Mac MacCarthy

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameFairchilds "Mac"•MacCarthy
Used nameMac•MacCarthy
Born28 May 1896 in Muskegon, Michigan (USA)
DiedMarch 1977 in Wycombe, Pennsylvania (USA)
NOC United States

Biography

Fairchilds MacCarthy, known to all as Mac, was a legendary figure in the history of the Cresta Run, the run on which the 1928 and 1948 Olympic skeleton races were contested. Mac, the son of a Unitarian Minister, read of the Cresta as a young boy. He was edcuated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he met several undergraduates who had slid on the Cresta. In 1924-25 he made his first trip to St. Moritz, renting a toboggan and taking his first ride on the Cresta. MacCarthy was from the Boston area, working some as a landscape designer, although it does not appear he had to work. In 1948 he was made the Secretary of the St. Moritz Tobogganning Club, a position he held through 1972. He was also President of the Shuttlecock Club at St. Moritz in 1948-49, and in 1955, the Macklin Cup race was renamed the Fairchilds MacCarthy Cup, which is still contested. In 1960, Mac married for the first time, to the Countess Emily Leschinsky, her fifth marriage.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1948 Winter Olympics Skeleton (Bobsleigh) USA Mac MacCarthy
Skeleton, Men (Olympic) 8