Dermot Dunne

The youngest member of the 50-strong Irish squad at the 1960 Roma (Rome) Olympics, freestyle wrestler Dermot Dunne was four days short of his 17th birthday when he entered the ring for his bantamweight contest with San Marino’s Vittorio Mancini. Dunne won what turned out to be Ireland’s only wrestling victory of those Games, despite the presence of more experienced wrestlers Joe Feeney, Sean O’Connor, and Gerry Martina.

Dunne was a member of Dublin’s Vulcan Wrestling Club and, as a 15-year-old, won the Irish closed flyweight title by beating C. Mulligan of Spartan. Shortly after the Roma (Rome) Olympics, Dunne emigrated to Canada where he co-formed the 1960s band “The Irish Rebels” in Toronto along with fellow immigrants. Dunne was the band’s lead singer. Sadly, upon returning to Ireland for Christmas 1973, Dunne died on Christmas Eve after falling down the stairs at his father’s Dublin house. He was just 30-years-of-age at the time.