later that summer, was a second-round selection by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the Major League Baseball amateur draft. For three years, he played both sports, spending the fall with the Hurricanes before shifting to the Rays' farm system. Kelly left the University of Miami after the 1999 season to concentrate on his baseball career.

Kelly has played pro baseball for 11 seasons and was twice called up from the minors (with Tampa Bay in 2000 and with Cincinnati and Washington in 2005), totaling 26 games in the major leagues.

"I'm stunned," said Plant City head football coach Jason Strunk, who was not aware of Kelly's arrest when reached by a reporter Wednesday evening. "I'm completely blown away. That's all I can say, really."

Adam Adkins contributed to this report. Reporter Dave Nicholson can be reached at dnicholson@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT