Sir, – The unforgettable words of the BBC radio commentator “Delany from Eire has taken the lead” lit up an otherwise dark 1950s Ireland.
Ronnie Delany’s Olympic gold medal success became the talk of the country and his name became a byword for success even beyond athletics, and a great Dublin put-down of the time was “Who do you think you are, Ronnie Delany?”
Before he took up his scholarship in the Villanova University in Philadelphia, he spent some happy times as an Army cadet in the Curragh before departing to greener athletic pastures in the US.
However, he didn’t forget his first alma mater and, in retirement, he returned to the Curragh and presented the Cadet School with the Tricolour he had wrapped around himself shortly after crossing the finishing line and uttering a prayer on his knees. What an iconic image that became. May he rest in peace. – Yours, etc,
Comdt FRANK RUSSELL,
(Retired),
Blanchardstown,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – Meeting Ronnie Delany with a mutual friend in Cushendall Golf Club in Ballymena some years ago, I told him the story of changing the name of our very mobile cat in Kilrush from Tibbelly Tobbelly to Ronnie Demanx in 1956. – Yours, etc,
PADDY BYRNE,
Belfast.