Jack Mahon: All-Ireland football medallist, teacher and writer Jack Mahon was as passionate about hurling, horse racing, golf and swimming in the Atlantic as he was about his winning sport.
It was a measure of his standing within the GAA that the association's director general, Liam Mulvihill, flew from New York to his funeral in Galway this week. GAA president Sean Kelly sent his sympathies from the international rules tour in Australia, and sports figures throughout the island attended the requiem Mass in Salthill.
Born in Dunmore, the "heartland" of footballing in north Galway, Mahon was one of the youngest among a family of eight children.
In his recently published autobiography, Memories, which he wrote in St Joseph's oncology ward in University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG), Mahon describes how his father, Sean, principal of the local boys' national school, nurtured his interest in sport.
His enthusiasm for Gaelic football developed while a boarder at St Jarlath's College, Tuam, where he had the best and worst of times, with corporal punishment, herrings on Fridays and the flu of 1947 which claimed the lives of several students.
Among his sporting idols back then was Sean Purcell, the "Master" and key figure in the three-in-a-row triumph for Galway of the 1960s, at whose funeral Mahon recently spoke.
In September 1950 Mahon registered as a clerical student at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, but was hit by mounting doubts and left in 1954. It was a major decision at the time, which brought him close to a nervous breakdown. He returned to the bog at home to spread turf and "got back to himself" with his parents' support.
Having qualified as a teacher, he worked at Enniskillen Technical College and Fr Griffin Technical School in Galway city and was then appointed principal of Moneenageisha Community School.
He often recalled an incident which occurred during his early teaching days at Fr Griffin Road, where he told four troublesome students that none of them would ever achieve anything in life because of their attitude.
The four turned out to be Christy O'Connor jnr, a Ryder Cup hero; John Connolly, Galway's first hurling All Star; Val O'Brien, a successful horse trainer; and Tommy Lally, who played in goal for Glasgow Celtic and managed Galway United.
He played many successful county finals with the Dunmore McHales, won the All-Ireland in 1956 and captained the county team which beat Kerry in the 1957 league final.
He secured three Railway Cup medals, Connacht championship medals and became involved in administration when he retired from the game.
He was chairman of the county football board, became a member of Cospoir, the national sports council, was given the GAA McNamee award for literary endeavour and was inducted into the GAA Hall of Fame.
Mahon was a prolific writer, for the Galway Advertiser and the Western People, and wrote 19 books, including a biography of the former Aran Island centenarian, Brigid Dirrane, and the story of BobbyJo, dual Grand National winner.
He took up running, organised the first Streets of Galway road race in 1986 and competed in a number of marathons.
When he discovered horse racing, Cheltenham became such a vital annual pilgrimage for him that one of his most treasured possessions was a guide to English inns and guesthouses bought for him by his wife, Eileen.
Mahon was a regular sea swimmer and "fellow philosopher" among the daily dippers at Blackrock, off Salthill promenade.
In his autobiography he pays warm tribute to the UCHG staff who cared for him during his recent illness, and he records some of his dreams, including to be cyclist Lance Armstrong, "mastering the Alps and Pyrenees", golfer Tiger Woods, Cork hurler Brian Corcoran, Jamesie O'Connor of Clare, "Gooch" Cooper from Kerry . . . to be riding Ansar to victory in Ballybrit, and to have the "swerve" of Brian O'Driscoll going over the line in Paris, "leaving Frenchmen in his wake".
He is survived by his wife, Eileen, daughters Lisa and Genevieve, and sons John, Pearse, Karl and Branwell.
Jack Mahon: born December 16th, 1932; died October 22nd, 2005