Sean Kelly’s mother, Doreen Kelly, made all of her children read Alan Williams’ book, “Walk-on: Life from the End of the Bench,” when they were entering high school.

It taught them lessons about understanding roles, making sacrifices and putting the team first. Williams walked onto Wake Forest’s basketball team and Doreen Kelly wanted to make sure her kids knew that every team member was important.

“You see how you can still contribute,” Kelly said of reading the book, “even though it may never be on the court, he still had an impact on his team. That always resonated with me.”

Before this season, Kelly walked on to No. 4 Duke (21-3, 8-3 Atlantic Coast), which will travel to the Carrier Dome to take on Syracuse (16-8, 7-4) at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The senior’s path to becoming the Blue Devils’ least-used player this season has been an unusual one, from not even playing varsity basketball in high school to serving as a team manager for the past three seasons.

Kelly’s older brother, Ryan, played for Duke from 2009-13 and they overlapped as contributors to the men’s basketball program for two seasons.

When Ryan Kelly was being recruited to play college basketball, his parents made sure he always asked the team’s walk-ons how they were treated. He wanted to join a team that valued all its players.

“Really quality programs are the ones that treat all members of the program really well and that’s what we’ve seen at Duke,” Doreen Kelly said. “That every member of the program matters. We know that. We saw that happen.”

Ryan Kelly now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers and said Kelly helped comfort him after his senior season ended in the 2013 Elite Eight with a loss against Louisville.

Though Kelly was just a manager at the time, he helped the team by loading luggage on team planes, preparing Gatorade and wiping sweat off the court in practice.

Kelly’s main sport in high school was baseball and he stopped playing basketball midway through high school. At Duke, Kelly has again embraced contributing in unique ways since he isn’t able to get on the court.

“You’re always trying to be as loud as you can and a voice,” Kelly said. “We have really intense practices, whether it’s a drill, scout team or whatever it is, you’re just on the sideline trying to keep it loud and keep the energy high.”

Though Kelly didn’t play varsity basketball at Ravenscroft School (North Carolina), he was surrounded in a family of basketball players — his brother, father, uncle and grandfather all played collegiately.

But playing sports didn’t factor into Kelly’s college choice after he was accepted early decision at Duke. As soon as his freshman year started, though, he went through the rigorous application process to become a student manager for the Blue Devils and joined his brother in the men’s basketball program.

Kelly played pickup basketball nearly every day of his first three years of college. By the spring of his junior year, he was in the best shape of his life. He started doing the same workout plan that players did and he eventually approached associate head coach Jeff Capel about the idea of being on the roster, but he would have to prove it over the coming weeks.

“He showed an incredible commitment this summer to do that,” Capel said, “and after doing that and seeing how he would gain the respect of players on the team, we thought it was a no-brainer to have him.”

With the same work ethic that Kelly used to contribute behind the scenes, he is now utilizing as one of two seniors on Duke’s roster.

And as Kelly’s first and last season as a collegiate player wears on, he is experiencing the role of college basketball walk-on like he read about years ago.

“I would have never guessed when I read the book that I would be (in a similar spot),” Kelly said. “It’s a ton of fun … it’s pretty much everything you can ask for.”

Published on February 13, 2015 at 12:40 am

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds