Pat O'Callaghan

Pat O’Callaghan attended Dublin’s Royal College of surgeons, graduating with a degree in medicine when only 20-years-old. Following brief stints abroad, and in Ireland in Dublin, Cork and Killarney, Dr. Pat O’Callaghan was appointed assistant medical officer at St. Luke’s Hospital in the Clonmel District Mental Hospital in early 1931, which was the start of his long association with the town.

O’Callaghan took up hammer throwing as a teenager, and eventually won 22 Irish titles – 19 in weight throwing with six in the hammer, and three in the high jump. He also won the 1934 AAA hammer title and the 1933 AAU (USA) hammer title, and won two consecutive Olympic gold medals in the event, in 1928 and 1932. O’Callaghan spent a few years in the United States in the late 1930s as a professional wrestler.

In 1960, O’Callaghan was the first person to receive a Texaco Hall of Fame Award. He was made a Freeman of Clonmel in 1984, and was honorary president of Commercials Gaelic Football Club. The Dr. Pat O’Callaghan Sports Complex at Cashel Rd, Clonmel is named in his honor, and in January, 2007 there was statue of O’Callaghan unveiled in Banteer, County Cork.

Personal Best: HT – 59.56 (1937).