Hendrix College Athletics

Robyn Kelly’s legacy is measured not by wins or losses but rather by the lives she touched as an educator and a second mother to so many. Kelly earned her induction into the Hendrix College Sports Hall of Honor after over 40 years of mentorship, support, and service to Hendrix and the central Arkansas community.

Kelly was raised in central Arkansas where she attended Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock from 1961 to 1965. The wife of legendary swim and dive coach and 2005 Hall of Honor inductee Jim Kelly, Robyn returned to central Arkansas when Jim became the head coach of Hendrix men’s and women’s swim and dive teams. What followed was 31 years of swim team picnics, winter training camps, and attending swim meets on the road, all while raising four children. Kelly also taught at Hendrix from 1982-1988, and then at the University of Central Arkansas from 1989-1991. After her stint at UCA, Kelly spent 20 years teaching school for the Little Rock Catholic Diocese.

Robyn’s contributions to Hendrix and the central Arkansas community have been substantial from her time as an educator and a member of the community.

In her own words, her vocation was “being married to Jim and raising a family first.” That family includes their four children, Krista, Sean, Brian, and Kevin, and their grandchildren: Alayna, Calvin, Ella, Fiona, Finn, Jack, McKenna, and Lexi.