Tributes for Murray Rose, Jack Kelly

Rose Honored in Sydney

Hundreds turn out at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney Nov. 26 to pay tribute to Olympian Murray Rose who died last year at age 73.

The guest list included dozens of Australian Olympians who swam with Rose, a six-time medalist at the Olympics in 1956 and 1960. He was excluded from the Australian team for the 1964 games because a movie commitment prevented him from qualifying at the trials with the rest of the squad.

Among those at the tribute were Dawn Fraser, John Konrads, Sandra Morgan-Beavis (all three were teammates with Rose), Shane Gould, Peter Montgomery, Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Kitty Chiller.

The Gala was timed for the release of Rose's autobiography,Life is Worth Swimming.

While reminiscing on Murray, Shane Gould commented that the book shows how"as a swimmer, you can draw many things about life" and Grant Hackett cited Murray a "great inspiration."

Kelly Honored at Reno Tahoe Event

The annual International Sports Hall of Fame gala held by the Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition was dedicated to the memory of Jack Kelly, Olympic bid expert and sports event manager. Kelly, who died in August at age 68, was consulting Reno Tahoe on a possible bid for the winter Olympics.

Coalition director Jon Killoran tells Around the Rings that Kelly’s family, led by his spouse Kathy, attended the November 23 dinner.

Kelly, who began his career as an oil company executive in Texas, gravitated to the sports business and led a U.S. Olympic Festival as well as two editions of the Goodwill Games organized by Ted Turner. He was CEO of the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky until health issues sidelined him from the event. Advising Reno Tahoe on its Olympic aspirations was one of Kelly’s last professional assignments.

Reported by Ed Hula

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