 1910 Mecca Cigarettes card of John Flanagan, champion weight-thrower of the Irish American Athletic Club. | |
| Founded | January 30, 1898 |
|---|---|
| Type | Irish American sports club |
| Location | |
Official language | English |
Formerly called | Greater New York Irish Athletic Association |
The Irish American Athletic Club was an amateur athletic organization, based in Queens, New York, at the beginning of the 20th century.
Established on January 30, 1898, originally as the "Greater New York Irish Athletic Association", they shortened the name to the Irish American Athletic Club a few years later. They purchased a plot of land in what was then called Laurel Hill, Long Island, near Calvary Cemetery, Queens, and built a state-of-the-art athletic facility on what was farmland. [1] The stadium, called Celtic Park, formally reopened after renovations on May 9, 1901, and until the facility was sold for housing in 1930, some of the greatest American athletes trained or competed on Celtic Park's track and field. [2] The Irish American Athletic Club adopted a winged fist adorned with American flags and shamrocks as their emblem, with the Irish Gaelic motto ‘Láim[Sic] Láidir Abú’ or ‘A strong hand will be victorious,' and were often referred to as the 'Winged Fists'. At one time they had clubs in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Yonkers, New York. [3]
During the thirty odd years of its existence, all of the following athletes competed for the Irish American Athletic Club at some point; Dan Ahearn, and his brother Tim Ahearne, Charles Bacon, George Bonhag, Joseph Bromilow, Frank Castleman, Robert Cloughen, Harvey Cohn, Tom Collins, Edward Cook, James Crowley, John Daly, James H. Duncan, John Eller, John Flanagan, William Frank, Patrick J. Flynn, Harry Gissing, Sidney Hatch, Johnny Hayes, Denis Horgan, Bill Horr, Daniel Kelly, Abel Kiviat, Hannes Kolehmainen, Emilio Lunghi, Alvah Meyer, James Mitchell, Pat McDonald, Matt McGrath, Emil Muller, Peter O'Connor, Edwin Pritchard, Harry Porter, Myer Prinstein, Richard Remer, John J. Reynolds, Frank Riley, William Robbins, Lawson Robertson, James Rosenberger, Michael J. Ryan, Pat Ryan, Harry Schaaf, Arthur Shaw, Mel Sheppard, Martin Sheridan, James P. Sullivan, Lee Talbott, John Baxter Taylor, Jr., Con Walsh, William Galvin and Harold Wilson.
The Irish American Athletic Club was predominantly composed of Irish born and first generation Irish American athletes, but many of the athletes who competed for the Winged Fist organization were neither. Non-Irish members of the Irish American Athletic Club included; Bruno Brodd, Joseph Bromilow, John Eke, Egon Erickson, Myer Prinstein, Abel Kiviat, Hannes Kolehmainen, Alvah Meyer, Lawson Robertson, Harold Wilson, Emilio Lunghi and John Baxter Taylor, Jr. (the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal). Myer Prinstein, competing as a member of the Irish American Athletic Club in St. Louis 1904, won both the long jump and the hop, step and jump (now called the triple jump) on the same day, the only athlete ever to win both events in the same games. He also came 5th in both the 60 m dash and 400 m. In Athens 1906 he again won the long jump competition, beating the world record holder, Irishman, Peter O'Connor. Swedish-born Ernie Hjertberg, himself a US track and field champion, was appointed coach and recruited outstanding non-Irish athletes. Under his leadership, the IAAC turned into a national track power. [4] [5] [6]
The Irish American Athletic Club won the Amateur Athletic Union national outdoor track and field team championship titles in; 1904, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914 and 1916. They also won the national indoor track and field team championship titles in; 1906, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1913, 1914 and 1915. Individual athletes of the IAAC won 81 national outdoor championships titles and 36 individual national indoor championship titles. [7] From 1900 to 1924, men who were at one time members of the Irish American Athletic Club won 54 Olympic medals for the U.S. Olympic team, [8] including 26 gold medals.
In addition to winning numerous local and regional Amateur Athletic Union competitions, Irish American Athletic Club members competed for the U.S. Olympic team in the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece, the 1908 Olympics in London, the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm and the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp.
In the 1908 Olympic Games, in London, England, members of the Irish American Athletic Club won 10 of the U.S. Olympic team's total 23 gold medals, or as many as the nations of France, Germany and Italy combined. The members of the Irish American Athletic Club who were medalists in the 1908 Olympic Games were; Charles Bacon, 400 meter hurdles, gold; George Bonhag, 3 mile team race, silver; Robert Cloughen, 200 metres race, silver; John Flanagan, hammer throw, gold; Johnny Hayes, marathon, gold; Bill Horr, discus-free style, bronze, discus-Greek style, silver; Matt McGrath, hammer throw, silver; Harry Porter, high jump, gold; Melvin Sheppard, 800 metres race, gold, 1,500 metres race, gold, 1,600 metres medley relay, gold; and Martin Sheridan, discus-free style, gold, discus-Greek style, gold, and standing long jump, bronze; and John Baxter Taylor, Jr., who passed the baton to Mel Sheppard, to win the gold in the 1,600 meter medley relay, becoming the first African-American to win an Olympic gold medal. Other Irish American Athletic Club members of the 1908 U.S. Olympic team included; Joseph Bromilow, Harvey Cohn, Daniel Kelly, Frank Riley, William Robbins, Lawson Robertson, Michael J. Ryan, James P. Sullivan and Lee Talbott. [9]
"With a grand total of 2,001 points gained by their track and field men in 1910, the Irish-American Athletic Club had put to its credit a score said to be greater than that of any similar aggregation of athletes during any single year," according to the New York Times. "Eighty-nine men contributed to this splendid showing, gaining points only in track and field games." [10]
Thirteen members of the Irish American Athletic Club competed as part of the U.S. Olympic team at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, winning a total of five gold medals, four silver medals and one bronze medal. The IAAC medalists on the 1912 U.S. Olympic team were; George Bonhag, 3,000 meter team race, Abel Kiviat, gold, 3,000 meter team race, and silver, 1,500 meter race; Pat McDonald, gold, shot put, and silver, shot put, both hands; Mel Sheppard, gold, 4 × 400 meter relay, and silver, 800 meter race; Matt McGrath, gold, hammer throw, Alvah Meyer, silver, 100 meter race, and Jim Duncan, discus throw, bronze. The other IAAC members of the 1912 U.S. Olympic team were; John Eller, Emil Muller, Edwin Pritchard, John J. Reynolds, James Rosenberger and Michael J. Ryan.
In 1912–13, 1913–14, 1914–15 and 1916–17 the Irish American Athletic Club had a team, the New York Irish-Americans, represented in the American Amateur Hockey League. [11] The team was coached by James C. "Jimmy" O'Brien and had on its roster for various seasons future NHL players Tom McCarthy and Moylan McDonnell. John McGrath and Patsy Séguin also played for the club.
Before the largest crowd that had ever assembled to see a track meet in the United States, on September 9, 1916, the Irish American Athletic Club defeated the New York Athletic Club at the Amateur Athletic Union's National Championships, by a score of 38 to 27. Before a crowd of 30,000 spectators at Newark, New Jersey's Weequahic Park, [12] the Irish-American Athletic Club won what would be their last national championship title. The club disbanding a year later, when the U.S. became a combatant in the First World War.
Alvin Christian "Al" Kraenzlein was an American track-and-field athlete known as "the father of the modern hurdling technique". He was the first sportsman in the history of the Olympic games to win four individual gold medals in a single discipline at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. As of 2016, Alvin Kraenzlein is the only track-and-field athlete who has won four individual titles at one Olympics. Kraenzlein is also known for developing a pioneering technique of straight-leg hurdling, which allowed him to set two world hurdle records. He is an Olympic Hall of Fame (1984) and National Track and Field Hall of Fame (1974) inductee.
Melvin Whinfield "Peerless Mel" Sheppard was an American athlete, member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and winner of four gold medals and one silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics and 1912 Summer Olympics. Along with Henry Taylor of the United Kingdom, he was the most successful athlete at the 1908 Olympics.
John Joseph Hayes was an American athlete, a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, and winner of the marathon race at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Hayes' Olympic victory contributed to the early growth of long-distance running and marathoning in the United States. He was also the first man to win a marathon at the now official standard distance of 26 miles 385 yards when Olympic officials lengthened the distance to put the finish line in front of the Royal Box.
John Carlyle Garrels was an American athlete who excelled in the 110 metres hurdles, discus throw, shot put, and as a fullback and end in American football.
John Baxter Taylor Jr. was an American track and field athlete, notable as the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal.
MyerPrinstein was a Polish American track and field athlete who held the world record for the long jump in 1900 and won four gold medals in three Olympic Games for the long jump and triple jump. He was a member of the Irish American Athletic Club in Queens, New York. A 1902 law graduate and track team captain for Syracuse University, after college he became a New York real estate lawyer and businessman while living in Jamaica Plains, Queens. To date, he is the only Olympic track athlete to win both the triple and long jump in the same Olympics, earning the distinction in St. Louis in 1904.
Abel Richard Kiviat was an American track coach, press agent, and highly accomplished middle-distance runner. He won a gold medal in the 3000m team race, and a silver medal in the 1500m at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He was the oldest living American Olympic medalist at the time of his death. He competed for and coached the Irish American Athletic Club, and was later a member of the New York Athletic Club.
Matthew John McGrath was a member of the Irish American Athletic Club, the New York Athletic Club, and the New York City Police Department. At the time of his death at age 64, he attained the rank of Police Inspector, and during his career received the NYPD's Medal of Valor twice. He competed for the U.S. team in the Olympics in 1908, 1912, 1920 and 1924. In his prime, he was known as "one of the world's greatest weight throwers."
Martin John Sheridan was a three time Olympic Games gold medallist. He was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland, and died in St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan, New York, the day before his 37th birthday, a very early casualty of the 1918 flu pandemic. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York. He was part of a group of Irish-American athletes known as the "Irish Whales".
John Joseph Flanagan was an Irish-American three-time Olympic gold medalist in the hammer throw, winning in 1900, 1904, and 1908.
Peter O'Connor was an Irish track and field athlete who set a long-standing world record for the long jump and won two Olympic medals in the 1906 Intercalated Games.
The United States competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, United Kingdom. During the opening ceremony, American athletes did not dip their flag to the British royalty in support of the Irish boycott over Great Britain's refusal to grant Irish independence.
Lawson "Robbie" N. Robertson was considered one of the more accomplished American track coaches of the first half of the twentieth century. From 1904-1936, he was with the American team at every Olympics with the exception of 1916 when the Olympics were cancelled due to WWI. He coached Track and Field for the Irish-American Athletic Club in Queens, New York from 1909–16, and then for the University of Pennsylvania from 1916-47. He was U.S. Olympic Assistant Track coach in 1912 and 1920 and was Head coach for the American Track and Field Team in four Olympics from 1924-36.
Joseph M. Bromilow, Jr. was an American athlete. He competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.
John Joseph Daly was an Irish runner who won a silver medal in the steeplechase at the 1904 Summer Olympics. He competed for Ireland at the International Cross Country Championships of 1903–1906 and won two silver team medals; individually he won a bronze in 1903 and finished fourth in 1904 and 1906. When not competing for Ireland as a member of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Daly entered races as a member of the Irish American Athletic Club.
George Valentine Bonhag was an American athlete and a member of the Irish American Athletic Club and the New York City Police Department. He competed in distance events, both racewalking and running, at the 1904, 1908 and 1912 Olympics and at the 1906 Intercalated Games.
Alvah T. Meyer was an American sprint runner. He was a Jewish member of the Irish American Athletic Club, which also included Abel Kiviat and Myer Prinstein.
Harvey Wright Cohn was an American track and field athlete and a member of the Irish American Athletic Club. A native of New York City, Cohn competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics, the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens and 1908 Summer Olympics in London.
Emil Joseph Muller was an American track and field athlete and a member of the Irish American Athletic Club who competed in the discus throwing events in the 1912 Summer Olympics. Muller was the Amateur Athletic Union discus champion 1912-14 and 1918. He was also a member of the New York City Police Department.
The Michigan Wolverines men's track and field team is the intercollegiate track and field program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).