Savage School Receives Financial Donation from 1984 Graduate and Athlete

Doug Kelly, Savage graduate of 1984, graciously and generously donated $45,000 to our school to be used for the sports programs. At the Jan. 23, 2023 board meeting the Board of Trustees took action to use this amazing donation to sand, paint, refinish, and design the logos of the gym floor.

This donation could not have arrived at a better time, as we knew the redoing of the gym floor was a necessity and a huge expense. Yet, we were unsure if our budget could be stretched that far at this time. The last time the gym floor underwent a refinishing and sanding was 2007-2008 school year, which was 15 years ago. Every 15 years wooden gym floors are to be refinished and sanded to help them last to their life expectancy. The total price for this project is $56K. The remainder of the needed funds will come from the elementary and high school Building Reserve Funds, which will be divided equally between the two funds.

Doug Kelly told Superintendent Potter, "I just want to give back to the Savage School as they opened their arms and fully accepted me as a true Warrior in school year 1983-1984. I played both basketball and football and enjoyed every minute of the seasons."

Doug, who now resides in Bay City, MI was a member of their first state football championship team. After receiving two college degrees he spent 15 years working at General Motors. After retiring, at 39 because of back surgery. he and his brother started an oil consulting business in New Town, ND.

Doug was adopted by John and Betty Kelly, Sidney, and spent his childhood growing up in Sidney. His biological father was Native American and when the oil struck, he started receiving royalties from both his biological father and adopted mother.

"God has graced me," Kelly states.

Two years ago, after spending $150,000 in taxes he started making donations to different entities. He has donated 1,000 bicycles and 1,000 helmets to Toys for Tots, $10,000 to St. Jude's, and Arlinda Carlson, his English teacher. He also just became aware that some students are not able to pay their lunch tickets so he has donated $5000 to the Golden Fund which is available now and for the future.

The Savage School project will be using High Performance Floors, Lewistown, MT. Superintendent Potter informed us, "All of the decisions about the floor will be made in the process when working with this company. We are going to ask for some local input on ideas and creativity of design, etc."

Doug will try to be present at the first home basketball game in Savage to view the project. Potter exclaimed, "Of course there will be a celebration to show our appreciation of this magical donation."