Ronnie Delany, the fastest miler at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, died last week in the fullness of his years. Funeral mass this morning 11:00hrs in Foxrock. When I was still working in Dublin, my commute bus would go past his birthplace just across the river in Arklow. The local Chamber put up a plaque, because everyone loves a winner.
Knowing this primed me to react appropriately when I shook hands with him at at a bday party in The Institute just before Xmas 2014. Follow links in the bdayreport to see Delany run.Delany was fast, but a sports scholarship to Villanova U when he left school gave him support, training and Time to become his best self as a runner. When I met him +10 years ago, he was trolling for fit youngsters to follow him down to Villanova in their turn.
What do you do after winning Gold as a fit young chap? Deleny went on to be VP Marketing for Irish Ferries. It's a bit like Tony "Fleetfoot" O'Reilly who was A God on the rugger pitch and went on to become a multi-millionaire as CEO of Beanz Meanz Heinz. Not all sporty champs are able to parlay their ambition and success from one field to another. RIP - rest in plimsoles. And he made the front page of Wikipedia:
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