Teacher’s Pet

Mr. Marc Kelly ’87
By Alex Stanley ’12
THE ROUNDUP

Mr. Fisko’s question from March 2012 “Teacher’s Pet”: What is your brain food?

School appropriate? I’d say cookies, why not? I don’t want to do cupcakes.

Where were you born?

I was born in Philadelphia.

And you went to Brophy, right?

Yes.

What was Brophy like when you went to school?

Brophy had two buildings and a gym.

Where the mall is now, there was black top pavement with basketball hoops.

No gates. No lawns. There was a pool where Keating and Eller are now.

And there was a scary locker room that was adjacent to the pool.

Where’d you go to college?

Gonzaga.

Did you like it?

Yup, played four years of soccer there—I loved Gonzaga. I haven’t been back there since; I’ll need to go back. It became a much better school after I left, let’s put it that way.

What is the craziest thing that has happened to you as a student or faculty member at Brophy?

This year is a huge disappointment in our soccer team losing in quadruple overtime in the state championship.

That was certainly an insane ending to the season.

That was one of the most difficult things—I’m still trying to deal with that.

In regards to soccer, we’ve had a number of really amazing comebacks, including one where we were losing three goals to zero with 13 minutes left in the first round of state against Mountain Ridge. We came back to score four goals to win it.

Also, I’ve been on some great immersion trips. Seeing New Orleans while it was underwater was certainly crazy and sad.

Do you have any relation to the astronaut Mark Kelly?

I’ve been called a space cadet, and I like Space Mouse sometimes. But, I don’t have any relation to him as far as I know. Somewhere down the line I’m sure we’re related, because of the last name.

Have you been following Jurgen Klinsmann and the U.S. Men’s National Team?

Yes. He is starting to do well.

Do you think you could take Klinsmann’s job as head coach?

Yes. He’s German; he doesn’t know anything about anything. I’m just kidding. I would never want Jurgen Klinsmann’s job—what a mess.

But, I’m happy to see that he is actually doing well. His real test will come for the qualification for the World Cup.

Is your house perchance made out of clay?

When I bought my house about seven or eight years ago, I completely ripped out the interior walls. So, I have a number of walls that are made of clay—they are murals.

There’s a huge one in my bathroom. It takes up an entire wall—about 12 feet tall.

My house is a work in progress, but every part of it has some artistic aspect to it, which makes it difficult to finish. In essence it will never be finished. Therein lies my personal agony.

Which do you prefer: longboard or bicycle?

Wow! I like the longboard better.

It’s kind of a workout and you can get kind of gnarly on the longboard. I like the ability to carve.

The bike drives itself—all you have to do it pedal. With you longboard, you have to balance, carve, grind on stuff—frighten old ladies. You know, whatever you got to do.

How can students earn an A in one of your classes?

Cookies. Obviously, getting an A in one of my classes is very difficult. So, they’ve got to really work hard for that A. That’s a joke, but you’ve got to keep it classy in the studio for sure.

Pose a question for the next teacher interviewed.

What did you want to be when you were young?