Jack Mangan a hero to generations of Galway sports people

A QUOTE from literary giant Ernest Hemingway: 'As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it's sort of necessary.' Applicable, no doubt, to both the universal and the local in its scope and in its range and variety of sources of inspiration.[private] At present, sadly, there's widespread pessimism about Galway's status in inter-county senior football. For, despite the glorious tradition associated with the Maroon and White it's been eleven years of abject failure at the highest level. Even that valuable commodity we all cling to in life and in sport, hope for the future, is fading. But nostalgia and the recall of happy times always offers comfort and solace, so the civic honour about to be conferred on one of Galway's greatest and most admired sportsmen of all time, Jack Mangan of Tuam, is timely and perhaps it will serve to inspire the footballers of today to improve their standard of play, their dedication, commitment and will-to-win. On Saturday week, August 4, Tuam Town Council will host a civic reception to mark the official opening of the Jack Mangan Roundabout on Purcell-Stockwell Road, linking Vicar Street with Dublin Road â€â€ close to the G.A.A. stadium made famous by the epic deeds of such legendary figures as those three Tuam clubmates and friends: Mangan, Purcell and Stockwell. Every major honour The facts of Jack Mangan's career are well known but well worth repeating. He won every major honour in Gaelic football, first as a schoolboy in the mid-1940s and later at club and county senior levels, and by the time he departed the scene in 1959, to move to England, he was a revered figure and his place in the Hall of Fame was secure for life. He is remembered first and foremost for his inspirational leadership of the All-Ireland winning Galway team of 1956, but in his native town he was equally acclaimed for his role in making Tuam Stars an unbeatable force in the County Championship in the 1950s; he captained Connacht to win the 1957 Railway Cup when that inter-provincial competition had huge prestige, and he had the honour of being chosen to play for the Ireland team vs the Combined Universities in 1955 and 1957. In both of those matches, Seán Purcell was on the Universities' team; he was studying at U.C.G. at the time. Jack's finest hour was in 1956, as a captain who led by outstanding personal example in Galway's 2-13 to 3-7 victory over Cork in the All-Ireland final. It was played in early October after a delay of several weeks caused by a Polio outbreak in Cork city and county, resulting in the deaths of 20 people (starting with a five-year-old girl) and illness in over 500. The Croke Park attendance on Sunday, October 7th was 70,772; it would have been over 80,000 if the final had been played in September. When Jack Mangan carried the Sam Maguire Cup across the River Shannon in triumph the heroes of '56 were on their way to what the Herald described as a 'tumultuous welcome' with public receptions in Athlone, Ballinasloe, Ahascragh, Mountbellew, Moylough and Tuam as bonfires blazed along the route. It took eight hours for the cavalcade of cars to get from Dublin to Tuam, where the local Brass Band led in the lorry carrying the captain and his team-mates. It was a very special occasion for the Tuam Stars club: Jack was the leader of a great team; Seán ('The Master') was the chief playmaker, as usual, and at full-forward Frank played the game of his life â€â€ his two goals and five points, all from play, remained a record highest score by an individual in a 60-minute All-Ireland football final. Two more Tuam Stars men were on the panel, Cyril Kelly and Séamus Colleran, and three more were unlucky to miss the biggest day: clerical student John Kennedy made a major contribution to the All-Ireland semi-final victory over Tyrone but he wasn't allowed out for the final, while John Lowry and Mattie Mannion were forced out of the Galway panel by injury earlier in the season. It was against Tyrone, in front of 54,454 spectators, that Jack Mangan made his most famous, most important save. It was a low-scoring game, Galway winning by 0-8 to 0-6, due mainly â€â€ wrote Jarlath P. Burke in the Herald â€â€ to 'the brilliance of both goalkeepers, Jack Mangan and the Tyrone custodian Thady Turbett,' and to Galway's rearguard resistance. This was how J.P.B. described it: 'Defenders rose to new heights and presented a staunch bastion that never yielded. Never before had those backs been so beset with danger, when one slip might have cost Galway the game.' Wonder save The gripping contest was ultimately decided by Jack Mangan's wonder save from Tyrone's brilliant forward Iggy Jones, typically at the end of a thrilling solo run by Jones, for Tyrone the Peter Canavan of that era. For the record, Galway won the 1956 Connacht Championship by defeating Mayo 5-13 to 2-5; Roscommon by 1-9 to 0-2 and, in the final, Sligo on a very wet day, 3-12 to 1-5, with Seán Purcell Man of the Match. As he received the Sam Maguire Cup on October 7th, Jack Mangan made a wonderful speech, off-the-cuff but from the heart; it showed his endearing qualities as a person to match his great talent as a sportsman. In all the years since, he has held a special place in the hearts of Galway people. JACK was born in Tuam in 1927; his father Hugh was a dentist. The family home was at St Jarlath's Place, Bishop Street and Seán Purcell, one year younger than Jack, lived further down that long street, close to Newtownmorris where Frank Stockwell would live with his wife Pauline for several years early in their married life. Hugo and Henry Mangan followed in their father's footsteps and became dentists. After secondary school (Tuam CBS), Jack went to Dublin to work for one of the city's leading big stores and a major employer, Clery's in O'Connell Street, where his workmates included the great Wexford hurler Billy Rackard. At this time, the late 1940s, Jack played club football in Dublin but he returned to give great service to his home club, Tuam Stars, as they set out on the amazing journey that became the Seven-in-a-Row, dominating the County Championship from 1954 to 1960 (inclusive) and after losing to Dunmore MacHales in â€Ëœ61 they avenged that defeat the following year. In that golden era too, the Stars excelled in a provincial club tournament that was put into the Connacht football calendar for several years in the late 1950s and they regularly played even more memorable games against the renowned Dublin champions St Vincent's at Croke Park and at Tuam Stadium. The Stars and St Vincent's were unquestionably the top two club teams in the country in the 1950s and although Jack Mangan didn't play for Tuam all through the Seven-in-a-Row, having gone to England in 1959, he is a Tuam Stars legend. Early in his football career, he played out the field for the CBS, and he also greatly liked hurling and athletics, winning the Connacht Colleges High Jump in 1946. As a goalkeeper, in the pre-Hogan Cup era, he starred for the combined Connacht Colleges team in the interpro' series, a competition of great prestige and honour. Tuam Herald records show that Jack was a key figure in that team, playing alongside lads from St Jarlath's; St Mary's, Galway and the leading Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon colleges. In his final year at school, Jack led a star-studded Connacht team to victory over Leinster at Parkmore, Tuam where those Colleges inter-provincial matches always attracted huge crowds. The driving-force of that Leinster team was a future St Vincent's and Dublin legend, Ollie Freaney. The young Jack Mangan was on his way to fame and glory. Thanks for the memories, Jack. And welcome home.[/private]