Not many people can say that they were featured in Sports Illustrated when they were in high school.  That is what married mother  of two, Erin Johnson Kelly can say.  The current third grade teacher at Myers Elementary School in Bellwood was an award-winning basketball player in high school and college.

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However, that is only part of the story.  Johnson Kelly was born with only one arm.  Born in Roaring Spring, she has lived in Claysburg her entire life, except for a year when she lived in State College, while attending Penn State.  

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"My stepdad was my coach.  He married my mom when I was young.  I was three years old.  So, he has always been my dad.  As long as he has been married to my mom, he has coached basketball at Claysburg."  So, she would go to practices all of the time.  She said that she didn't think her parents ever considered whether or not she would play basketball.  "I just liked being in the gym.  I would eventually pick up the basketball, started playing and started doing the same things that I saw the other girls doing.  It actually turned out to be pretty easy for me."

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Johnson Kelly continues by saying that it was never that hard to learn to do things with the basketball.  She was on her first team when she was in third grade.  She saw success as an elementary player and learned the game pretty well.  Things seemed pretty easy for her.  So, she continued to play in junior high, high school and three years at Penn State Altoona.

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**This information was acquired through an in-person interview with Erin Johnson Kelly.

**Photos were provided by Erin Johnson Kelly

 

To read the complete article, check out the upcoming book release They Came From Blair County Volume Three.