“The times are never so bad,” said Saint Thomas More, “that a good man can’t live in them.” These are encouraging words that can be applied to our present times. In addition to encouraging words, however, we, especially Catholics, need heroes, people who beat the odds and offered hope for the many who feel they have little chance of succeeding.
One such hero, worth introducing at this time, during the Summer Olympics, is James Brendan Connolly (Irish: Séamas Breandán Ó Conghaile), one of 12 children born to poor Irish immigrants in South Boston. He developed his prowess as an athlete in the streets and vacant lots, where he joined other young men in running, jumping, and playing ball. He did not attend high school, but was sufficiently self-educated that he was able to pass Harvard’s entrance examination. As a result, he was unconditionally accepted to study the classics.
It was 1896, the year the Olympic Games were being revised. The motto, citius, altius, forties— meaning “swifter,” “higher,” “stronger,”—coined by Father Henri Didon, urged athletes to be at their best. This Dominican priest had envisioned the games as a means of using a physical competition to achieve spiritual greatness. “You who wish to surpass yourself, fashion your body and spirit to discover the best of yourself,” he is reputed to have said.
James Brendan Connolly was a freshman at Harvard that year and possessed a strong desire to compete in the first of the modern Olympiads. He approached the dean of the college requesting permission to leave school in order to go to Athens, but was refused. Connolly was one of the few Catholics attending Harvard at that time. He eschewed the safe and convenient choice of remaining at Harvard, getting his degree, and then make his mark in the world. Little did he know what immediate difficulties awaited him.
He had saved $250, but the German freighter which would take him and the nine other American athletes to Greece, suddenly raised the fare an additional $75. Through the intercession of Father O’Callaghan, himself a sports fan, parishioners raised the required money. The team planned to spend 12 days in training prior to the opening of the games. What was not known at the time was that Greece operated on the Julian calendar, which gave the ten athletes but one day to prepare. There were more problems. Arriving in Naples, Connolly’s wallet was stolen. He almost lost his ticket, retrieving it after a pursuit of the robber.
On April 6, 1896, at 2 pm, the Modern Olympics got under way. Crown Prince Constantine of Greece made a speech, and King George I officially opened the Games. James Brendan Connolly entered the first event, the triple jump, or more accurately, at that time, the “hop, hop and jump.” He was the last of the competitors to compete in this event, and he out-distanced all his predecessors. With a jump of 13.71 meters — or 44 feet 11.75 inches — a remarkable three feet and three inches ahead of his nearest rival — he won the first championship of the modern Olympics and the first for his country. He became the first such champion since an Armenian prince by the name of Barasdates triumphed in boxing in the fourth century. Connolly was the first Olympic winner in 1,500 years — but received only a silver medal. The tradition of awarding gold to the winner was not inaugurated until 1908 at the London Olympiad.
Connolly also finished second in the high jump and third in the long jump. Some 40,000 spectators watched the events, including sailors from the USS San Francisco. In all, 285 men participated in the 42 events, representing 13 nations. Connolly watched with pride as the American flag was ceremoniously hoisted and a 200-piece band played the Star Spangled Banner. Jim Connolly returned home virtually penniless. He was by no means, at that time, a national hero. But the hero’s welcome he did receive from the Irish community of South Boston made him feel like a king. He participated in the Paris Olympiad in 1900 and won a silver medal in the triple jump. He attended the 1904 Olympics as a journalist. “Connollystrasse”, in Munich is named in his honor and was a key location in the events surrounding the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Recognizing the merits of its former student and in an attempt to offset an infelicitous and hastily made decision, the Dean of Harvard offered Connolly an honorary doctorate. Connolly, ever the man of integrity, refused it. He went on to become a noted journalist and war correspondent. He covered the Spanish American War, World War I, and the Irish war of Independence. He authored 25 novels, including The Olympic Victory (1908), and 200 short stories. Joseph Conrad, himself an accomplished teller of sailing adventures, once described Connolly as “America’s best writer of sea stories.” He continued his distinguished and varied career until his death on Jan. 20, 1957, at 88. A collection of items related to Connolly, including his triple jump silver medal, is housed in the library of Colby College in Maine. A statue in his honor stands in South Boston.
James Connolly beat the odds on so many levels. He was the son of a poor family of twelve, growing up in a poor area, and penniless at the age of 27. Yet, he became the first champion of the Modern Olympic Games, a successful journalist, and an accomplished novelist. He is an inspiration and role model for all of us.
Dr. Donald DeMarco is a Senior Fellow of Human Life International. He is professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ontario, an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College in Cromwell, CT, and a regular columnist for St. Austin Review. His latest works, How to Remain Sane in a World That is Going Mad and Poetry That Enters the Mind and Warms the Heart are available through Amazon.com.
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