Floating on air

The NYAC’s primary headquarters is at 180 Central Park South, on the corner of Seventh Avenue, directly across from Central Park’s Artisan’s Gate. The 24-story building — with restaurants, banquet halls, guest rooms, and abundant sporting and recreational facilities — was completed in 1927; but the Club itself was founded in 1868 and, in the 135 years of its lifespan, it has become renowned for its accomplishments in the sporting arena — most particularly in Olympic sports — and for a membership roster boasting some of the leading members of the New York business and cultural community.
In the sporting realm, members of the NYAC have taken part in every summer Olympic Games since 1896. In most of those Games, Club athletes — many of whom were Irish-born or could point to Irish ancestry — claimed medals. Most celebrated of these may have been the famed Irish Whales — John Flanagan, Matt McGrath and Pat McDonald — who dominated the track and field throwing events in the early 1900s. But other NYAC competitors have also placed their names among the ranks of the Olympic legends. Ray Ewry won 10 golds in the no-longer contested standing jumps from 1900-08; Al Oerter won four golds in the discus from 1956-68, and sprinter Jackson Scholz was immortalized in the film “Chariots of Fire.” Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan, perhaps the greatest indoor miler of all time, also competed for the NYAC and placed fourth twice at the Olympic Games (in the 1,500 meters in 1976 and the 5,000 in 1980) missing gold by a cumulative total of just 2.17 seconds. In total, the Club has won 204 Olympic medals, 118 of them gold. In Sydney in 2000, 35 participants hailed from the NYAC, one of whom was Deirdre Murphy, who wore the green of Ireland in the cycling road race.

A first
It’s no exaggeration to say that both Olympic sport and the Emerald Isle are in the NYAC’s DNA. Last year, the Club elected its first foreign born president, Roscommon native John Neary. On Jan. 13 of this year, that connection was enhanced by the election to the board of governors of Eileen O’Rourke, both of whose parents hail from County Leitrim. Her credentials are impeccable: national champion rower and national-caliber Irish dancer. Notably, she is also the first woman in NYAC history to serve on the Club’s Board.
“All of our members are very proud of Eileen and what she has accomplished as an athlete,” Neary said. “It’s significant that she’s the first female member of our board of governors, but it’s more significant that it is her abilities that bring her to this position. She wasn’t elected to the board because she’s a woman; she was elected because she has all the qualities necessary to serve the Club in a superior way.”
O’Rourke’s involvement with the NYAC came via a circuitous route. Her parents, Patrick and Nora, emigrated from Leitrim to Newton, Mass., where Eileen spent the first five years of her life, in the 1950s. After moving to New York — the Bronx at first, then Westchester County — she, like countless Irish children, began learning Irish dancing, an endeavor at which she excelled. Under the direction of the celebrated Jerry Mulvihill and, later, with the O’Sullivan School, she traveled all over the U.S. to compete, and in the 1970s competed in the World Championships in Ireland on four occasions.
By that time, she was enrolled at Iona College in New Rochelle, studying gerontology, the study of old age and the aged. By happenstance, Iona was in the process of starting a women’s crew team. “Somebody said, ‘Ask Eileen,’ ” she recalled recently. “They thought that because I was a dancer that I would be in good shape and have strong legs.”
They thought correctly. O’Rourke excelled in rowing much as she had done in step dancing.
It should hardly have been a surprise that a talented competitor should, after completing her college eligibility, come to the attention of that sporting powerhouse, the New York Athletic Club; it’s a place where the commitment to assisting and nurturing talented athletes runs deep. After a period of rowing her boat — with colleague Jo Hannafin — the mile and half from the New Rochelle Rowing Club to train on the NYAC’s marked course at Travers Island in Pelham Manor, the coaches began to take notice.
“They saw how serious we were,” said O’Rourke, “so Francis Sulger [chairman of NYAC rowing at the time] said that we could keep our boats there during the winter. It all just developed from there.”
With the coaching direction of fellow Iona alumnus Vincent Ventura, who now guides the NYAC rowing program, O’Rourke won the U.S. single sculls title in 1982. Two more national titles followed, one in the double, one in the quad. In 1989, she contested the Irish nationals in Wicklow, placing second in the single.

Responsibilities aplenty
These days, with an MBA from Iona, a law degree from Pace University in White Plains and with her competitive years behind her, O’Rourke works as in-house counsel for Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle. Much of her time is spent on issues relating to labor and contracts. What free time she has (she and her husband, Garr DiSalvo, have three children, Torin, 7, Aine, 6, and Aidan, 22 months) is dedicated to the organization that allowed her to fulfill her athletic potential.
She views one of the responsibilities of her new — and voluntary — position as assisting in the protection of the NYAC’s hallowed traditions, traditions whose seeds were planted in the 1800s, that have engendered within the Club a steadfast commitment to Olympic sports, and that have allowed countless talented athletes to blossom into world-class competitors.
“There is a respect here for athletes, their achievements and how hard it is to reach the top level,” O’Rourke said. “The NYAC understands what it takes to be an athlete, from the training to all the resources that are needed. They took care of me and helped me get where I wanted to go. The Club can be an intimidating place, but it’s an environment in which excellence is held at a premium.”