TUOHY SPORTS

"The quiet Irishman is about as harmless as a powder magazine built over a match factory." James Dunne

"Of our conflicts with others we (The Irish) make rhetoric; of our conflicts with ourselves we make poetry." William Butler Yeats

"What's the use of being Irish if the world doesn't break your heart?" John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"An Englishman does everything on principle: he fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles." George Bernard Shaw

Bernard Toohey (born 18 February 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played during the 1980s and early 1990s as a defender.

Toohey started his career in 1981 with the Geelong Football Club, with whom he played for five years. He then moved north to Sydney and earned All Australian selection in 1987. Two years later, he topped the Swans' goal kicking charts courtesy of spending half of the season at full forward.

A. Edward "Ted" Toohey is a former professional rugby league footballer of the 1940s and '50s, and coach of the 1970s who at representative level has played for Great Britain, and England, and at club level for Wigan, and Barrow, playing at Scrum-half/Halfback, i.e. number 7, and at club level has coached for Wigan.

James 'Jim' Toohey (born July 23, 1886) was a Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After appearing in the opening two rounds of the 1913 season, Toohey left the club to coach Stawell. He returned in round seven and was a half forward flanker in Fitzroy's premiership team that year. In 1914 he kicked 38 goals, seven of them against a weak University team in the middle of the season. His career best tally was the fifth highest in the league that year. He also played in their losing 1917 VFL Grand Final side, as a centre half back.One of his sons, also called Jim, played at Fitzroy during the 1930s, while a younger son named Jack was a league footballer at Fitzroy and St Kilda.

Peter Michael Toohey (born 20 April 1954, Blayney, New South Wales) is a former Australian cricketer who played in 15 Tests and 5 ODIs from 1977 to 1979. Toohey was one of the cricketers who came to the fore when the bulk of Australia's top cricketers defected to Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. During that defection period, Toohey was probably the mainstay of the Australian batting lineup, along with Graham Yallop and Graeme Wood. During his prime playing years in the Australian Test team, some media commentators referred to Toohey as "Australia's master batsman", such was Toohey's pivotal role in the Australian Test team during the absence of the defecting World Series players. When the World Series cricketers returned to mainstream Test cricket to reclaim their places in the Australian Test team, most of those players, who had sustained Australian cricket during the World Series Cricket years, were unable to retain their places in the Test side. Among those who did retain their places were Toohey and Graeme Wood.Toohey thereafter lost his place in the Australian Test team after a series of poor performances. Some commentator's believed that his batting stance was too rigid, in the sense that he tended to lock his knees back, which hindered his mobility.

Phil-Mont Christian’s Meghan Toohey signs a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Michigan to play soccer last Thursday. With her are her mother Katherine, father Joseph and her sister Caitlin Qualett and nephew Dominic. Montgomery Media photo—BOB RAINES

O'Brien, Robert David (1917-1977). All-American football player, winner of the Heisman trophy (138) Played for Philadelphia but resigned to join the FBI.

Gaelic Park: In the Bronx, New York. Crowds of 6,000 or more regularly attended its weekend matches of hurling and Irish football.

Quarry, Jerry: “Irish Jerry” A heavyweight boxing contender. Quarry won the National Golden Gloves Heavyweight title in 1965, (he was the only boxer to do so by knocking out all five of his opponents) and went on to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship as a professional.
   He won his first twelve pro fights, eight by knockout, and was held to a draw by another unbeaten heavyweight from Utah, Tony Doyle. He won his next three fights scoring two knockouts before being held to another draw by Tony Alongi At that point, his record was 15-0-2 (10 KO's)
    He matched up against one of the most rugged heavyweight brawlers
in the history of the sport, George "Scrap Iron" Johnson. Johnson had fought some of the best heavyweights in the world and had never been knocked down. He was the only fighter, at that point, to go the distan ce with future heaveyweight champ, Joe Frazier fought.
Quarry floored Scrap Iron with such a vicious flurry of left hooks that when the figher went down, the Referee didn't even bother to count.
He fought his idol, the great two time heavey weight champion, Floyd Patterson, to a draw.
     In his battle for the tittle with Smoke’n Joe Frazier, Quarry tried to battle it out with the champ, but by the seventh round Frazier had taken control of the match and stopped Quarry.
After the bout, the I.R.S. came to his dressing room and served Quarry, his father Jack and trainer Teddy Bentham with tax bills and announced that back taxes for all three would be garnished from the Frazier purse. Quarry was convinced that the tax case was arranged by his manager Johnny Flores.
    Shortly afterwards, Quarry became involved with a nationally known
attorney with mob connections. Flores' became the target of an attempted contract hit involving two off-duty Los Angeles police officers. The attempt was never connected to Quarry directly and the Police were able to play the incident off as a case of "mistaken identity" but Flores sued the City of Los Angeles and settled out of court.
     In 1971, Irish Jerry Quarry took on Muhammad Ali's, becoming Ali’s
first opponent after three years of inactivity. The bout was held in Atlanta on October 26th and Ali had no trouble using Quarry as a target, stopping Jerry in three rounds. It was the 6-foot, 195-pound blond Quarry’s biggest payday, $338,000
     After winning his next six fights, Quarry challenged Ali a second time in 1972 and once again was stopped, in seven rounds.
     He retired March 24, 1975 after he was KO'ed by Ken Norton in five rounds at Madison Square Garden. He was was immediately hired by CBS television to announce their fights. Although he was a popular announcer, two years later, at age 32, he announced a comeback to the rin g.
   On November 5, 1977 Jerry returned to the ring in a scheduled ten round bout that appeared on ABC television which had paid him $300,000 for coverage rights. In his first comeback match, Quarry sank a fighter named
named Lorenzo Zanon in Las Vegas with a left hook in the 9th round.
However, Quarry realized that had the fight gone the distance, he would have lost. Jerry realized he was thru and retired once again.
   At age 38, he was very overweight and out of shape, but took a fight in
Albuquerque and scored a first round knockout. A few months later he won again by decision in a ten rounder in Bakersfield, California. However, Jerry retired again. Nine years later at the age 47, Quarry lost a six round fight in Wisconsin
In 1992, Quarry fought for one final time. Believing he could make a comeback as George Foreman had, he took a bout in Colorado, a state where no boxing license was required. But Quarry was battered for six rounds by a club fighter. ``Irish Jerry'' Quarry's payday for absorbing the beating was $1,050.
    Quarry finished his pro career with a 53-9-4 record after having fighting more than 200 bouts as an amateur. Neurological tests revealed early signs of dementia in 1982, before his short-term memory loss and motor skills deteriorated so noticeably and before his last three fights.
A neuropsychologist who examined him five years ago said that boxing had aged the boxer 30 years and that he was at third-stage dementia, similar to
Alzheimer's.
   Quarry, who earned $2.1 million in purses as a top contender in the 1960s and '70s, later was living on Social Security checks. By the age of 50, the
pounding he had taken in the ring turned him into a confused, childlike man
whose relatives had to take care of him.   He suffered from Dementia pugilistica. He spent his final years living with his mother in a mobile home park in Southern California. He could no longer handle simple daily tasks, such as shaving. His brother would help him do that.    In 1993, Quarry was hospitalized with pneumonia and then suffered cardiac arrest family members directed doctors to remove life support

Galvin, James F. "Pud" Born in 1856 in St. Louis, Mo. Galvin remains the only pitcher in history to win more than 300 games and lose more than 300.

Ryan, Paddy: A native of Ireland, he was the first true heavy weight champion, having defeated Englishman Joe Gross on May 30, 1880, at Collier Station, West Virginia, near the Pennsylvania and Ohio borders. The boxers fought for nearly an hour and a half before Ryan knocked out Goss in the 87th round. Ryan was challenged almost immediately by John L. Sullivan of Boston, but he managed to avoid Sullivan until February 7, 1882. Their fight was originally scheduled for New Orleans, but was moved at the last minute to Mississippi City, Mississippi, because Louisiana authorities threatened action. Sullivan won on a 9th-round knockout that took less than 11 minutes.

Delahanty, Edward J: Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1867. The best of five brothers who played in the major leagues, Big Ed Delahanty played1,835 games spanning 16 seasons. He batted .346, with 2,597 hits, 522 doubles, 185 triples, and 101 home runs. He stole 455 bases, scored 1,599 runs, and 1,464 RBI. A heavy drinker, Delahanty was suspended during the 1903 season. While traveling from Detroit to New York to be with his wife, he became drun k and troublesome on the t rain and was put off near Niagara Falls by the conductor. He tried to follow the train across the International Bridge, fell into the Niagara River, and was washed over the falls. His mangled body was found a week later.

Duffy, Hugh: Born in Cranston, Rhode Island in 1866. Only 5-foot-7 and 168 pounds, when Duffy arrived to Chicago National League team in 1888, manager Cap Anson, who said, "We've got a bat boy. What are you doing here?" In 1891, Duffy went to the Boston team in the American Association, then a major league, and hit 161 RBI’s to lead the league. In 1894, he batted.301 and .363, one of the greatest seasons in baseball history, with an average
.440, which is still an all-time record. He also led the league in hits with 237, doubles with 51, home runs with 18, RBI with 145, and slugging percentage with .694.
He went on to manage teams in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, the 1910-1911 Chicago White Sox , and the 1921-1922 Boston Red Sox.In 1,737 games, Duffy batted .324, with 2,282 hits. He had 325 doubles, 119 triples, 106 home runs, 1,552 runs scored, 1,302 RBI, and 574 stolen bases.

The Fighting Irish: The reputation of the American "Fighting Irish" took hold of the country when Irish American pugilists dominated the sport of Boxing
at a time when the sport was becoming organized, profitable and popular.
It is a paradox that an otherwise, peaceful, religious and docile people (they had been soundly beaten by the Romans, the Vikings, the Norman’s and the British) should become known as the fighting Irish.
In over 400 years of British domination there had been fewer then a dozen, serious, ill fated armed uprising against their oppressors. Most of those uprisings hardly attracted any popular support from the Irish people as a whole.
Even the doomed Easter uprising in 1918, would only several hundred hard core followers, mostly young students and committed radicals.
Since its inception the Irish republic has remained mostly neutral in world politics and its standing army is one of the smallest in the world.
In America, the Irish were generally opposed to the Civil war and the U.S. interven¬tion into the First and the second world wars.
However, the poverty that meet them at the gates of the new world produced some tough¬est prize fighters the sport of Boxing has ever had and the legend of the fighting Irishman began.
    Bare are knuckles brawler Paddy Ryan took what was commonly agreed to be the Heavy Weight boxing title in 1880, making Ryan the first unofficial but established heavy weight Champion of the world.
Ryan was replaced by John Lawrence Sullivan, who was born in Boston of Irish emergent parents. His mother had hoped her son would enter the Priesthood and sent young John L. to the Jesuits run Boston college.
He didn't last long and left school to become a plumber's apprentice. He didn't last long there either and was fired after he broke his bosses' jaw in an argument.
Sullivan became a prize fighter in 1877, when he flat¬tened a local Boston fighter named Tom Scannel in two min¬utes of the first round.
From there, he quickly went on to beat the State Champion and then the Great English pugi¬list Joe Goss.
In a short while Sullivan fell under the management of William Muldoon, a cigar chom¬ping publicity genius who boasted Sullivan¬'s career to stardom. It was Muldoon, for all given purposes, introduced the science of pub¬licity hype in American sports.
Muldoon understood that the Irish were the ones who paid to see prize fighting and that they desperately needed a hero of their own.
By clever manip¬ulation of the press, Muldon turned Sullivan into the very definition of the fighting Irish Boy-o and took his man on a cross country tour offering anyone $50.00 who could stay in the ring for more then four rounds with Sulliv¬an.
"I'm John Lawrence Sullivan and I can" Bellowed the Champ when he would stroll into a local tavern "Beat any son of Bitch in the place, and if you don't believe it, then step up"
Few took the offer and fewer still stayed on their feet long enough to collect the money.
   He was their champion and they loved him. "Shake the hand" went a popular refrain "that shook the hand of the great John L."
In 1882, Sullivan easily won the world heavy weight tittle by knock¬ing out Paddy Ryan, who had been the recognized champion since 1880, in the ninth round of a contest held in Missis¬sippi city, Miss.
The contest was bare knuckles under the London prize rules. However after 1882, Sullivan fought with gloves under the marquis of Queensbury rules that when then coming into favor.
In 1892 he fought James J Corbett in New Orleans for a purse of $25,000 with a side bet of $10,000.
By this time in his career, Sullivan had partied his way through half a million dollars (at a time when the average income was less then $20 a week) and had bloated up to 250 pounds of whisky fat and was desper¬ately out of shape.
He prac¬ticed for the fight with Corb¬ett by getting drunk the night before the fight.
Sullivan was knocked out by Corbett in the twenty first round.
His last known appear¬ance in the ring was for a benefit in 1896.
During his fight career he had 37 matches, he won 12 by knockouts and 20 by decisions, drew three and was knocked out once.
After his retirement Sullivan took the stage as an actor.
But by now Sullivan was an alcoholic. Toward the end of his life he showed that he still had the stuff champions were made of.
He swore off alcohol, and then took to the temperance lecture cir¬cuit. He never drank again.
When he died in 1918, he weighed 300 pounds and it took ten men to carry his casket through the streets of Boston where thousands lined the streets to pay their last respects to their champi¬on.
The Irish never did take to Gentleman Jim Corbett, "that Goddamned cowboy" as they called him, even though he was born and raised in San Francisco.
   Corbett was as Irish as Sullivan, and in many way a better boxer
who could brawl with the best of them when he had to. But Corbett lacked Sullivan's flare and excitement and never captured Celtic hearts the way the Champ did.
   To help his standing, Corbett hired his fellow San Fransican
Jim Brady to manage his career.
But even Brady's brilliant media manipulations, couldn't sell Gentleman Jim Corbitt to Irish boxing fans.
Brady fared better in other arenas. With the fortune he made as fight promoter, he purchased a playhouse in New York.
Eventually he became the first President of the Motion Picture Association of America. Later, managed the careers of two Irish American movie idols, Helen Hayes, and Douglas Fairbanks.
    The next great Irish heavy weight to come along was James Joseph Tunney in New York the one time US Marine won his first championship tittle while stationed in France where he won the light heavyweight championship of the US Army.
   The handsome and well spoken (not only could he read but he read Shakespeare as well, both facts amazed sports writers of the day) Tunney returned to the States and won the light heavyweight tittle but lost it in 1922 to Harry Greb but took it back from Greb again in 1923. (Harry Grebs real name, by the way, was Harry Berg, or Greb spelled backwards.)
   Tunney then moved up to the heavyweight category and defeated Jack Dempsey for the tittle in a ten round bout in 1926, in what may have been the most controversial fight in the game. Towards the end of the fight, the powerful and deadly Dempsey smashed the smaller but faster Tunney to the canvas with a bone crushing round house right.
   The fight referee started the ten count but stopped and ordered the over excited Dempsey back to his corner but Dempsey refused to budge, instead standing over the sprawled out Tunney, waiting for the Irishman.
   Dempsey finally stepped back and the referee returned to the count and got as far as eight before a badly shaken Tunney returned to his feet to win the fight.
   Dempsey fans were outraged by the "long count" and screamed foul, but it was over and Dempsey retired from the ring. Tunney followed with his own retirement in 1928 and married shortly afterwards.
   His son went on to became United States Senator from California. In 1938 Gene Tunney became chairman of the board of the American Distilling company, he reentered the army in 1941 as a lieutenant commander during the outbreak of the second world war.
    In 1963 Cassias Clay, (later to become Muhammad Ali) who is one fourth Irish, won the Heavy weight Championship of the world