MARC KELLY was a popular four-year walkon with the Irish basketball team during the late 1970s and early `80s before embarking on a career in law. He was elected a superior court judge by the voters of Orange County, Calif., in March of 2000, and currently is sitting as a superior court trial judge hearing civil and criminal cases.

A native of La Crescenta, Calif., Kelly was a two-year captain of the Crescenta Valley High School basketball team and led the team to three league titles and a combined record of 72-13 during that stretch. He averaged 26.2 points per game as a prep sophomore and set a school record by averaging six steals per game as a senior in 1977-78, when he earned first team all-league honors on a team that finished 26-4.

Kelly earned the nickname “Movie Man” at Notre Dame, due to his acting role in the 1978 movie Fast Break, in which he played on a starting five that included Bernard King, Mike Warren, Larry Farmer and Raymond Townsend. He went on to appear in 45 games during four seasons as a walk-on guard at Notre Dame, with his teammates including the likes of Bill Laimbeer, Orlando Woolridge, Bill Hanzlik, John Paxson, Kelly Tripucka, Rich Branning and Tracy Jackson.

As one of just two seniors on the 1981-82 team, Kelly was a regular member of the travelling squad and earned a varsity monogram before graduating with a degree in economics. He also coached a team led by Tripucka to the championship of the 1981 Bookstore Basketball campus-wide tournament.

Kelly spent the 1982-83 season playing professionally in Ireland with the Belfast-based Annadale club team, averaging 28 ppg while leading Annadale to the Division II co-championship of the Irish Basketball League. He then attended the University of San Diego School of Law, graduating in1987, and served the next 12 years as a senior deputy district attorney in Orange County. His cases produced a conviction rate of 95%-plus for violent crimes.

Kelly and his wife, the former Sara Heydorff, were married in 1986 and currently reside in Newport Beach with their sons Will (11) and Connor (7). Kelly serves as a youth soccer and basketball coach and is an active tennis player, recently teaming with seven-time Grand Slam winner Mats Wilander to win the Newport Beach Senior Tour Pro-Am Championship.