PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tom Brady is the perfect poster boy for the Irish in sports.
By STEVE KRAUSE
We all know about the Boston Celtics. The fledgling National Basketball Association put a franchise in the city in 1946, and the name certainly fits a city that, at the time, was heavily influenced by Irish politicians and dotted with Irish neighborhoods.
To advance the Irish connection even further, the logo is a Leprechaun twirling a basketball. It’s either that or a shamrock.
Often during their history, especially during the tenure of Red Auerbach (who definitely was not Irish) the Celtics were accused of having too much “luck of the Irish,” especially when they played at the Boston Garden. The funny thing is, though, that if you held a St. Patrick’s Day party among the biggest Celtics stars, Kevin McHale might show up, but otherwise it would be a pretty short guest list.
Then there’s The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. I wonder how that name came about, especially since it’s named after a cathedral in Paris whose fabled bellringer had a severe case of scoliosis. Some think it came from Irish immigrants who fought in the Civil War. Also, the university’s third president, Father William Corby, served as a chaplain for the Irish Brigade at Gettysburg.
That’s probably somewhat accurate, though I always thought that maybe it came from boxer John L. Sullivan, who was the reigning heavyweight champion while the sport transitioned from bare knuckles to gloves.
If the Civil War motif isn’t the true story behind the name, I’d suggest the university make it the official true story anyway. As they said in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
If there aren’t a whole lot of Boston Celtics at the present time who are Irish, there’s certainly a Boston athlete who could well be the poster child for being Hibernian hero, and that’s Tom Brady (full name, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr.).
Who else could you possibly want for your poster child? Even before he led the Patriots to the most improbable Super Bowl win ever, Brady already had the chops to be an Irish icon. Four Super Bowls (now five), killer All-American good looks, smooth and polished when he has to represent the team, loves his mother to the point of letting his public facade down long enough to express care and emotion over her health … I can hear “Danny Boy” playing in the background.
I always hated Rick Barry, both as a player and as a broadcaster after he was done. He just seemed overly pugnacious and whiny to boot. And his grasp of the obvious as a broadcaster was maddening.
But there he is, on Bleacher Report’s list of the 17 most influential Irish-American athletes. Do you know what I especially couldn’t stand about him? That he shot free throws underhanded. And that they went in! He’d put a ton of backspin on the ball as he released it. Every time I tried to shoot them that way I didn’t even hit the rim.
Two of tennis enfant terribles made that list too: Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe.
Connors came first. He burst on the scene in 1973, along with Chris Evert (they were engaged when they both won Wimbledon). But where Evert gladly conformed to country-club etiquette, Connors did not. He was loud, boisterous and argumentative. Not to the extent McEnroe was, but he was a worthy forerunner to the era of the brat that dominated tennis for a spell.
In the grand tradition of Irish boxers (we’ve already talked about John L. Sullivan) we also have Jack Dempsey, the Manassa Mauler, one of the greatest heavyweight champs of all-time. Half Irish and half Cherokee, Dempsey dominated the sport in the early 20th century. Twice, he fought on St. Patrick’s Day — and won both times.
There was in Boston, during the 1960s and ’70s, the legendary boxing promoter Sam Silverman. Suitcase Sam (so named because he basically operated out of a suitcase), liked to run annual St. Patrick’s Day boxing cards in which at least one of the contestants in every bout had the word “Irish” in front of his name. Hardly any of them were.
Some other notables on this list: former New York Yankee legend Edward “Whitey” Ford, John Elway, golfers Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, McHale (but of course!) and Derek Jeter.
Yes. Jeter qualifies.
Admittedly it’s a stretch. Jeter’s mother is half-Irish, so he gets in under the wire. But he’s there. At least according to Bleacher Report. I qualify too, as my mother was all Irish.
Finally, there’s the case of mixed martial artist Ken Shamrock. That’s not his real name anymore than Johnny Manziel’s real name is “Johnny Football.” But before anyone gets too upset over that, his real name is Ken Kilpatrick, certainly Irish enough to adopt a name such as Shamrock.
“May your glass be ever full, may the roof over your head be always strong, and may you be in heaven a half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.”
Happy St. Patrick’s.