Сен-Сир
After graduating, Kissell enrolled at Boston College on an athletic scholarship. He was on a Boston College Eagles football team that finished the 1942 season with an 8–2 win–loss record under head coach Denny Myers and lost to Alabama in the Orange Bowl. Kissell then entered the U.S. Army as American involvement in World War II intensified. He was a private stationed at first at Fort Hood in Texas, and played for the base's service football team before being sent to Europe. He spent time at the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in Fontainebleau outside of Paris in 1945, and also served in Africa and the Middle East. Kissell returned to Boston after the war and played as a defensive lineman in the 1946 and 1947 seasons.