Tim Kelly, who built two Tacoma basketball dynasties and won more Class 4A games than any coach in Washington state history, died after a 16-year battle with prostate cancer. He was in his mid-60s.

The Tacoma News Tribune confirmed Kelly's death on Monday, Aug. 3. No memorial arrangements had been announced as of Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Kelly won five state championships across 32 seasons at Lincoln and Curtis high schools: two at Lincoln (2001, 2002) and three at Curtis (2013, 2022, 2023). His 581 career wins are the most in Class 4A history and rank eighth all-time in Washington.

He coached through it all. Diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer in 2010, Kelly kept running practices and winning titles for 15 more years. "There were a lot of times when I'd have chemo and go to practice three hours later," Kelly told the News Tribune in March 2025, when he announced his retirement from Curtis.

His doctor had told him to get his will completed and take his daughters to Disneyland. Kelly defied that prognosis for 16 years, winning his last two state titles in 2022 and 2023, more than a decade after the diagnosis.

At Curtis alone, Kelly went 362-121. His teams made 22 state tournament appearances. He won 12 South Puget Sound League titles, earned nine SPSL Coach of the Year honors, two Washington State Coach of the Year awards, and was inducted into the Washington State Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009.

Kelly built two distinct championship runs. At Lincoln in the early 2000s, Leonard White, Justin Holt, and Aubrey Shelton powered back-to-back titles. Two decades later at Curtis, Zoom Diallo, Tyce Paulsen, and Cinque Maxwell did the same.

His program was built on defense and ambition. Kelly took Curtis teams to out-of-state tournaments against elite competition, saying in March 2025 that the Vikings weren't preparing for league rivals but chasing the best teams in the country.

Deteriorating health finally forced Kelly off the sideline. Worsening hip pain left him coaching from a chair during his final 2024-25 season. His close friend Pat Mullen, head coach at Emerald Ridge, told Sports Illustrated in March 2025: "He's never done anything half-ass. But now, he's realized he couldn't coach the way he wanted to. He couldn't be Tim Kelly, so that's why he retired."

Kelly started his head coaching career at Lincoln in 1993 after stints as a graduate assistant under Kelvin Sampson at Washington State and a head coaching job at North Adams State College. He returned to Curtis, his alma mater, in 2006.

He is survived by his wife, Gini, and two daughters, Annie and Katy. The family lived in University Place.