Dale R. Kelley, 82, of Huntingdon, Tennessee, died August 20, 2022. Kelley recently stepped down as athletics director of Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee, after serving in that capacity since July 2012. As a Bethel student, Kelley was an accomplished basketball and baseball player. Kelley was inducted into the Bethel Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981. He was also a member of the TSSAA Hall of Fame, the Carroll County Sports Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. He served on the Board of Directors for Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

Kelley was Coordinator of Officials for the Big 12 Conference, Conference USA, Sun Belt Conference, Southland Conference and Ohio Valley Conference. He was known nationally as one of the best NCAA basketball officials in the history of the game.

Kelley served three terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives as well as nine years on the Huntingdon School Board. He was the Mayor of Huntingdon at the time of his death, a role he held for 30 years. Under his leadership, Huntingdon received the Excellence in Downtown Revitalization Award and the 2007 Governor’s Award in the Arts. He was instrumental in the construction of Carroll County’s 1,000-acre recreational lake and he led the vision and development of the Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center. Huntingdon’s Kelley Sports Complex was completed and named for him in 1998.

Kelley served three Tennessee governors—as Commissioner of Employment Security and Commissioner of Transportation under Lamar Alexander, as a member of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission under Don Sundquist, and as Senior Advisor and Special Assistant to Governor Bill Haslam.

Kelley was born October 19, 1939, in Huntingdon. He graduated from Huntingdon High School in the class of 1957, received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Bethel College, and honored with a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Bethel University. He also served four years in the United States Air Force as a communications specialist. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Huntingdon.