Kelly Zirkle participated in Football, Basketball and Track & Field. A three year letterman running back in Football, he was named "most improved" and described by the newspaper as "shifty and speedy". In Basketball he played point guard and was named "Top 500 high school stars" by Dell Sports Group in 52-53.

His track career was of great interest and achievement. No organized track team existed at HHS. They did not train. The coach would just tell them when there was a meet and he would tell them to go out and run a little bit. They ran on a cinder track. In 1953 he set the 100yd. dash record -11.10 seconds. It held up for 18 years until 1971 the record was broken by Mike Grooms. He also held the 220 Yard Dash- 22.10 in 1953 that held up for 46 years until 1999 when Thomas Strother broke Kelly's record. It's generally considered to be the longest standing track record in HHS history.

Many Blue Streaks will remember Kelly as a well loved Midget league Football Coach. He coached Harrisonburg Recreation Department Midget League Football teams for 10 years. He coached the West and he coached two All Star teams. Many of those players went on to play for HHS. The second year that he coached an All Star team, Brent Johnson and Jimmy Thomas stayed back a year to play another year of Midget League Football before moving to the varsity team. Preston Green, David Showalter, Paul McKinney and Joe Shower were among many Hall of Fame Blue Streak football players from Kelly's midget league years.