Kelly Lamotta Holland said she never, ever dreamed she would end up in a career as a professional firefighter. But in hindsight, perhaps it’s not so surprising, given the parallels between her life’s work with the City of Raleigh and the athletic career that led her to the Barton College Athletic Hall of Fame.
The roots of her basketball skills were planted in the backyard, where she would compete against her three brothers. They were first nurtured in an all-boys league in the third grade, since there were no such teams for girls at that age.
On the Barton women’s team, she succeeded as a 5-8 power forward against players four or five inches taller than her because of the power and strength in her legs. Later in life, she put herself through a grueling 20-week workout regimen of weight lifting, cardio exercising and careful dieting in order to mark “bodybuilding contest” off her bucket list (she won third place in a National Physique Committee contest).
And while she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 based on her outstanding individual performances for the Lady Bulldogs in both basketball and volleyball, for her it was always first and foremost about relationships and the team. Holland said that’s true in the firefighting profession, too.
“To me, firefighting is being part of a team,” Holland said. “My whole entire life has revolved around a team and playing sports. All of those skills and life lessons that I learned through being part of a team definitely carried through into my adult life. All of that helps you determine the type of person you’ll be later on, and for me it was a firefighter. It’s definitely been my calling, and I can say now that I am blessed to be a part of the largest team I have ever played on, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
One final parallel is that the stats don’t matter so much as the outcome.
“There’s so many things I could talk about from my seven years as a firefighter, so many experiences and calls and fires that I have been on, but it’s the idea that you get to see the results of your work that is very rewarding. Kind of like sports, I really couldn’t tell you exactly how many points I scored or rebounds I had. I know there’s a number, but I don’t know it by heart. Just like I don’t know how many EMS calls or traumas I’ve been on, how many structure fires I’ve been in, but it’s the people that I have come across. Those are the stories that I remember, and I think they’ve helped make me a better person.”
Wendee Saintsing, Holland’s coach at Barton for both basketball and volleyball, said it was Holland who was making others better on her teams.
“Kelly was a good teammate, very supportive,” Saintsing said. “The kids looked up to her and respected her for what she brought to the court in both sports.”
Holland played three seasons of volleyball and four years of basketball for the Lady Bulldogs after transferring from UNC Pembroke. Saintsing had recruited her out of Wake Forest-Rolesville High School, but Holland had received the offer of a full scholarship in volleyball to UNCP, and with a brother in college as well, she felt she needed to take that offer.
“Even though I wanted to be able to play both sports, I had to make a decision and I didn’t want to make it harder on my family, so I initially went with UNC Pembroke,” Holland said. “Immediately, before the first semester even ended, I realized how much I missed basketball. I tried to walk-on at Pembroke, but my volleyball coach was not fond of two-sport athletes, and I did not realize that until I had already signed and was there.”
Holland reached out to Saintsing to see if there was still any interest, and naturally there was. UNC Pembroke granted a release, paving the way for Holland to begin what would be an outstanding career at Barton.
In her three remaining seasons of eligibility in volleyball, Holland averaged just under three kills per set as an outside hitter. She helped the Lady Bulldogs to a 63-38 mark that included a school-record 25 victories in 2003, and in 2004 earned all-tournament honors after Barton reached the championship match of the conference tourney before falling in a five-set heartbreaker.
“Kelly had a really strong game in the championship match, hit the ball well that game, blocked it well,” Saintsing said. “If everyone was on like she was, we would have beaten Lees-McRae for the first time in years.”
Her bigger impact came in basketball, where she was named all-conference or honorable mention all-conference three times. She also earned all-tournament recognition three times, and in 2003-04 was named All-East Region.
She finished second in the conference in scoring twice, and also ranked among the league’s top 10 in rebounding those same two seasons. For her career, she scored more than 1,500 points and pulled down more than 800 rebounds.
“Kelly was a good finisher around the basket, pretty dependable on shots down low,” Saintsing said. “She was able to put herself in position to score and had a very powerful move around the basket.”
In 2003-04, Holland helped Barton to a Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference regular-season title and an NCAA Tournament appearance, where the fifth-seeded Lady Bulldogs knocked off No. 4 seed Pittsburgh-Johnstown, 83-71, before falling in the East Region semifinals to the No. 1 seed.
Her career was honored in 2007 when she became one just 10 players chosen to the league’s CVAC era All-Time Women’s Basketball Team.
“We had some great players at Barton – Shemkia Reid, Keauna (Vinson),” Holland said. “To see my name up there on that list with them was really cool.”
Now she has joined another very exclusive list, members of the Barton Athletic Hall of Fame.
“I’m truly humbled and honored and blessed to have been selected,” Holland said. “It’s a really cool honor, and I’m very excited. The people who will be inducted with me this year are just outstanding. For me to be up there with them is truly an honor.”
