by Steve “Tuna” Tornovish
Teachers are a special breed. They are vital to our society and far too often underappreciated (and underpaid). As in so many things in my life, I remember those who treated me well…and those who didn’t. In fairness, I also remember the ones that I didn’t appreciate enough at the time. I truly regret the times that I acted poorly for those who simply wanted to make me a better person. My two daughters have both grown up to become teachers and I couldn’t be any prouder. It is a noble profession.
One of my favorite teachers of all time was Mr. Dan Kelliher, teacher of science classes for the students of Academy Hill School fourth and fifth graders in the early 1970s and then a middle school teacher in the 80s and 90s. Mr. Kelliher seemed impossibly tall to our class full of ten and eleven year olds. He had installed a couple of window mounted bird feeders in the back of our third floor classroom and taught us to recognize the variety of birds that stopped by for a meal. Mr. Kelliher’s greatest passion, however, was taking interested students out onto the green surfaced playground to teach us how to cast a surf rod.
Dan brought out a surf rod of about eight feet in length, equipped with a green-and-white Penn 704 spinning reel. The reel was spooled with 20 lb. test monofilament line. A tennis ball with an eye hook screwed into it served as our lure. Mr. Kelliher gave us the confidence and know-how we needed to get after the bluefish and bass. He taught us to put three fingers under the bottom of the reel, leaving the thumb and forefinger free. Pick up the line with your index finger, reach up with your left hand and flip the shiny chrome bail over, bring the rod back behind you (“Always look back before you cast so you don’t hook someone!”) and then step as you snap the rod forward, releasing the line from your finger as you do. Try as I might, I could never quite reach the fence at the far end of the playground which loomed like Fenway Park’s green monster.
Dan also taught us a couple of fishing knots that I still use all the time. We learned both the Palomer knot and the improved clinch knot (seven times around!). Mr. Kelliher was a significant part of our lives during those formative years.
I wondered if anyone else recalled the fishing lessons at Academy Hill? The obvious way to get the answer was to put it out on Facebook, so I did. My post said, “All right, Nantucket peeps – who remembers being taught how to cast by Dan Kelliher when we were attending Academy Hill School? Please let me know what your memories of that are!”
The results were absolute gold!
From Jay Starr, owner/captain of Starrfish Charters: “Absolutely! Fifth grade, Academy Hill. Remember his saltwater fish tank in the classroom?”
From Andy Lowell: “The Palomar knot – he taught us how to tie our fishing line to the leader. He put up the homemade weather station in front of the school. We checked the rain gauge, temperature, and humidity, among other weather related data. He gave us a drop of mercury in a jar to shake and watch it cling back together. We got to take it home. He kept students engaged and interested. No one ever got out of line in his class, he had a commanding presence. He also smoked a lot of cigarettes.”
From John Correia: “I remember Jim Haley caught a bass on one of those trips. He would be a good one to get the story from.”
From Jim Haley: “Yes, like anyone who was taught to cast by Dan, we started out casting in the playground of Academy Hill School with a tennis ball attached to the leader. Once we were good enough he would take us in small groups to Brant Point by the lighthouse to try the real thing. Sure enough on my trip I caught a small striper! I realized it was a small one as I got older and got the bigger ones but at the time I thought it was pretty huge! Man, I still remember that awesome feeling. First striper I ever caught!”
This, from Chris Roberts, was one of my favorites: “He also had rods to lend. I caught a good sized striper at Brant Point on it. Had to bring it home on my Sting Ray bicycle!”
I reached out to Kathleen Potter Kelliher, Dan’s wife of 36 years. Kathleen told me, “Dan was in the U.S. Army, stationed in Chattanooga, TN. The folks in the town where he was living weren’t too hospitable to the Army guys, so when Dan moved to Nantucket, he always made it a priority to make the Coasties (U.S. Coast Guard service members) feel at home. He was made an honorary Coastie by Admiral Linnon!” She told me that Dan came to Nantucket on a work study program through the UMass School of Agriculture. Dan took a job working at the (then) Nantucket Boys Club. He enjoyed it so much that he went to Bridgewater State University to obtain his teaching degree. “Dan taught here for 28 years. He still loved the farm work, so he spent his summers mowing large meadows and fields on an old Farm All tractor. He did the roads for the town, too.”
Dr. Matt Roberts and his friend, David Buckley, appreciated the teaching of Dan Kelliher so much that they co-sponsor the Dan Kelliher Award, presented to the winning junior fisher every year in the Spring Sea Run Opener tournament. Dr. Matt told me this: “We loved Spider Dan! When we met him in 6th Grade we knew he was the real deal! The sea stories, the fish he had caught, the fish he had lost, and the D1 basketball stories from UMass just blew us all away. He had that old school balance of wisdom, reality and the ability not to take crap from the students or administration.
He was running the safe boating program in the middle school and after a week with him in science class that’s all we wanted for enrichment class. He took us on field trips with the Coast Guard to drop buoys in the tender, and he handed me my first state of Mass. license when I passed the safe boating test. I believe that he was the big push at the Angler’s Club with all the kids divisions for the tournaments through the 80s and 90s. Whenever we were at Great Point as kids, I felt like he was ever-present with a fishing rod in his hand. He had the experience and reached a point where all he wanted to do was teach and pass on his love, his passion for the chase and the hookup!”
From David Buckley: “One of my favorite stories was him bringing us down to the creeks after school and having us drag a net to catch fish to stock the fish tanks. Do you remember the final test he gave us? He told us beforehand how Ted Williams hit a home run in his final at-bat at Fenway and how Ted wanted to go out on top. Everyone crushed that test!”
Dan passed away in January of 2022. I was glad to have had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Kelliher while I was visiting at Our Island Home several years ago. I’m grateful to have had that opportunity to tell him that he was always one of my favorite teachers and to thank him again for teaching me to cast. I honor him every time I instruct a fishing client on the fine art of surf casting. Thank you, Spider Dan!
One of my friends who jumped into the chat about Dan Kelliher was Howie Crocker, a Nantucket High School classmate of mine who I haven’t seen in far too long. Howie’s mother, Carol Crocker, was a teacher in our school system as well. Mrs. Crocker remains one of the most beautiful people that I was ever blessed to come into contact with. No, Mrs. Crocker never taught me anything about fishing. But she taught me a lot about life. About right and wrong. And about kindness. Mrs. Crocker always pointed us in the right direction, like the best teachers do. So thank you, Carol Crocker, for all you did for me and so many others. And thank you, Dan Kelliher, for getting so many of us out there on the beaches!
Don’t ever hesitate to thank those who have helped you along the way. And be on the lookout for opportunities to teach our youngsters to be better in whatever way you can. Dan Kelliher and Carol Crocker sure did. And we’re all better for it.
Steve “Tuna” Tornovish is a Nantucket native who has spent his life fishing from the beaches of his beloved island. He loves to introduce clients to the joy of fishing with his Nantucket Island Fishing Adventures: stevetuna.com
