Remembering Tom Kilkelly
By Dr. Wayne Roberts, Minnesota State High School Math League Founder
Anyone who read the problem section of the newsletter of the Minnesota Council of Teachers of Mathematics in the mid 80’s would have become familiar with the name of Tom Kilkelly, a regular contributor from St. Thomas Academy. Looking for potential coaches for the then fledgling Math League, I was impressed, not only with some very clever solutions he submitted, but also by the mathematical insight involved in some really elegant problems he submitted for others to solve.
We got to know each other when Tom began coming to the summer institutes we conducted for coaches. He immediately stood out, not just because he was always among the first to solve problems that were posed, not just because he was familiar with so many of the classic puzzle problems, not just because his wit helped to create the esprit de corps so important to such conferences. To me, Tom stood out because he was totally lacking in the one-up-man-ship, the desire to impress that’s unfortunately seen so often in mathematical circles. I thought of him as a gentle – man.
We had not participated in the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) very long before Tom took over as our coach, a post he held for about 20 years. That job required that he lead team practices all day every Saturday during the month of May, the time when most Minnesotans are anxious to start spring clean up in their yards, and teachers are caught up in end of the school year activities.
In 1997, he led Minnesota to first place. The leaders of ARML began to realize that they had an unusual talent in their midst. When they decided to begin another phase of competition, posing difficult projects for students to work on during the school year, Tom was one of the four people they selected to write the questions.
To help their writers prepare for the job, ARML obtained a grant that enabled the group to travel to Russia where they met with leaders who wrote questions for the strong program of mathematical competitions in Russia. By 1998, Tom had taken over as coordinator of the national program and writer of all the questions. In 2004, he co authored a book containing questions he had written over the last eight years.
In all of this, I have said nothing of the outstanding record that Tom’s Wayzata teams compiled in our Minnesota Math League. Their success became legendary. In the early years, his teams were always in the top ten in the state, and usually in the top three in the head to head competition at the state tournament. In his last years, Wayzata would be the top scoring team in the state every year. I told Tom he was destroying the competitiveness of the league. The only suspense was, “Who will come in second?” Edina took first place the first year after Tom’s retirement.
I was surprised when Tom retired as early as he did. He told me he would like to preserve some time in his life for his interests in woodworking, music, and cooking. I’m sure he was sincere in saying that, but not long after he retired, I heard that he was coaching a team at Cristo Rey High School as a volunteer.
Tom was very humble about his achievements. His interests and human traits were rooted in an abiding Christian faith. My life. along with the lives of many others, was enriched by knowing him.