KILLARNEY was stunned and deeply saddened this Wednesday morning when the shock news filtered through from the US of the death of Paudie O’Connor, a larger than life personality who was one of the most instantly recognisable sporting and political personalities the town has known.
He passed away, unexpectedly, in the US where he had lived since 1986 and where, in latter years, he was a high-profile golf tour business promoter. He was 66 years of age.
A former Presentation Monastery and St Brendan’s College pupil, Paudie worked initially as a sales representative and was a member of the former Killarney Urban District Council from 1974 to 1985, serving as a popular and charismatic chairman on four occasions, in 1978, 1980, 1982 and 1984.
He was a member of Kerry County Council from 1979 to 1985 and, at the age of 29, he unsuccessfully contested the general election for Fine Gael in 1981 when he was former TD Michael Begley’s running mate.
The son of Dan and Mai O’Connor from O’Sullivan’s Place, Paudie was part of an outstanding sporting family and his brothers, Seamie, Mike and the late Benny, were all high achievers on the basketball courts and GAA fields with Dr Crokes. The brothers honed their hard court skills in St Mary’s Parish Hall which was very close to their home.
A legend in Irish basketball circles, 6’4” Paudie was a star player, whose silken skills set him apart from all others, and he enjoyed great success with his hometown St Vincent’s club as well as captaining the Irish basketball team at a time when he was deemed the finest point guard in Europe.
He won several domestic titles and became the only Irish player ever to make the first five of a European All-Star team. In his teens and early 20s Paudie would spend his summers attending basketball camps in America and he would return home to Killarney with stunning new skills to show off and to teach to his team-mates.
From 1979 he was personally responsible for elevating the game of basketball in Ireland to dizzy heights when he arranged for top American college players to line out with Killarney and, subsequently, with clubs throughout this country.
Along with the likes of home-grown heroes Paudie and Tim O’Regan, iconic international stars of the calibre of Cornel Bedford, Greg Huguley, Tony Andre, Arnold Veasley, Brian Ulmer and Sami Mudulugru delighted crowds in Killarney during that golden era of Irish basketball when the Gleneagle Hotel was the senior side’s sponsor and some incredible games were played in a packed to capacity St Brendan’s College gym.
Paudie was also an accomplished footballer and, as well as his beloved Dr Crokes, he played a number of times with the Kerry senior side but he always returned to his first sporting love on the basketball courts.
After marrying American native, Marty, with whom he has a daughter, Morgan, Paudie left Ireland in 1986 and spent four years in New York where he was involved in a number of business ventures before moving to Vegas.
There he ventured into organising golf tournaments, including the Las Vegas World Amateur and he spearheaded O’Connor Golf Tourism from his base close to the Vegas strip, regularly leading tours to his native country and to Scotland for events.
In 1999 he created quite a stir in his hometown when he arrived in Killarney in the company of basketball superstar Michael Jordan – very soon after the Chicago Bulls legend had hung up his boots – and they played golf on the local course as well as taking in Tralee, Ballybunion and Waterville.
That was the way Paudie operated. He always saw the big picture, he dreamed big, he was hugely influential, he was very much a man with a mission and he was a real winner, both on and off the court.
Lifelong friend John Keogh said Paudie, who didn’t smoke or drink, was a wonderful ambassador for Killarney and for Kerry and he had the personality and the physical presence to stand out in any crowd.
“He was very proud of Killarney and of what he achieved in basketball and in life. Paudie oozed confidence and he was a visionary. He really was a man ahead of his time,” John told KillarneyToday.com.
In Hanging from the Rafters, his excellent book on basketball, author Kieran Shannon brilliantly described Paudie as “a politician, a salesman, a man’s man and a ladies’ man, a character and a rogue”.
“When they made Paudie O’Connor they broke the mould,” he wrote.
Paudie, who was a devoted grandfather to daughter Morgan’s toddler son Luciano, was due to return to visit Killarney in a few weeks but, instead, his many friends and admirers in the town will now have to make do with some golden memories that he carved out during his colourful lifetime, living a life less ordinary as a great sportsman and, more importantly, a proud Killarney man.
© KillarneyToday.com: Your quality, reliable, 24/7 local news service. Call 087-2229761 or email news@killarneytoday.com
