By Christopher Hunt
When organizers asked that people gather on the track to walk a mile to honor a fallen friend, teammate and coach, the crowd flooded the track 150 meters deep and in the front stood Daniel Kelley’s family.
“To walk on his track, the track that he raced on when he was at St. Joseph’s by the Sea, was truly special and overwhelming,” said Debbie Ferrer, Daniel Kelley’s mother who led the crowd aside Kelley’s family.
Hundreds of people poured into the track facility at St. Joseph’s by the Sea Friday night for The Daniel Kelley Twilight Mile, a tribute to the former Sea runner and modified coach who died Jan. 5 after being struck by an intoxicated driver on Hylan Blvd. while running with his girlfriend Gina Siclari.
Siclari shot the starter’s pistol for the walk that commemorated Kelley’s life.
“I love the track community,” Siclari said. “It was a great environment. It was a great way for everyone to be reunited. I got to the 100-meter mark and I turned around and some people hadn’t even got to the starting line yet. It was just amazing.”
The event posted more than 500 entrees with 14 heats of the mile, including an extra heat for those that opted not to run but walk in Kelley’s memory.
“I told the parents, amongst all the madness that’s going on there Friday, just take a look around and really see the impact that your son left,” St. Joseph’s by the Sea coach Chris Mancusi said.
Kelley was a special education teacher at P.S. 16 in Tompkinsville, a former runner and modified coach at St. Joseph’s by the Sea. He died at Staten Island University Hospital from injuries to his head and chest at age 23. Siclari, a 19-year old student at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, suffered a broken leg and ankle. She hasn’t started running again but has begun biking and hopes to compete in at least one track season at St. Francis before she graduates.
“I had motivation to be a better runner, a better athlete and a better person because of him,” Siclari said. “He was just such a motivating person.”
Kelley joined the track team in his sophomore year after being cut from the basketball team. Debbie Ferrer said he quickly fell in love with running. She remember that he needed to eat his pasta at a certain time the night before a race. He would wake up at a certain time, shave his hair at certain time.
“We talked about how we didn’t want to make (the meet) about the competition and not for the fast runner,” Ferrer said. “But I told them that Danny wouldn’t’ have had it any other way.”
Siclari said: “He would have wanted to be there and run as hard as he could and beat everybody.”
Daniel Kelley may not have gotten the times he might have hoped for. Albany sophomore Sean Halpin, a graduate of the CHSAA’s Iona Prep, who ran 4:08.77 indoors last year, posted the fastest men’s time of the evening at 4:27.77. Victoria Pontecorvo, a Tottenville grad, posted the fastest women’s time at 5:20.13. T-shirts ribbons and wristbands reading “DK 53 Strong” were given to all finishers.
“When we were walking Debbie turned to me, because it was starting to get dark, she turned to me and said, ‘He enjoyed the day,’” Siclari said. “It really was so beautiful.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.