1973 50th Anniversary Celebration Night – by Shane Lynch
Rockies turned up in their droves to the clubhouse last Saturday night for the biggest social event of the year, as the club celebrated the 50th anniversary of our historic 1973 County Championship victory. A packed hall and bar were treated to an evening of great stories, interviews and craic as the club celebrated in style the golden jubilee of the ending of a 36- year famine and the start of Austin Stacks’ second golden era. There was a fantastic turnout by the 1973 panel of players and by the families of the seven players no longer with us – Teddy Brick, Garry Scollard, Noel Kelter, Timmy Sheehan, Jo Jo Barrett and the McSweeney twins Rory & Terry. In his opening speech, Chairperson Shane Lynch announced a new award, the ‘Timmy Sheehan Club PRO of the Year’ award to be given annually to the Club PRO within Kerry who best epitomises Timmy’s great qualities of remarkable knowledge, prodigious work-rate, and love for the game and the GAA.
The huge attendance was then treated to an hour of great nostalgia as a special tribute video was played on the big screens to a rapt audience, including footage and interviews from the ’73 county final, a wonderful fireside chat with the Three Wise Men – Pat Joe McQuinn and the Slatterys Tiger and Timix, and poignant remembrance of the departed. Our masterful MC Andrew Morrissey then hosted a brilliant panel discussion with Billy Curtain (1973 captain), Ger Power, Mikey Sheehy and John Barry who all told some fantastically humorous, personal and moving tales from that magical year. The formalities concluded with a presentation of a special souvenir trophy to each of the players and to the family members of the deceased. The night continued with plenty more reminiscences, refreshments and revelry, with nobody going home early, not least our club’s eldest member Liam Shanahan who, 94 years young, was spotted deep in conversation with some ’73 heroes well into the night! All who attended are already looking forward already to our next big 50th celebration – the golden jubilee of the club’s All Ireland Club championship win in 1977.
A huge thank you to the many club volunteers and supporters who made this night possible and so memorable. A special thank you to the organising committee of Aidan O’Connor, Ger O’Keeffe, Liam Lynch, Siobhan Power, Shane Lynch, Jemma O’Connell, Brenda Litchfield and Deirdre Power. The Bar Committee and staff did a brilliant job is ensuring that the bar refurbishment was completed ahead of the event. Thank you to Terry Healy and Terry’s Butchers and to Annette Carmody for the fabulous food. Noel O’Connell, John Breen, Harry Hynes and Lee Muntzer pulled out all the stops to ensure the stage was set in very way for a wonderful evening. Many thanks to Blennerville Primary School for the wonderful stage facility organised by Angelina Moriarty, to Tom Hanafin of Kingdom Video Productions and to Jason Teahon for ensuring the video & sound were of the highest quality, and to Bernard Reidy in Trophyworld for the souvenir plaques . We are indebted to our marvellous PRO team of Elma Nix and Tommy Naughton for promoting the event, and of course to Adrienne McLoughlin for her superb photography of the event.
The club and organising committee are indebted to our event sponsors Barry Packaging, Power Travel and an anonymous contributor.
