In the late 1980's, Georgetown was known as much for who they recruited as those passed over. An All-American trifecta of Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson, and Grant Hill, all selected in the top four of their respective NBA drafts, all wanted to go to GU but ended up elsewhere.

By contrast, this is the story of Brian Kelly. Georgetown didn't recruit him, he recruited Georgetown.

Kelly's early years in basketball were not the stuff of legend. Kelly played basketball at Purcell Marian HS in Cincinnati, but failed to get much attention. A Washington Post article noted Kelly "had not seen more than five minutes of court time" in his career at Purcell, and was cut from the team in his senior year. Without a hope of a scholarship offer, Kelly enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, balancing classes in the morning with a construction job to play for tuition, but was only able to afford one semester. He then enrolled at Cincinnati Tech Junior College, where he walked on to the basketball team in 1988, averaging 14 points a game and gaining interest as a walk-on candidate at a handful of Division I schools.

Kelly had higher aspirations. He sent letters to more prominent schools showing interest in their program, though some mistook Kelly's interest for a graduate assistant's job instead. A fan of the Hoyas, he sent a resume to the Georgetown basketball office, noting his basketball performance, his academics, his extracurriculars (he was the president of the student body while at Cincinnati Tech) and most of all, his interest.

"When Brian told me he was interested in Georgetown, I said: 'Brian, you must mean Georgetown College in Kentucky,'" said his junior college coach. "You've got something screwed up."

Kelly's letter reached assistant coach Craig Esherick, who asked for a tape of Kelly's play. Kelly not only sent a tape but arranged a visit, flew out to Washington, and arrived in the office to meet Coach Thompson as if it were a job interview--wearing a coat and tie, with resume in hand. He flew home to Cincinnati that day with a scholarship to Georgetown University.

The 6-6 Kelly started 13 games as a senior and leading to some inquisitive press coverage as the first white starter on a Georgetown lineup in a decade. Kelly would have none of it, focusing on the task at hand. A leaner version of former forward Ronnie Highsmith (1984-88), Kelly was in infrequent scorer but someone who could mix it up in the paint, and served as the defensive wingman to Alonzo Mourning during the 1991-92 season, averaging 15 minutes per game in sharing duties with freshman Don Reid (1991-95). Kelly scored a career high 11 versus Miami in the 1992 Big East Tournament, and a nine rebound effort at Syracuse that helped the Hoyas earn a 72-68 win at the Carrier Dome. Kelly was named to the Big East All-Academic team as a senior and won Georgetown's Mary Fenlon Award for the outstanding scholar-athlete on the team.

Following Georgetown, Kelly traveled west for a job as a paralegal, with eyes on the next prize: law school. He earned a law degree at Pepperdine and began a 20 year legal career in the Los Angeles area focusing on business and civil litigation. In 2000, he was invited back to Cincinnati Tech to speak at its commencement, a story of a young man determined to succeed.