ABINGTON – For the past half century, you could count on a great meal at the Abington Ale House and for head football coach Jim Kelliher to toe the sidelines at Abington High School.
But eventually, all great things come to an end.
On Sept. 8, the Green Wave’s home opener, Jim Kelliher will be the first head coach in the history of Massachusetts high school football to mark 50 consecutive years at the helm of a program.
But it will also mark the beginning of the end of an amazing era, as the Abington living legend announced to his team on Friday that 2023 will be his final season for the Green Wave.
“Coaching at my hometown, coming back to my hometown, being here as long as I have has been an absolute dream. It really has been, and I contribute that to my players first before anything else and then my coaches,” said Kelliher. “I’ll miss the preps for games, practices, in the locker room after the game with the camaraderie and it has been an absolutely amazing ride.”
Coach Kelliher has been a part of the fabric of Abington High School for over 60 years as he is a graduate of the school and served as an assistant coach under Walter Paster before taking over the Green Wave program in the fall of 1974.
Kelliher sits fourth all-time in the state with 305 wins, trailing the late, great Armond Colombo’s 316 wins for Brockton. Kelliher has five state titles, with his first championship in 2002 and the last coming in 2019. In 2012, Kelliher ran the gauntlet as his team went undefeated (13-0) en route to his third Super Bowl title. All of this at one lucky school, Abington.
Thousands of players have come through Kelliher’s program, and it is tough to find one person who talks about the excerpts on the field. Kelliher’s impact off the field cannot be measured and is what everyone lights up to talk about when referencing ‘coach Kel.’
Ed Reilly has been on the sidelines with Kelliher since 2001 as an assistant but was also the tough-love head coach’s starting quarterback in the late 1980’s along with being a water boy at age 8 dreaming to play for the icon.
Reilly was emotional when asked what impact Kelliher had on him and his family after over 40 years as a player, parent, and coach. In fact, Reilly’s dad was the first of four Reilly quarterbacks to sit under center at Abington.
“He still has the same energy, more energy than I do, more energy than any of the coaches do. There have been some random times where he had to miss practice for various reasons and we can tell that we just don’t have the same energy that he brings,” said Reilly about Kelliher never missing a beat. “One of his things is being a gentleman and he is the true definition of it and it’s the things that he does off the field which I will remember the most.”
Kelliher didn’t miss much in the last five decades as he can be seen all year round at his players’ basketball games, National Honor Society inductions, and he’s probably been to more weddings and funerals for his players’ families than anyone in town. Always there to lend a caring, gentle hand during good times and certainly rough times.
Kelliher has certainly calmed down a stitch with age, but his aura and laughter remain the same as players today and yesteryear still love and respect him. Each Abington player still will run through walls to just get a jersey and a helmet under his program in the tiny South Shore town.
When you think of Abington, you think of coach Kelliher, even from an outsider’s perspective. Coach Scott Pifer, who has been with the Green Wave for 11 years, wouldn’t change a thing.
“He took me in like a father figure as I was in Quincy High School before this. Most of these guys came from Abington, played for him, and I originally am from Ohio, so it was important to me with a young family to feel welcomed,” said Pifer. “Coach did just that and now my oldest son Matthew is a freshman and it’s great that he gets to coach my oldest. (Kelliher) is Green Wave football, he’s an institution, and GWP football is all him.”
Football is family to coach Kelliher and you don’t need to look any further than coach Reilly himself. His son Eddie Jr., in his second year of college at Clemson, played under center for coach Kelliher and now coach Reilly’s other son, Michael, gets to shine in his junior year as the fourth generation starting quarterback this fall in Kelliher’s final season.
“I was always on the sidelines of every single game, and I was also a waterboy for coach as it was always a dream of mine to play for him someday. I would even go to the practices to aspire to be what coach has made me today, and now that I am, it is kind of amazing,” said Reilly.
“Looking forward to the last year playing for him and trying to get him out on top. I haven’t really processed it, but I’m just in awe. I mean 50 years and his last one is going to be with me? It’s going to motivate me even more.”
Dreams seem to be the theme as coach Kelliher walks into the sunset and contributed to many players’ dreams along the way. Maybe dreams do come true in Green Wave country, and it is all because coach Kelliher made Abington his dream. Kelliher was humble and continually pointed to his current and past coaching staffs and players for all his success.