For almost 40 years. Byrne, who was 90, was the Echo’s sports editor, Gaelic games reporter and columnist. He had died on Dec. 27.
Former Echo editor John Thornton this week paid tribute to a man whose knowledge of sports was as encyclopedic as his love of the game of hurling was unmatched.
“John followed a legend in Echo sports reporting, Wedger Meagher, but in time he became a legend himself,” Thornton said. “His coverage of Gaelic games was always exciting and colorful and you could always rely on him as a reporter.
“And while Gaelic games was John’s main territory, he also covered other sports with relish, most especially horse racing, boxing and golf.”
Byrne’s passion for Gaelic games was formerly acknowledged by the New York GAA in 1997.
On opening day of that year’s season at Gaelic Park in the Bronx, “John Byrne Day” was marked by festivities honoring his 40 years as a chronicler of not just hurling and football, but also the life and affairs of the GAA itself in his column “Games of the Gael.”
The highlight of Byrne’s special day was the presentation of a plaque by then New York GAA president Mike Cassidy honoring Byrne’s work and achievements over the years.
Just prior to Byrne’s formal retirement from the Echo in 1997, the paper published a supplement honoring his life work and dedication to the Irish community in the United States.
The supplement was compiled by his friend Frank Cull, also a prominent sports writer for the Echo for many years.
“John’s passion was a guide, his manner and dedication an inspiration and his friendship an asset to one and all,” Cull said in tribute to his friend this week.
Though he was a lifelong Kilkenny supporter, John James Byrne was actually born in County Carlow on Sept. 19, 1913.
When he was 15 months old, the family moved to Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny. Byrne grew up with a steely sense of attachment to his adopted county and distinguished himself in the county’s favorite pastime, hurling. He was also a strong footballer and handball player.
Like so many of his generation, however, emigration would be an inevitable part of John Byrne’s passage through life. After a year in England, Byrne made his way to the U.S., arriving in February 1937.
On Valentine’s Day 1941, Byrne married his sweetheart, Eileen Brick, a native of Croughmore, Co. Kerry. Eileen Byrne died a number of years ago.
Byrne served in the U.S. army during World War II and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. His military service was marked at last week’s funeral by a folded Stars and Stripes presented to family members.
But while he did his bit to defend his adopted homeland, Byrne’s mind was never far from Ireland and his beloved Kilkenny. He played an active role in the Kilkenny Association of New York and both the Kilkenny hurling and football clubs. He was also active in the GAA and a correspondent for the Kilkenny People newspaper.
Byrne was appointed Echo sports editor in March 1959 and so stepped into the breach left by the late Wedger Meagher. He had already notched up several years of reporting for the paper as an assistant to Meagher.
Byrne’s association with the Echo would span five decades.
He lived in Woodlawn in the Bronx for most of his years in New York. He was often fondly referred to as the “Mayor of Woodlawn.” His home in recent years was across the street from St. Barnabas church, where mourners last week heard of Byrne’s lifelong desire for peace in his “beloved Ireland.”
Byrne spent his final years as a resident of St. Joseph’s home for the elderly in Yonkers.
However, he continued to visit his old haunts in the Bronx and Yonkers for lunch outings aided by a cadre of old friends, including John Thornton and Frank Cull.
His last such foray was on Dec. 10, just a couple of weeks before his death.
“We took John to Rory Dolan’s on McLean Avenue,” Cull said. “John was forbidden to drink by the doctors because of the medication he had to take, but he asked for a double Powers anyway. John was quite a character and he had a good run. God rest him.”
Former Echo publisher Claire O’Gara Grimes said that Byrne was a man with a million stories.
“He was a most likable man but first and foremost he was a sports writer who took great pride in his writing and drew tremendous joy from it,” she said.
After a requiem Mass at St. Barnabas, John Byrne was laid to rest in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Yonkers. He is survived by his sister Eileen Meaney, who lives in Ireland, and by numerous nieces and nephews on both sides of the Atlantic.