Kelly and his family lived in Biloxi, Miss., when Hurricane Katrina swept through in 2005.
Mike Kelly's 2005-06 hockey season consisted entirely of community outreach and hands-on help along the Gulf Coast.
SPRINGFIELD – Springfield Falcons broadcaster Mike Kelly knows about the devastation a hurricane can cause.
With Superstorm Sandy, he watched it on television. With Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he saw it firsthand working for the Mississippi Sea Wolves in Biloxi, Miss.
“My wife and I feel terrible for those folks. We know exactly what they’re going through,” he said, referring to the widespread damage Hurricane Sandy caused along the eastern seaboard.
In August of 2005, Kelly was in Biloxi, preparing for the start of his sixth season with the Sea Wolves. When warnings of Hurricane Katrina’s impending arrival went out, Biloxi residents were advised to evacuate.
“We knew it was coming, and we heeded the warnings,” Kelly said.
He moved with his wife, Suzanne, and their 7-month-old son Gregory to Pensacola, Fla., where they stayed with the family of Paul Chestnut, a friend who was the broadcaster for Pensacola’s ECHL club.
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast.
Biloxi was battered with high winds, heavy rains and a storm surge, causing massive damage.
“We stayed in Pensacola for 12 days, then we were able to go back to Biloxi when power and cell phone service were restored. But as we arrived, it was like a war zone, a ghost town, a surreal sight. We couldn’t believe what one day can do,” Kelly said.
The Kellys had an apartment about a mile and a quarter from the beach.
“Luckily for us, there was only minor damage to our quarters, and no water damage because we were on the third level. But 500 yards away from us, homes were completely gone, with only slabs of concrete left,” Kelly said.
As it is doing today in the Northeast, the Red Cross provided relief along the Gulf Coast.
“They were there for months. They were unbelievable,” Kelly said.
As for the ECHL season, it was over before it ever began as far as the Mississippi hockey club was concerned. Kelly and the team’s coach, Steffon Walby, were kept on the payroll even when the franchise suspended operations.
“Our first job was to put on boots, pick up crowbars and go to work cleaning up our home arena (the Mississippi Coast Coliseum),” Kelly said.
The arena had taken on six feet of water during the storm surge. Kelly and Walby spent three weeks cleaning up, a job that for the most part entailed removing all of the arena’s drywall and wood that had been waterlogged.
“There was so much mold, it was everywhere. And there was seaweed in the closets. It was all pretty nasty,” Kelly said.
For the rest of that 2005-06 “hockey season,” Kelly and the coach worked on community outreach.
“We helped rebuild the homes of some of our season-ticket holders. I got to be a handyman there,” Kelly said.
They also spent time trucking lunches and cooking meals for season-ticket holders. It was the hockey club’s way of saying thanks.
“We did all that for nine months, then it was time for me to move on,” Kelly said.
July's naturalization ceremonies were a happier time for Falcons voice Mike Kelly and wife Suzanne.
The move sent him to Charleston, S.C., where he became broadcaster for the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays. He was hired by Darren Abbott, now the president of the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs.
After the 2006-07 season, Kelly got a call from Bruce Landon, president/general manager of the Falcons.
“He offered me an opportunity to join his organization as the broadcaster, and I am proud to be a part of it. Springfield feels like home to us. We love the area and this country so much, we both became U.S. citizens this year on the Fourth of July,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s play-by-play broadcasts of Falcons games can be heard on WHYN 560. It’s a job he cherishes because it makes him part of the game he loves.
“I’m from Seaforth, Ontario, a small town with about 2,300 residents. We love our hockey, and I grew up loving it too. Seaforth has a lot of history in the game, going all the way back to Cooney Weiland,” Kelly said.
Seaforth’s Ralph “Cooney” Weiland had an illustrious career, which began when he played for the Owen Sound Grays as they won Canada’s Memorial Cup of junior hockey in 1924.
He played with Eddie Shore on Boston Bruins Stanley Cup winners in 1929 and 1939, then coached the Bruins to another cup in 1941 before moving on to a 21-year career as Harvard’s coach.
“I loved all that hockey history as I was growing up, but I never was much of a player,” Kelly said. “I was able to find my niche as a broadcaster.”
Kelly met Suzanne when they were communication majors at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario.
“I worked for a time on Canadian TV as a producer and writer. Then I went to the Sports Network, which is like ESPN, as a reporter and anchor,” Kelly said.
In 2000 came a call for the play-by-play job in Biloxi.
“We drove nine days to get there from British Columbia. It was the kind of job I wanted because I have such a passion for hockey,” he said.
Six years later, along came the disaster named Katrina.
Kelly and his family lived through it, and were part of Biloxi’s effort to regroup and fight back.
“The people devastated by Hurricane Sandy – they will rebuild too, and time will heal a lot,” Kelly said.
Garry Brown can be reached at geeman1918@repub.com