About Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly is an Emmy and ACE award-winning sportscaster with more than five decades in broadcasting, covering nearly every major sport across CBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and The Golf Channel.

Kelly’s broadcasting career began in 1965 calling hockey on radio while playing the sport himself at the University of Toledo, where he was named Rookie of the Year. From there he built one of the most versatile résumés in sports television. At CBS Radio Sports (1974–85), he hosted and produced SportsWorld Roundup, and covered two Olympic Games and 12 Masters tournaments. He served as sports anchor for Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV (now NBC10) from 1978–82, winning a 1980 Eclipse Award for his horse racing coverage, and later called NFL and NBA play-by-play for CBS-TV, anchoring the 1983 Belmont Stakes and 1985 Travers Stakes along the way.

Since joining ESPN in 1985, Kelly has covered more PGA Tour, Champions Tour, and LPGA events annually than any other network commentator — over 30 events a year — along with horse racing, college football and basketball, tennis, and hockey. His coverage of five America’s Cups includes a CableAce Award win for the 1986–87 America’s Cup in Australia. He went on to host Champions Tour coverage on CNBC before joining The Golf Channel in 2004 as booth host alongside analyst Frank Nobilo, and has held down the golf anchor chair across ESPN, ABC, and The Golf Channel ever since.

Kelly’s decades in the game have taken him from Pebble Beach to Augusta, St Andrews to Australia, New Zealand to France, Japan, and South Africa — and along the way, he’s built one of the widest circles of friends in golf: pro golfers, athletes, coaches, and corporate CEOs. Few broadcasters bring that kind of access to their audience, and Jim brings it all — those relationships, stories, and perspectives — to the 19th Hole, including in the show’s Links to Leadership series.

Off the air, Kelly is focused on golf course marketing, banquets, and video production. He’s an early riser by habit — up well before dawn most days — and an active outdoorsman who golfs, fishes, and boats when he’s not working. He’s the proud father of two daughters, Jennifer and Shawn, and grandfather to five: Malcolm, Harper, Rowen, Marley, and Noah Kathryn.