RIP Tommy Hayward 1921-2016

Dubgal72

I thought about putting this in the rave thread along the lines of 'thank you for a life dedicated to athletics' but the great Tommy deserves his own thread post. Tommy passed away last night at the age of 95. I last chatted with him about a year ago; what an extraordinary man, he just radiated kindness and contentedness. RIP Mr Hayward

http://www.runireland.com/news/tommy-hayward-receives-aai-official-year-award-donore-harriers-website

From the Donore website:

"It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Tommy Hayward. At 95 years of age, Tommy was the longest surviving member of Donore Harriers having joined in 1941. He had just celebrated his 95th birthday last week on 29.03.2016. Tommy was a member of the first Donore team to win the AAU Senior Cross Country Championships circa 1943.

He was a great committee man, joining the the Donore committee in the mid 1940’s. Up to last September 2015, Tommy had attended every consecutive AGM for 75 years. He was very interested in the development of the club and influential in it’s success. In 1957 he took over as the club Secretary for almost 10 years. As part of a great trio, along with Pat Mullally (Treasurer) and Eddie Hogan (Head Coach), he oversaw the Halcyon days of Donore when the club became a powerhouse in distance running and track and field. In later years he also served as club President.

At national level he was one of the negotiators in the formation of BLE in 1967 and has always been on hand to serve at any athletic promotion where his services are required. Up until last summer Tommy was still very active in athletics, helping out with the Dublin graded track and field events. In 2010 he was honoured as official of the year at the Athletics Ireland Awards.

Tommy was also a great family man and beloved husband of his late wife Maura. Our condolences to Eric and Muriel and to his greater family and many friends."

RacoonQueen

Another sad day for all at Donore Harriers. Tommy was always around at club events, another great club man, he'll be sorely missed. RIP.