Friends, colleagues remember former James Wood coach, AD Kelican

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Former James Wood High School head football coach and athletic director Jerry Kelican died on Tuesday night at the age of 77 at Winchester Medical Center.

The Frederick County resident had been at the hospital for more than a week at the time of his passing, according to his friend Wendell Dick, the 1958 James Wood graduate and longtime contributor to James Wood athletics.

Kelican — the man who James Wood chose to name its football stadium after in 1999 and a 2002 inductee into James Wood’s P. Wendell Dick Athletic Hall of Fame — compiled a 75-31-5 record in 11 seasons from 1971-81.

Kelican directed the Colonels to four Group AAA Commonwealth District titles during that time, which included a 10-0 regular season in 1980. He served as athletic director from 1986-99, earning the Virginia State Athletic Director of the Year award in 1997. Kelican’s coaching career began at Handley in 1962 as an assistant football and track coach.

The impact Kelican’s wisdom made on the field was undeniable, but it was his character more than his football achievements that made him one-of-a-kind to those that knew Jerry “Jake” Lee Kelican.

“Jake was everybody’s friend,” said Jerry Tingle, an assistant coach for Kelican from 1974-81 and the man who succeeded Kelican as athletic director in 1999. “I don’t know that anyone wasn’t a friend of Jake’s. He would do anything for anyone.”

“He was just a model gentleman,” Dick said. “He wanted to treat visiting teams right for football games. He tried to feed them as much as he could. Jerry Kelican was the real deal.”

And of course, he looked out for the students of James Wood High School.

Current Colonels coordinator of student activities Craig Woshner noted the work that Kelican did to develop on-site outdoor athletic facilities for James Wood after its current building — the Ridge Campus — opened in the early 1980s. When that building opened, juniors and seniors went to the Ridge Campus and freshman and sophomores went to the old Amherst Campus.

“He did a lot behind the scenes,” said Woshner, who started working at James Wood as a teacher in 1992 and a cross country coach in 1993. “For a long time games were not played here. The football field and the track were still at the Amherst Campus. They played baseball over at Bridgeforth [Stadium], they were playing softball over at Clear Brook.

“But then the football stadium opened in the early 1990s, the baseball stadium went up in 1998, and I think the softball field went in at the same time. We were able to bring all our teams onto the campus instead of having to go elsewhere. I think that’s the biggest thing that he did that has a lasting impact at James Wood, what he did for all the facilities, and the kids who benefit from that.”

According to Dick’s biographical notes, Kelican was born and raised in Charles Town, W.Va.

A 1957 graduate of Charles Town High School, Kelican was an all-state quarterback as a senior. He was also a basketball player, a baseball shortstop, and participated in track and field, recording a 10.0 in the 100-yard dash three times on cinder tracks.

After graduating, Kelican went to Potomac State College in Keyser, W.Va., where he earned first team All-WVIAC honors. Kelican then transferred to Shepherd College and played football there as well, graduating in 1961.

In 1962, Kelican took a job at Handley as a science and social studies teacher and stayed there until 1968 (he was head track coach the last two years).

Kelican then went to Warren Local High School in Vincent, Ohio, to be the head football coach, track coach and a physical education teacher.

The football team had lost 17 consecutive games before he arrived, but in his second year he won a district championship and was named Tri-Valley Coach of the Year. In his third year, he repeated those feats. Kelican is now in the school’s athletic hall of fame. Overall, he went 29-1-1.

Kelican left Warren Local to come to James Wood in 1971, where he had a tough act to follow. His predecessor, Walter Barr, led James Wood to the 1970 Group AAA state championship in 1970.

Kelican’s first three times went a combined 26-3-1 though, earning district co-championships in 1971 and 1973.

In 1974, Tingle joined Kelican’s staff, and he it didn’t take him long to be impressed.

“He got the most out of the kids of anyone I’ve ever been around,” Tingle said. “We were playing AAA, Gar-Field, Woodbridge, and those big boys. He would get our little guys — and I mean little compared to them — ready to play. We put a hammer on Gar-Field often. They’d be 9-1, 8-2, and one of their losses would be to Wood.

“He was meticulous about planning offense, defense, getting things done. But he let us coach as assistants. He would delegate things for us to do in practice. We all played a role even though he was the head man. He was a good teacher, and everyone was on the same page.”

Sherando boys’ basketball coach Garland Williams — a junior running back and defensive back on the undefeated 1980 team — said he wouldn’t have played high school football if not for Kelican, whose family became lifelong friends with his.

“I played junior high football, and did fairly well at it,” said Williams, who was 5-7 and 140 pounds in high school. “But by the time I got to high school I was a skittish kid [because of my size], and I wasn’t going to play anymore. But he came to my house and talked me into playing, and I’m glad I did.

“He’s always been a man of character as far as coaching and as an athletic director. He demanded that his players work hard, but he was a caring coach. He was there to help players when they had issues.”

Dick said his favorite coaching memory was an upset over Gar-Field High School when they were ranked No. 1 in the state in the mid-1970s. Gar-Field was coached by Bob Pruett, the head coach for Marshall University from 1996-2004.

“That Gar-Field team sent 14 players to major colleges, and we sent one to Shepherd,” Dick said. “In my opinion, it’s the biggest football victory in James Wood history. When the game was over, we went back inside the school. We were coming back up the hallway, and it was quiet as a mouse.

“When [assistant coach Bob Bonneville and I got to the middle room, all the sudden I heard this voice say, ‘That damn Jerry Kelican, that damn Jerry Kelican.’ It was Pruett. Jake had outfoxed him.”

Omps Funeral home in Winchester will hold two viewings for Kelican — one on Sunday from 1-3 p.m. and the other from 6-8 p.m. on Monday. The funeral will start at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Follow on Twitter @WinStarSports1