MR HUGH McAlevey, Ireland's best known sportsman, died yesterday at his residence in Fortwilliam Drive, Belfast, aged 66.
Possessing a genial and breezy manner, his death will be deeply regretted. Mr McAlevey was of a generous nature and no deserving appeal was ever made to him in vain. Many of his donations to local charities were made anonymously. Always ready to encourage all kinds of sport, his memory will be kept green by the numerous trophies presented by him to various sporting organisations in the north. The late Mr McAlevey, who was a twell-known commission agent, was extremely popular with all creeds and classes. However, he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth - far from it. He was proud to boast that "he was born at Strandtown, reared in the 'Marrowbone' and that he started to earn his livelihood as a stonemason". He started from scratch - to use a racing term - and his business interests became so wide and varied that he has travelled the length and breadth of America.
Boxing was Hugh's greatest hobby. He was a ringsider at practically every important contest on both sides of the Atlantic for 25 years before the start of the war. He saw Dempsey knock out Willard at Toledo and in a rainstorm in Philadelphia saw the 'Manassa Mauler' lose his title to Tunney - to mention only a couple of the world title bouts he attended when the wanderlust took a grip of him. He also promoted boxing in Belfast and in Dublin Though not so prominent in greyhound racing of late, 'Texas' - to give him the name by which he was affectionately known - kept an interest in the sport from the pioneer days when he raced Galway Prince, one of the hurdle champions of his day. It held the 600 yard record of Celtic Park.
The McAlevey memory will be perpetuated in the Gold Cup, an outstanding Celtic Park feature and the McAlevey Shield, presented to the Belfast and District Coursing Club.
As a raconteur Hugh McAlevey was unsurpassed. He had such a fund of stories, picked up on his travels, that even his theatrical friends - and they were legion - were not above pirating them. Perhaps the biggest scoop of his meteoric career was the deal he made in which he purchased the entire stock of a distillery which was later shipped to the United States.
Hugh McAlevey was a foundation member of the National Club (Belfast) and a former chairman. He was also a member of the National Sporting Club, London. (In the late 1930s Hugh McAlevey made headlines when he erected an imposing vault for himself in Milltown Cemetery and humorously posed in it for press photographs. Hugh told the media with a wry smile that the tomb would be equipped with a telephone 'for taking bets'.)
Cross-border cooperation
BUNCRANA Urban Council asked the County Manager to endeavour to renew a former agreement with Derry Corporation under which the city's firefighting service would be at the town's disposal in the event of serious fire.
Edited by Eamon Phoenix e.phoenix@irishnews.com