Harold Vincent "Hal" Connolly (August 1, 1931 – August 18, 2010) was an American

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

and

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

er from

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

. He won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the hammer throw at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Connolly became the first American to throw a hammer more than 200 feet. He set his first of six

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

just prior to the 1956 Olympics, and held the world record for nearly 10 years. After his gold medal, Connolly competed in three more Olympics, finishing eighth in 1960, sixth in 1964 and not qualifying for the final in 1968. In 1972, he finished fifth in the United States trials and failed to make the team. Connolly sustained severe nerve damage to his left arm during birth, prohibiting the limb from ever developing properly. He fractured it 13 times as a child. His left arm grew to be four and a half inches shorter than his right and his left hand two-thirds the size of his right. ''The New York Times'' noted, "When he won his Olympic gold medal, photographers yelled at him to raise his arms in triumph. He lifted only his right arm." Connolly received his undergraduate degree from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

in 1952 and attended graduate school at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. Both during and after his athletic career, Connolly worked as a teacher in the

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

school system. In 1988, he then retired and accepted a position as an executive director of

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Ol ...

, where he would serve for the next 11 years. Until his death, he coached youth athletes and served as the Junior Hammer Development Chairmen for US Track and Field Association. He was one of the leading promoters for the next generation of hammer throwers.

Personal life

During the 1956 Games, Connolly began a relationship with

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

er Olga Fikotova, a fellow gold medal winner. They married after the Olympics, the following year in Prague—in three ceremonies there, with a celebration before 40,000 well-wishers. The best man at their wedding ceremony was Czech runner

Emil Zátopek Emil Zátopek (; 19 September 1922 – 21 November 2000) was a Czech long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres runs, but his final ...

. They were divorced in 1975, and the following year, he married

Pat Winslow Billie Jo Patricia "Pat" Daniels (in first marriage Winslow, in second marriage Bank, in third marriage Connolly; born September 1, 1943) is a retired female pentathlete and track and field coach from the United States, who was the U.S. track ...

, a former coach of track star

Evelyn Ashford Evelyn Ashford (born April 15, 1957) is an American retired track and field athlete, the 1984 Olympic champion in the 100-meter dash, and the world record-holder in the 60-yard dash. She ran under the 11-second barrier over 30 times and was t ...

and herself a three-time Olympian in the

800 meters The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

and

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

. A son from his first marriage, Jim Connolly, was the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

champion for

in 1987; Adam Connolly, a son from his second marriage, was America's third-ranked hammer thrower in 1999.

Awards

In 1984 Connolly was elected into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

.Harold Connolly
. USA Track and Field Hall of Fame A statue of Connolly is located at the former Taft Elementary School in

Brighton, Massachusetts Brighton is a former town and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located in the northwestern corner of the city. It is named after the English city of Brighton. Initially Brighton was part of Cambridge, and known as " ...

, and depicts his gold medal-winning hammer throw at the 1956 Olympic Games.

References

External links

Harold Connolly's Hammerthrow.comMasterstrack.com obit
from IAAF * {{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Harold Vincent 1931 births 2010 deaths Boston College Eagles men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics American male hammer throwers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Somerville, Massachusetts University of California, Los Angeles alumni World record setters in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics American masters athletes Track and field athletes from Massachusetts Male weight throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1959 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) 20th-century American sportsmen