IL HR0226

Declares June 11, 2023 as "Keith Kelley Day" in Illinois to honor Keith Kelley, who broke the color barrier in Illinois baseball on June 11, 1950 for the Peoria Sunday Morning League, a year before the Chicago White Sox and three years before the Chicago Cubs.

Keith Kelley was a right-handed pitcher who starred at Peoria Central High School in 1950 with a 13-3 record and 154 strikeouts in 106 innings, winning the school's Jack Koch Award as most outstanding athlete.

Kelley played for Brooklyn Dodgers farm clubs, participated in spring training with Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Maury Wills, and served in the Air Force where his baseball team won the 1956 Northern Japan League title and Far East Air Force Tournament.

After a brief return to professional baseball in 1956, Kelley worked 17 years as a mail sorter at Peoria's downtown post office and 28 years as a circulation department assistant manager at the Peoria Journal Star.

Kelley died in August 2007 at age 75, leaving behind four sons, 20 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren; a suitable copy of the resolution is to be presented to his family.