Patrick Casey

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/news/last-of-the-famou...

Paddy Casey, the sole surviving brother of the legendary Caseys of Sneem, died in London at the weekend. He had celebrated his 92nd birthday just a week previously.

His death closes an incredible chapter of sporting achievements that made the seven Crusher Casey brothers famous not alone in Ireland but also in the United States and England.

It's just over a year since the Caseys were given the Hall of Fame Award at the Kerry Sports Stars night in Killarney.

It was with much regret that Paddy was unable to travel from his home in England to personally accept the award. But his son, Patrick, proudly stood on the rostrum in his place.

It was the first time since he married Agnes Honey of Kilkenny in 1942 that Paddy Casey could not make the journey back to the county that he loved. An injury that he sustained over 60 years previously had finally caught up on him.

Steve, the eldest of the Caseys and the man sportsmen everywhere came to know as Crusher, was to become world heavyweight wrestling champion in 1938.

Paddy held the Irish heavyweight wrestling title for three years from 1936, Jim was Pacific Coast heavyweight wrestling champion in the USA in the early Forties and Tom became British Amateur Heavyweight champion in 1937 just nine days after donning gloves the first time.

Mick wrestled as professional and Jack, the only brother to never leave Kerry, was considered by his brothers to have been the strongest of the lot of them.

Dan was an outstanding oarsman, a sport in which all the Caseys were to assert themselves from an early age.

Paddy's career as a wrestler ended in 1938 after breaking his back in a fight that he won.

That was in Manchester and the damage to his spine in that contest was to leave its mark on him for the rest of his life.

But the accident never diminished his interest in sport.

He went on to promote the wrestling game in England with contests for his much feared brother Mick high on the agenda.

The Irish in post-war London will remember Paddy Casey for the entertainment he provided for them at three clubs he established there -- the Glocamora in Bayswater, the Inisfree in Ealing Broadway and the Shamrock Club in Elephant and Castle.

He began the Glocamora in partnership with fellow Kerryman Bill Fuller but bought him out to become sole owner.

He sold his interest in the clubs in the late Sixtes and all his summers - and indeed parts of his springs, autumns and winters too - were spent in Sneem where he revelled in a revival of the regatta racing that was so much part of his young life in South Kerry.

Paddy often admitted that rowing was his outstanding passion and loved to recall fun and feats going back to his teenage years when he and his brothers were being tutored by their father, Mick Casey. Races against the Mahonys of Ardcost and crews from Whiddy, Bantry, Cahersiveen and Killarney never dimmed in his memory.

Pride of place among all the trophies that the Caseys won over the years is the Salter Cup which the five Casey brothers -- Steve, Paddy, Tom, Jim and Dan (cox) -- won outright in Killarney in August 1933.

They had won it in 1930 and ‘31 but there was no regatta in ‘32.

The organisers told the Caseys in 1933 that even is they triumphed that year they could not keep the trophy as it had to be won in three successive years.

The Caseys, suspicious that an effort was being made to diddle them out of the cup, protested and their case was upheld. They went on to win the race and the Salter Cup outright.

The organisers tried to buy back the cup for £60. But there was no parting with the silver, which has adorned the Casey sideboard in Golders Green for many years.

Steve, Paddy, Tom and Mick won the All-England rowing championhsip in 1936 for the Ace Rowing Club and looked destined to compete in the Olympics in Berlin that year. But they were disqualified because Steve and Paddy had wrestled professionally.

I got a taste of the excitement that surrounds the participation of the Caseys in a rowing event in Castletownbere in 1970.

The sons of Paddy and Steve entered the four-oak gig race in the annual regatta of that year.

Paddy was the cox that day and he was not too happy when the course changed in mid race.

He had been led to understand that the boats were to round two buoys. The Caseys were in front when they discovered the local crew taking a shorter route.

The Sneem men had to change course and give chase. But with Paddy fuming at the stern the younger generation dug their oars deep and almost lifted the boat out of the water as they powered to the front in a memorable finish. Fathers’ hearts burst with pride that day.

Paddy telephoned me from his home in London's Golders Green one night last August to tell me that his two sons, Steve and Patrick and two grandsons had that day won the four-oar race at the All-Ireland coastal rowing championships at Schull.

“It is one of the proudest days of my life,” he told me. The skill and will to win was still alive and well and flowing in the Casey blood!

The Casey men got their strength from two sides of the family.

Their father Mick, sparred with John L Sullivan in his young days in America.

John L, whose family roots are in Finuge, was bare knuckle world heavyweight boxing champion in his day.

Big Mick Casey also was a powerful oarsman and spent summers of his youth rowing for the Vanderbilts in Rhode Island. The mother of the seven Casey boys and three girls -- Margaret, Jospehine and Catherine -- was Brigid Sullivan, whose family were known locally as the Mountains.

Her brothers were famous oarsmen who had as a crew member from time to time Mick Casey.

That's how the great Casey story began. Rowing brought Mick Casey and Brigid Mountain Sullivan together. It was chapter one in a fascinating story that is hardly ever likely to be repeated.

We offer our sympathy to Mrs Casey, to Patrick and Steve and Bernadette and Patricia.

The Funeral Mass for Paddy Casey takes place at 11am this Saturday in Sneem.