Read an excerpt from "Kelley's Boys"
Jan 30, 2012 by Athens YMCA
Friends of the Athens YMCA and long-time Athens residents will be pleased to learn that the biography of legendary Athens Y Physical Director, Cobern Kelley, is still available. The book, about Kelley’s life and his career working with the youth of Athens, is based on research done by Athens native Blake Giles and the final version was penned by Banner-Herald columnist Darrell Huckaby.
“Kelley’s Boys” reveals little known information about Cobern Kelley’s early life in Atlanta as well as stories about his exploits in the Coast Guard and, later, in the U.S. Navy during World War II. It also details his amazing trip down the Amazon River to areas of the world that few outsiders had ever seen. Most of the material, however, deals with the unique relationship Kelley had with the hundreds and hundreds of boys who came under his tutelage. It is full of first-person accounts of his exploits and of the impact he had on the lives of many people who still call Athens home.
Enjoy this excerpt from the book:
Chapter Thirteen “Kelley was stricken at an early age by wanderlust. He loved to travel and see new places, to experience new things, and make new memories. He turned World War II into an adventure. He didn’t just watch snake charmers in India—he taught himself to be one. He didn’t stay on the ship in the Philippines—he volunteered to go ashore for the most dangerous assignment available.
The thing he liked most about working for Coca-Cola was not getting to inspect bottles for cleanliness—it was getting to travel, to see the country, and to meet people. And he thought that his boys needed to be exposed to a bit of wanderlust themselves. Kelley loved life, and he wanted to give his boys an opportunity to discover as much about the things in life he loved as possible—including travel.
In fact, Kelley had only been at the Y a few years when he decided that it would be fun to pile 40 boys into a Bluebird bus and drive them across the country. Not ride with them across the country, understand—Kelley would drive the bus himself. There are those who are willing to testify that Kelley could drive a bus for 24 straight hours.
40 boys and Kelley. He would be the only adult, primarily because he was the only one in Northeast Georgia brave enough to set out on such an odyssey—and what an adventure it was.
No fine dining for Kelley’s boys. They ate picnic lunches on the side of the road. Holiday Inns? Who needed those? They slept under the open sky wherever they found themselves at bedtime. The only itinerary, if there was one at all, was in Kelley’s head. For weeks at a time no one called home. They might or might not try to send a postcard home every week or so. Sometimes they scribbled a message on the card but most of the time the postmark gave the only clue as to their whereabouts. All the parents knew was there boys were on bus with Kelley and that they somewhere in the United States—or at least North America.
Obviously, it was a different age—and in most respects, probably a better one.
From the early ‘50s until his death, travel camp with Kelley was one of the most popular activities at the Y—probably the most popular activity for the boys lucky enough to have experienced it. At first the destinations were pretty spontaneous and uncharted—much like the very first one, but during the last decade of Kelley’s life he established a set routine. He made three trips each summer: the California trip, the Florida trip, and the Canada trip.
The first trip of the summer was always the one out west. Kelley would arrange to leave almost as soon as school let out, and they would stay gone three weeks. The Florida trip was a one-week respite in the middle of the summer, around the second or third week in July, and the Canadian trip was a two-week excursion in August.
Travelling cross-country with Kelley was as close to heaven on earth as any of the boys could imagine. They were going places and seeing things they had never seen before and things that many of them would never see again. And, best of all, they were with Kelley, 24/7, for weeks at a time.
Kelley made the trips sound like an educational opportunity, a rite of passage and a patriotic duty all rolled into one. Sneak a peek at this exert from a flyer Kelley published prior to the 1958 trip to the Great Lakes and Canada.
This old USA is getting rather small as far as Athens Y Travel Camp is concerned, and finding new suitable territory is getting harder and harder as the years go by, but we’ve cooked up another new trip this year which should prove to be excellent. It is planned for the last two weeks of the summer vacation season, Aug. 18 thru Aug. 30, and will be a real stimulant for the end-of-vacation days preparatory to the get-back-to-school days which follow.
It will be called the Great Lakes Canadian Trip and will take us up thru Indiana to Chicago where we’ll see some of the interesting points of the Windy City, on thru Milwaukee along Lake Michigan and up to Sault Ste, Marie, where the points of Lakes Michigan, Superior, and Huron come together, then on through some of the fine camping territory of Ontario to North Bay and then down to Toronto and Niagara Falls, thence to New York and other points of interest and from there back to Athens. This will be different from all previous Canadian trips, and those who have been on the other Canadian trips will be eligible for this new one. It will be an entirely new trip except for two or three points of interest such as Niagara Falls and New York, but even at these points plans have been made which will bring in new and interesting material.
We camp out and cook during the trip. No special equipment other than a sleeping bag is needed. The cost of the trip is $60 and includes everything except souvenir money and any unforeseen emergency.”
Kelley’s Boys is a must-read for anyone who knew Kelley and even more so for those who didn’t, because after reading Kelley’s Boys they will feel like they did know him. The book is available for purchase at the YMCA for $24.95.
