WATCH: Irish history expert Davy Holden on the Irish-American Athletic Club

Editor's Note: IrishCentral is delighted to be partnering with Davy Holden, an Irish history expert from Co Kilkenny, on a series of videos he created while recently visiting the US. You can see his first instalment here - Stay tuned for more from Davy!

The United States have won more Olympic medals than any other country in the world, and in the early days, the Irish people had a crucial role to play in this.

This story stems from Sunnyside, Queens.

In the late 1800s, amateur athletics in New York was dominated by the mostly Protestant, New York Athletic Club. At the time, amateur athletics was viewed as a well to-do man’s game - which left no chance for the poor, working class immigrants.

So, a group of Irish lads in New York founded the Irish-American Athletic Club. They built a stadium in Sunnyside, Queens, and named it Celtic Park, and it became a venue for Gaelic football, hurling, greyhound racing and track-and-field.

At a time when the working-class immigrants were discriminated against, the Irishmen decided to differ themselves from The New York Athletic Club. And even though it was founded as an Irish-American organisation, they opened their doors and welcomed people of all religious and ethnic backgrounds - and some of these immigrants would go on to become some of the worlds’s greatest athletes and dominate the Olympics.

In fact, the first Black-American (John Baxter Taylor), the first Jewish-American (Myer Prinstein), and first Irish-American (John J. Flanagan) athletes to ever win an Olympic Gold Medal for the United States, were all members of the Irish-American Athletic Club.

Throughout their existence, the club won a total of 53 Olympic medals for the United States. 

The club's emblem was the Winged Fist with the Irish slogan ‘Láim (Láimh) Láidir Abú’ meaning ‘Strong Hand Forever’. The stadium was demolished and, in its place, today is an apartment block honouring the name ‘Celtic Park’. And in honour of the Irish American Athletic Club, the street in Sunnyside is known as ‘Winged Fist Way.'

You can watch Davy Holden discuss the Irish-American Athletic Club here:

You can watch more of Davy Holden's Irish history content on his website and Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok pages.