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It's wonderful to
reflect that as the XXVIII Olympiad gets under way in Athens this week, the man
who won the first gold medal (it was actually silver for first place in those
days) in the very first event in the newly reconstituted games in 1896 was James
Brendan Connolly, born in South Boston but whose parents were from Cill
Éinne, Inis Mór, the largest Aran island. Connolly was a larger
than life character. Growing up among the Irish community in South Boston in
the last few decades of the 19th century was a tough business. Connolly, one of
nine boys, survived by using his intelligence and wit, his prowess on the
athletic field; and keeping out of mischief by going on long and sometimes
dangerous trips with his uncle out of Gloucester harbour to the fish rich banks
off the Massachusetts coast. At seven years of age he fell overboard and only
survived by holding on to a rope, and was dragged through the water in the wake
of a fast fishing schooner until he was spotted and hauled aboard. Connolly was
accepted at Harvard University to read classics but when he heard that after
1,500 years the Olympic Games were being revived, and would be held in Athen
in the spring of 1896, he applied for leave to postpone his studies while he
competed for America. His request was
refused; so he promptly resigned his university place and with the money he had
saved for his studies, set off with 10 other competitors from New York to
Naples, Italy, from where they hoped to get a boat to Greece. While in Italy Connolly
was robbed, and even though the thief was caught the police insisted that he
must wait behind for legal proceedings. That night Connolly gave the police the
slip, and just managed to catch the train for Brindisi; his team mates pulling
him on board as the train left the station. The American team, and
all the other competitors, were royally dined and wined by the excited and
welcoming Greeks. When Connolly finally stood ready to compete (in the Hop,
Step and Jump) he was 12 pounds heavier than when he left America some 16 days
before, and with about "three hours sleep". Nevertheless, in his own words he "
breathed into" his palms, took in the measure of the path before him, and
waited " for that wave of high energy which will come to a man who is gathering
himself for a big try. It comes over a man like a warm enkindling wave. Let
your imagination be deeply stirred and it will be come." With a cry: " Here's
one for the honour of Galway!" he shot forward, and hopped, skipped, and jumped
into the history books. Theme from Synge play? Connolly's mother was
an O'Donnell from Cill Éinne who married Seán Connolly
when she 17 years of age. They had two sons when smallpox broke out on the
island. Her two brothers were struck down with the disease, and the family
feared they would die. The young Mrs Connolly, a fiercely religious woman,
prayed that if God spared her two brothers, He could take her two sons in their
place. " I am young enough to have
more sons; but my parents have only two and are too old for others." Like a
theme from a play by JM Synge, her sons died but her brothers lived. She and
her husband and her two brothers left for Boston together shortly after, where
nine boys were later born to the Connolly couple. The TG4 researcher and
TV presenter A remarkable life James Brendan Connolly
went on to live a remarkable life. He fought in the Spanish American war, and
was a journalist with the Boston Globe.
He was in Dublin during the War of Independence acting as an advisor for the
American government, but after his triumph in Athens, his greatest claim to
fame was as a prolific writer. He wrote hundreds of short stories, and 28
novels many of them rip roaring tales based on his experiences of sailing out
of the Marblehead and Gloucester ports, and the fierce competition that existed
among the skippers often prompting them to take outrageous risks at sea.
(Connolly was the maritime adviser on the famous Spencer Tracy film: Captain
Courageous.) Following the first Olympic Games in
the modern era, there was a parade in Boston for the American team. Connolly
wasn't there. Instead he went to Paris spending what was left of the money he
had saved to go to Harvard. It was May by the time he returned, alone and
unnoticed. He took the trolley to
his home in South Boston weighed down with suitcases and souvenirs. His silver
medal was tucked away in the pocket of his pants. His mother made him a cup of
tea and brought out the apple pie. Then for two hours he told her about his
adventures since he left home. He had spent all his
college savings. But he didn't regret anything, it was all worth it just to see
the American flag going up over that stadium that memorable day when he won his
medal." I felt that my spirit was having play, and that is life: to give the
spirit play." Later when Harvard offered him an honorary degree, he turned it
down. He died in New York on January 20 1957. Regretfully few people
in Galway had heard of James Brendan Connolly until Seosamh's documentary.
During his research in Boston he met Gary Kissal, the curator of the Marblehead
Dory and Schooner Museum, who became fascinated by the fishing traditions of
Massachusetts, and many of the characters who sailed on those adventurous
seas. Today he has generously
extended his personal collection of artefacts and literature into a public
venture at Marblehead. In a unique tribute to the writer James Brendan
Connolly, and a gesture which somehow completes a circle for the Connolly
family, Gary and his partner Jerilyn Morgan presented a complete collection of
Connolly's books to the library on Inis Mór. The presentation was
made in the ruins of the Connolly house at Cill Éinne, on Tuesday
evening. Galway Advertiser - 19-8-2004 
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