Born July 9th, 1939
Died September 6th, 2023
Irish-American professor emeritus Gary Holbrook, who has died aged 84, gave generations of student debaters from Ireland the opportunity to compete in the US.
Gary Hugh Holbrook, a fourth-generation Coloradan, was born in Denver to Elmer Holbrook and Margaret Farrell Holbrook. With his parents serving in the US army during the second World War, Gary was raised in nearby La Junta by his grandmother, Corrine Sayre Holbrook. His mother’s family, the Farrells, were of Irish heritage.
Holbrook attended La Junta High School. After graduation he joined the army reserve. On returning home he attended Otero Junior College and Adams State College, where he majored in speech, theatre and secondary education. He subsequently received a master’s of science degree from Southern Illinois University and taught speech communication at a number of colleges and universities.
In 1968 he was invited by Prof Lester Thonssen to establish and direct the forensics programme and teach speech communications at what is now Metropolitan State University, Denver. In 1978, as a result of his tireless efforts, Metropolitan State College hosted the National Debate Competition, the first time in the competition’s 47-year history that a junior college had been chosen as host.
In 1979, having watched as Irish teams finished first and second in the final of the Observer Mace competition in Bristol, Holbrook decided to establish an opportunity for Irish debaters to visit the US
Debating was an academic discipline in the US as opposed to an extracurricular pursuit. Fascinated by political oratory and presidential debates – he had specialised in the rhetoric of the cold war – Holbrook later brought John F Kennedy’s speech writer Ted Sorensen to Metropolitan State for interview.
While on sabbatical in Trinity College Dublin in 1979 – he had first visited Ireland in the mid-1960s – Holbrook became an interested observer of the Irish university debating scene. Since the 1920s, debating teams from British universities had travelled each year to debate against their American counterparts, and yet no such invitations had been extended to Irish students despite their excelling in competition.
In 1979, having watched as Irish teams finished first and second in the final of the Observer Mace competition in Bristol, Holbrook decided to establish an opportunity for Irish debaters to visit the US.
The most prestigious third-level debating competition in Ireland had been founded in 1960 by The Irish Times. Holbrook approached Christina Murphy, then education correspondent of the newspaper and then the driving force behind the competition, with a proposal that the winners should tour the US, as their English counterparts had done for decades. Initially sceptical, Murphy was persuaded by his enthusiasm to support the project. Having returned to the US following his sabbatical, Holbrook set about the task of realising his ambition. He established sponsorship for what became known as the Irish Debate Tour. The first three Irish debaters arrived in the US in March 1980.
The tour would bring young Irish students, many of whom had never been to the US, to far-flung locations, from Laramie in Wyoming to Los Angeles, where they were greeted with great enthusiasm and hospitality.
In 1994 Holbrook organised a visit to the university by Irish senator Gordon Wilson, who shared the story of his daughter Marie’s death in the Enniskillen bombing of 1987
In 1983, Holbrook established the Friends of the Irish Debate Series to raise funds to support the continuation of the tour. In 1997 responsibility passed to the US National Parliamentary Debate Association. This determination to bring Irish debaters to the US has provided a unique experience for more than 120 students from across the island in the intervening years.
In recognition of his pivotal role in developing the Speech Communications Department, Metropolitan State University honoured him earlier this year by naming the debate programme the Gary Holbrook Debate Institute.
In 1994 Holbrook organised a visit to the university by Irish senator Gordon Wilson, who shared the story of his daughter Marie’s death in the Enniskillen bombing of 1987 and his subsequent campaign for peace.
Holbrook’s love of travel brought him to many countries but he regarded Ireland as his second home and visited regularly, checking in on debaters who had been on the tour and meeting their expanding families. He was very gregarious and a gifted storyteller who loved to sing Irish songs, frequently changing the words to reflect his audience.
Gary Holbrook is survived by his wife Judy, stepchildren Sean and Tammy, and grandchildren Christopher, Chase, Cydney and Chelsi.
