Career Record for Featherstone
Appearances			Tries	Goals	Drop Goals	Points
Total	Start	Sub
358	351	7	124	0	0	372

At 5ft 8in and 11.5st, Ken Kellett was not the largest of wingers, but what he lacked in stature he more than made up for in pace and determination. His style could have been likened to the modern-day Jason Robinson as a 'jinky' runner who could side-step off either foot and was strong and elusive.

He signed from Fryston Juniors in 1970, and made his senior debut at home against Bradford on 14 November 1970, when he deputised for the injured Hartley one week before the Yorkshire Cup final. Two years later, he had established himself and was playing in his first Wembley Cup Final. He did not score in the 33-14 rout of Bradford in May 1973, but he did notch up 18 tries and 36 appearances in that first full season. He married later that year and then stayed away when he could not regain his senior team place. He thus missed the 1974 Cup Final but, fortunately, he returned for the 1974/75 season and then played a huge part in the fortunes of the club until 1983. Between 1974 and 1977, he made 112 appearances out of 115, and with an ever-present 47 matches in the First Division Championship season of 1976/77, scored his highest seasonal total of 19 tries. By contrast in the following season, he suffered his only blank try season! He registered five hat-tricks of tries in his career and savoured the one he scored against his home-town club, Castleford, in the Boxing Day encounter at Post Office Road in December 1975. That was one of his most memorable matches. He gave away the first try, but recovered to score a splendid hat-trick and with an 18-18 drawn game, he sent both sets of supporters home happy! His final career total of 124 still puts him in top ten in the all-time try scoring list.

After the heights of the 1973 cup win and the First Division Championship of 1977,he shared the disappointments of Yorkshire Cup final defeats against Leeds and Castleford in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Two years after the First Division Championship, the Rovers were relegated to the Second Division, but bounced straight back in 1979/80. The following season, Kellett was granted a well-deserved testimonial and the pinnacle came when, against all the odds, he enjoyed another Wembley Cup Final run in 1983 which culminated in the 14-12 defeat of Hull. This was his cue to retire whilst at the top after thirteen dedicated years and at the age of thirty. In his last five seasons, maintaining his impressive consistency, he had scored 52 tries in 174 appearances. Sadly, he died aged just forty-one.

 

Biography by Ron Bailey