Mike Kelly was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he has lived for more than 50 years. After graduating from Butler High School in 1966, Mike attended the University of Notre Dame on a football and academic scholarship. After college, Mike moved back to Butler to work at Kelly Chevrolet-Cadillac, Inc., a company founded by his father in the early 1950s. Mike took ownership of the dealership in the mid-1990s and expanded its operations to include Hyundai and KIA franchises.