A memorial mark unveiled by Larry Stanley's relatives at the height he jumped at Croke Park.
By Cian Murphy
One of the greatest Gaelic footballers of all time and a man with a unique place in Irish Olympic Games history has been honoured in his native Kildare.
In an incredible summer 100 years ago, Larry Stanley was the first ever track and field athlete to compete under the banner of Ireland as an independent entity at the Paris Games of 1924. A few weeks later he starred in the Tailteann Games at Croke Park, before his amazing season finished when he inspired Dublin in their All-Ireland final win over Kerry at Croke Park.
A ceremony has taken place to record that season and celebrate his iconic career with his native village of Caragh in Kildare featuring a novel memorial in his honour.
A frame which stands at the height of his Tailteann Games jump of 6’3 1/8 is beside a panel detailing his many GAA achievements.
The initiative was driven by the local community in Caragh with the support of the GAA History and Commemoration Committee, and with GAA Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan one of the guests in attendance for its unveiling.
Originally a member of a team from Blacktrench in Kildare until they went out of existence, Larry Stanley won county titles in 1918 and 1919 with Caragh and he was captain for Kildare when they won the 1919 All-Ireland senior title, defeating Galway.
Regarded as a supreme stylist in the same guise of Mick O’Connell, Maurice Fitzgerald or Brian Fenton, Stanley’s ability to jump more than six feet in the air made him a formidable opponent. He was renowned for his one-handed catches, his clever distribution and gifted score taking.
In a truncated inter-county career, he played less than 20 times, and railed against ultra negative defensive tactics of opponents eager to take out this lord of the skies. It all added to the Stanley enigma.
Joining the Police and later An Garda Siochana after the foundation of the Free State, Stanley was living in and eligible for Dublin when the delayed 1923 All-Ireland final was played in September of 1924. Kildare natives and star players Frank Burke and Joe Stynes were with him for company as he won a second Celtic cross – this time at full forward.
Before then, however, his athletic prowess which had seen him earn fame as a high jumper and long jumper added to his aura.
Stanley was one of the star attractions at athletics. He was Irish high jump champion having won the crown in Croke Park in 1924 and also won in Wembley and Stamford Bridge in the build up to the Olympics at the Stade Colombes in Paris.
The first individual athlete to represent Ireland in Olympic competition, his performance in the High Jump was disappointing as he failed to maintain his rich form.
The Olympic High Jump was won by American Harold Osborne, and he was invited to attend the Tailteann Games in Croke Park as a guest athlete that same summer where a rematch with Stanley brought the best out of both men – with Larry setting a personal best of 6’3 1/8.
This was in an era before the present-day High Jump technique known as the Fosbury Flop dating from the 1960s. In 1924 Larry Stanley and his contemporaries hurdled or went feet first over the bar – a phenomenal feat given the heights involved.
Larry retained his High Jump title in 1925 and was second in the hop, skip and jump and the javelin. He was back with Kildare when they reached the 1926 All-Ireland final with Kerry, but his influence was curbed by the Kingdom who won in a replay.
He did not play again until he was sensationally sprung at the last minute in Croke Park before the 1930 Leinster final. Having not told the other Kildare players beforehand or even put Stanley in for the pre match parade, management had a last second coup that struck gold with Stanley bagging 1-2 to claim the title against Dublin.
However, he was absent when Kildare were later stunned by Monaghan in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Although several others had much longer careers, it says much about the impact that Larry Stanley made that his time in the Lilywhite jersey left such a mark on the game and those who saw him play.
He was inducted into the Texaco Hall of Fame in 1970 and was the first ever recipient of an All-Time All-Star in football in 1980.
John Lawler, the man behind the new memorial in Caragh, said the motivation of the locals was to ensure that Larry’s Stanley’s name and his achievements are never forgotten.
“Our hope is that not only will the great achievements of Larry Stanley be forever remembered and celebrated here by people in Caragh and Kildare but also that he may serve as an inspiration to athletes and footballers in Kildare in the future,” he said.
Speaking at the unveiling, which was attended by family and locals and representatives from the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Kildare GAA and Athletics Ireland, GAA Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan said: “We stand on the shoulders of the people who went before us. And in the case of Larry Stanley, we are truly standing on the shoulders of a giant, not only in terms of his physical stature but equally in terms of his impact and his influence on football and the wider GAA.
“In 15 years between his first and last game he only played for Kildare some 18 times. But it was a case of quality over quantity and how he patrolled the skies and lorded it as a footballer, and backed up by his achievements in the high jump and the long jump, cemented his place among the pantheon of GAA greats. It is fitting that this memorial here ensures that his name and his fame will continue to inspire and reverberate down through future generations.”
The 1920s of which Stanley was a part were of crucial importance to the GAA as the Championships caught the public imagination in the era that followed the end of the Civil War and the resumption of a new normal after the upheavals of Irish life from 1913-1923. Crowds flocked to see these heroes and attendance records were repeatedly smashed with the first ever 40,000 strong crowd being set at a Kildare-Kerry game in this era.
By opting out after 1926 he took himself out of a Kildare team that would go on to win All-Irelands in 1927 and 1928 and he would have been an automatic starter. Regardless, his place in GAA history and also that of Irish athletic and Olympic history was already well assured.