Similar to an athlete striving for peak performance, drive and determination propelled Keith Kelley to earn a spot as a collegiate student coach position for men’s basketball his freshman year all the way to a senior internship with the Great American Conference staff.
Keith is set to complete his GAC internship and graduate with a degree in Sports Management from Southern Arkansas University both in the first week of May. His vision, to land an internship that could leave a legacy at SAU, was clear from the moment he first met with Steve “Coach” Dingman, chair of SAU’s Health, Kinesiology, and Recreation (HKR) Department.
“Coach Dingman told me to start reaching out to different people, so I took his words to heart and sent out more than 300 emails to college sports information directors all over the nation,” said Keith. “There’s no way I could have received the opportunity for this internship with the GAC without the help of Coach Dingman.”
Kelley has learned a lot during his semester with the GAC, and he has been put in charge of publicizing GAC softball and men’s and women’s tennis. For softball, he writes the daily recap articles, uploads stats and scores to the GAC website, and posts them to the GAC social media outlets. He also does the weekly player and pitcher of the week, which is distributed to a wide range of media across Arkansas, the region, and even national outlets like ESPN.
He recently has managed the GAC Instagram and Twitter accounts, and has vowed to take GAC Instagram (@greatamericanconference) to the top athletic conference in terms of followers. He’s taken it thus far from fourth to second in that statistic. He’s been credited with creative ideas, such as initiating daily GAC trivia questions on social media and even starting a GAC-specific Snapchat account.
“This semester Keith has had the opportunity to work as a full-time member of the GAC staff gaining experience in many facets of sport administration, specifically sports information. Recent feedback from Will Prewitt, GAC Commissioner, indicates that Keith has exhibited a great work ethic. His skills in effective social media usage, assistance with event management and website updating has proven to be a ‘valuable addition to our team for this semester,’” reported Dingman.
Kelley, son of Randy and Janet Kelley, grew up in the small town of Locust Bayou, Arkansas. So small, in fact, that he usually just tells people he’s from nearby Camden. He graduated from Hampton High, and was drawn to SAU because of the people.
“When I took my college days at SAU during my junior and senior years of high school, I had that ‘at-home’ feeling. SAU had one of the top HKR program fields in south Arkansas as well, which heavily influenced my decision.”
He admits that moving for the GAC job to a new town, Russellville, where he knew no one was a little scary. But he quickly realized the enjoyment of meeting new friends and surprising them with the fact that he’s a Mulerider, rather than the assumed Wonder Boy. He said he’s also enjoyed covering all the conference schools’ softball games and meeting so many athletic directors, coaches, and school faculty and administrators.
Looking ahead, he’s excited to see what God has in store for him. He’s pursuing a graduate assistantship with a sports information department. Beyond that, he hopes to apply the same drive and determination toward a career that too, one day, may leave a legacy in recognition of his efforts in the field of sports media relations.
